As many of you know Max is due to turn 30 in December. During his 30 years he has made some wonderful friends (you lot) and has done some amazing things. One of his most formative experiences was his time spent volunteering in Tanzania and he’s been back several times since. What Max understood is that whilst he’s been very lucky to have been born in the UK, and receive a good education , there are millions of people around the world who haven’t had the same opportunities and they could do with his help. Natalie, Alice and I therefore thought a great way to celebrate his first 3 decades would be to help him give something back to people in one of his favourite places.

For many years now I have been supporting the global children’s charity Plan International who champion equality for all children with a focus on girls who typically face the most disadvantages. They help young people to get a quality education, the work and life skills to help them thrive and they also tackle the things that in particular hold girls and young women back. I love them, they do an absolutely amazing job.

Our focus will be Northern Tanzania which has one of the highest rates of Female Genital Mutilation (FGM) in the world. With over 4 MILLION WOMEN affected by this incredibly harrowing and harmful practice. FGM has a disastrous long-term impact on a woman’s health, and is closely related to child marriage, it is done primarily as a rite of passage to prepare girls, aged 10-15 years , for marriage. It’s no coincidence that this part of Tanzania has one of the highest rates of child marriage in the world.

Plan is working in 2 regions of Northern Tanzania, Mara and Geita where FGM is especially prevalent. Plan’s approach is to work community by community to first of all empower young women to say no but also work with the community to bring about LONG TERM SYSTEMIC CHANGE. Plan talks to fathers ,mothers and brothers ,village elders and religious leaders to help them understand the full impact of FGM and early marriage whilst working with local lawmakers to ensure that those who carry out FGM on others are prosecuted. And because Plan is already so embedded in these villages the message really sticks. It’s a holistic approach that gets real results. Plan has many examples of whole villages that are now FGM free due to their intervention.

By donating to Max’s 30th Birthday Fund you can help change the story and radically change the lives of thousands of girls in Northern Tanzania. And just to make it even easier and make your pounds go further we will match the first £10,000.

Thank you for joining us.