‘It is what girls need’: the FGM activist hoping to be the Gambia’s president

Despite inexperience and few allies, Jaha Dukureh is offering people change and a break with the past in December's election

Jaha Dukureh was a young mother of three with little campaigning experience when she started a movement in the Gambia to end female genital mutilation, backed by the Guardian.

In the seven years that followed she advised Barack Obama in the US, where she was then living, helped have FGM banned in her home country, was nominated for a Nobel peace prize and became a UN ambassador.