February 6th marks the International Day of Zero Tolerance to Female Genital Mutilation (FGM). World Health Organization (WHO) estimates that more than 125 million girls and women alive today have been cut in the 29 countries in Africa and Middle East where FGM is concentrated and another 30 million girls are at risk of being cut in the next decade.
Female genital mutilation (sometimes referred to as female circumcision) refers to procedures that intentionally alter or cause injury to the female genital organs for non-medical reasons and can take different forms.
Over the last two decades there has been a lot awareness created about FGM and advocacy from the United Nations and other Civil Society Organizations which has yielded some positive outcomes. As at 2015 over 20 African countries have had FGM banned by law, one of the most recent additions being the state of Nigeria.
But for a practice deep rooted in cultural, traditional and religious norms, the mere passage of these laws has not necessarily translated to compliance. According to UNICEF 2013 report the prevalence of this practice stands at 36 percent in Cote d’Ivoire.
This is not significantly different from the 44 percent prevalence as reported by a 1999 Demographic and Health Survey of 3,040 women nationally one year after the law was passed. Data available from the UNICEF report, point to the following:
• There has been a slight decline in the prevalence of FGM/C in Côte d’Ivoire from 45 percent prevalence reported between the 1998 when the law banning FGM was passed to 38 percent in 2013. (One point to note here is the fact that since the law was passed, the large open ceremonies marking this practice was no longer popular, thus a risk of under reporting figures).
• The majority of girls and women in Côte d’Ivoire think FGM/C should stop; girls and women with more education and from wealthier households are less likely to support the practice. This points to the economic dimension of FGM.
• Approximately half of girls were cut before the age of five. This points to a human rights issue. This practice is carried out on young girls who are often forced to do so.
• Traditional practitioners perform most cases of FGM/C accounting for over 90 percent in Cote d’Ivoire.
Why NGOs play an important role:
A lot of NGOs work with the target groups that are vulnerable to FGM (female children and adolescents) as well as people who subject their kids and the ones who carry out themselves (women).
From the points noted above we can see that FGM has different dimensions (human rights, economic and health), thus the key to solving this issues lies in tackling these key points using an integrated approach. One of such popular initiatives was led by an international NGO –Tostan in Senegal.
It takes a holistic approach to development by facilitating a human rights-based, on-formal education program, called the Community Empowerment Program and well known for its success in accelerating the abandonment of FGM.
The UNFPA and UNICEF jointly lead the largest global program to accelerate the abandonment of FGM and provide care for its consequences by engaging different stakeholders including Networks of religious leaders, parliamentarians, non-governmental organizations, youth and human rights activist are supporting the campaign. Civil society organizations have been engaged and strengthened to implement community-led education and dialogue sessions on human rights and health.
What more can be done by NGOs
While it is not the prerogative of NGOs to enforce laws, there are other strategies that can be employed to combat FGM. In addition to the contributions of many FGM mainstream organizations, there are other strategies that can be adopted by NGOs who implement FGM targeted programs as well as others who can intervene indirectly even though FGM does not represent the core of their activities but work with groups that are the target (victims and perpetrators of FGM) in this case women.
An NGO in Cote d’Ivoire called ONG VIF does just that. They have a number of programs being implemented that addresses the issues of extreme poverty, health and gender equality. As we have seen these issues are quite similar to the dimensions of FGM. Addressing issues that empower women economically, give them the right education and information that enables them make informed decisions concerning their health.
Through their HIV/AIDS prevention program funded by PEPFAR, targeted at adolescents in secondary schools, they ensure that they inform the adolescents about the practice, how they can seek help if they are victims or how they can support others in their neighborhoods who are at risk by reporting to appropriate channels.
With another program funded by UNFPA which is focused on family Planning, Pregnant mothers are provided information on the risks of and consequences of subjecting their kids to mutilation.
Another opportunity being seized to educate women about the issue of FGM is through the adult education program funded by the European Union. Finally the NGO equally executes another project that both empowers vulnerable women by providing vocational technical training as well as providing zero interest loans enabling them to be independent. During these programs, the women are informed about this practice and their health consequences.
NGOs that work with other target groups like young people can equally incorporate topics that help them understand the danger of FGM and other dangerous practices that undermine the rights of women in society.
————————
Op–ed pieces and contributions are the opinions of the writers only and do not represent the opinions of Y!/YNaija
Bonaventure Ikediashi is a masters student in Public Health at the _University of Lucerne in Switzerland and a freelance consultant in an NGO in Cote d’Ivoire (ONGVIF)
