For over a year now, Orchid Project has been supporting social mobilization teams in the Fouta to visit communities, raising awareness about human rights, as well as the consequences of harmful practices of female genital cutting.
During the first year of the Orchid Project/Tostan partnership, only one social mobilization team traveled around the huge area of northern Senegal called the Fouta (where the Matam and Saint Louis regions are located). Since last November, a second team led by Amadou Tidiane Sow was added to the first and now they cover the entire Matam and Podor departments. Following this change, the Monitoring, Evaluation, Research, and Learning (MERL) Department at Tostan decided to send a team of two people to monitor the activities being implemented and evaluate the process of organized diffusion.
On February 27, the MERL team, together with the Tostan regional coordination staff in the Fouta, visited Golléré to attend a sharing workshop about FGC with community leaders. The dialogues were very successful: participants discussed Tostan’s human rights-based approach and social norms. Groups then discussed FGC specifically and possible activities to raise awareness of the harmful effects of this practice in communities that have not abandoned it yet.
Going to Diamel DiolbéDespite the challenges in this conservative region, Mariam Ba Sada, Rural Councilor in the village of Baamwaamy, remains optimistic. She said: “For female genital cutting, it will be like for school enrollment. In the past, when you brought your children to school, people told you that you were leading them straight to hell. Today, that has changed. Everything evolves. There is no reason why the practice persists because we know it is not recommended by Islam and is very harmful to women. Outdated ideas disappear, and this one will disappear. I am confident.”
Some women shared their own experiences with FGC and its consequences, especially during childbirth. Indeed, one thing that can be learned from the participants’ testimonies is that significant progress has been made in the Fouta. A few years ago, the subject of FGC was still extremely taboo to discuss. Today, people are slowly becoming more comfortable talking about the practices and are leading efforts to abandon it.
After this workshop, the MERL team traveled to the village of Diamel Diolbé, with Amadou Tidiane Sow and Ibrahima Boly, the assistant to the Fouta regional coordinator Abou Diack. Although the two villages are only five km apart, the trip takes time: travellers must go through a range of dunes dotted with thorny bushes, then cross an arm of the Senegal River by boat before arriving in Diamel Diolbé.
Despite the work in the fields and the strong wind laden with dust, over 30 community members, mostly women, came to welcome the team. Discussions revealed that the community knows the harmful consequences of practices such as FGC because they participated in Tostan’s Community Empowerment Programme (CEP) in 2004 and the recent visit by the social mobilization team. Since their participation in the CEP, women regularly go door-to-door to raise awareness about childhood immunization, pre- and postnatal consultations, children’s enrolment in school and other topics. The community also stated that they are ready to participate in a public declaration for the abandonment of FGC in the region.
According to the MERL team, the next day was very different. The leaders of the two villages visited stated they support FGC and confirmed that it is still practiced in their villages, a few weeks after the babies’ birth. Village leaders explained that the local marabout (religious leader) recommends perpetuating this tradition.
These examples show that outreach and information sharing is still needed in the region, especially for religious leaders and local authorities. In fact, the Fouta region of Senegal still has many villages reluctant to abandon the practice.
These challenges do not discourage social mobilization teams. On the contrary, they will continue to travel hundreds of kilometers every month to talk about human rights in communities, meet local authorities, and organize intervillage meetings; and the MERL team findings encourages them to maintain their efforts.
Story by Céline Gendre, Regional Volunteer, Tostan
This blog is part of a series on the Social Mobilisation project that Orchid Project funds in support of Tostan’s long term Community Empowerment Programme. Social Mobilisation is focused on ensuring the acceleration of abandonment of FGC in Senegal. Teams of volunteers who have already abandoned FGC, called social mobilisation agents, visit and create dialogue with inter-connected communities on human rights and the negative consequences of FGC. Their work aims to spread the message of abandonment and encourage others to join them.
Social mobilisation agents are individual members of the community who have been inspired by their understanding that FGC is a harmful practices, and are eager to share their own experiences with others. Often, they are religious, traditional or community leaders who are widely respected and well-connected, active, influential participants.
You can find out more about Social Mobilisation by clicking here. If you would like to support this work, please click here
