East Finchley Lay Pioneer Dr Ann-Marie Wilson has been recognised for services to the prevention of Violence Against Women and Girls.

By Barnet Post

Ann-Marie licensed as a Lay Pioneer in her church, St Barnabas, East Finchley — Dr Wilson

Campaigner, psychologist, humanitarian aid-worker and East Finchley Lay Pioneer, Dr Ann-Marie Wilson, who has a terminal cancer diagnosis, received an MBE in the King’s first New Year’s Honours List. The citation reads that she is being recognised “for services to the prevention of Violence Against Women and Girls.

Meeting a Sudanese girl called Fatima, who was cut at five years old, led to Dr. Wilson taking up the cause of Female Genital Mutilation (FGM) that would shape her life. Dr. Wilson recalls: “I met Fatima when she was a 10-year-old yet already seven months pregnant, having been raped by armed militia. We cared for her and gave her a safe delivery at the Christian medical hospital in West Darfur, at which I was working. In my lifetime, the work of the charity Fatima inspired me to establish, has given her a law to protect her grandchildren.” Dr Wilson resigned from a London-based profession to begin campaigning.

In 2010, Ann-Marie founded the charity 28 Too Many, which set out to end FGM in 28 African Countries and the diaspora, where the practice is prevalent. By building on more than 3,000 FGM survivors’ stories, whilst collating and interpreting research data for use with international bodies, and mobilising grassroots organisations with advocacy tools, Dr Wilson has helped secure widespread change. She is a Global Expert FGM Advisor to the United Nations, the World Bank and the Metropolitan Police, amongst others. In 2017, Ann-Marie was licensed as a Lay Pioneer in her church, St Barnabas, East Finchley by Bishop of Edmonton, Rob Wickham and she has been a Mission Partner with Church Mission Society since 2010.

Dr Wilson had previously trained in community midwifery in northern Pakistan, fistula rehabilitation in northern Nigeria and worked as a psychologist at a UN camp for displaced Somalis on the northern Kenyan border.

By 2022, the charity had achieved Dr Wilson’s founding aim of seeing a 10% reduction in the practice of FGM across 10 countries in 10 years. Her efforts combatting FGM have won wide acclaim, including a British Citizen Award 2015 and the Good Housekeeping Magazine’s a Heroine of 2016. Her Ogilvy and Mather FGM publicity campaign won the prestigious Global Advertiser of the Year, beating multi-million-dollar brands like Nike and Amazon.

Following 28 Too Many’s legal report “Sudan: The Law and FGM”, the practice has now been outlawed in the country. Since April 2020, FGM in Sudan is punishable with three-year prison terms for its perpetrators. For a country where it is estimated 87% of girls and women between 15 and 49 years have undergone FGM, Dr Wilson’s campaigning has impacted the lives of millions of women and young girls.

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