Orchid Project commissioned a study that found Kenya is one of five African countries where focused investment will have the greatest impact on ending the brutal practice.
The charity — which this week Dawn French revealed she supports — is targeting cash towards grassroots organisations in the east African nation.
Orchid uses the term “cutting” rather than “mutilation” and refers to the practice as FGC.
It backs a strategy where knowledge about human rights and health is shared with communities, and discussions are encouraged to dispel myths about FGM.
Communities that reject it hold abandonment ceremonies to celebrate their decision.
The prevalence of cutting in Kenya has already dropped, from 38 per cent of females aged 15 to 49 in 1998, to 21 per cent in 2014.
Orchid founder Julia Lalla-Maharajh said: “Our strengthened work in Kenya shows great promise for reaching our goal of ending FGC.
“We believe a non-judgmental ap-proach, which involves the whole community in the decision to abandon harmful practices, is the most effective. We feel confident FGC can end.”
A study by health researchers Hera found investment in projects with Kenya’s Maasai, Kuria, Kisii and Samburu ethnic groups would have the most effect.
One organisation, S.A.F.E., creates an alternative rite of passage for girls in which milk is poured on their thighs.
Between 2010 and last year, 30 per cent of girls in the Maasai community in the Loita Hills underwent this.
Others nations where such efforts could be most effective were Tanzania, Somalia, Nigeria and Burkina Faso.
To mark International Day of Zero Tolerance for FGM on Tuesday, Orchid and the High Commission of Canada held an event in London where survivor Jay Kamara-Frederick spoke.
Born and raised in London, she was cut at 15. Now 38, she is founder of online network Sisters Keeping It Moving. She said: “I went on holiday to Sierra Leone over Easter and underwent FGC. I was not told anything.
“What I remember is the pain, it was like a blackout. I nearly died. I opened my eyes a day or two later and my mum was looking at me and she said, ‘If you want to live you have to fight.’”
She had flashbacks but only discovered the reality of what had happened at her first smear test: “The doctor said, ‘You have been mutilated.’ I said, ‘No I haven’t.’”
The UN is seeking the eradication of FGM by 2030.
