Empowering Grandmother leaders to stop FGM

Female Genital Mutilation (FGM) is a harmful traditional practice that affects young girls and women in many communities throughout Senegal and is prominent in southern Senegal, where Vélingara is located.  Abandonment of a harmful tradition such as FGM is not easy and must use an integrative approach that involves the entire community. 

 Over the last four months, several activities related to our project combatting FGM have taken place.  One Women and Girls (WAG) forum took place, during which all three generations of women (grandmothers, mothers and adolescent girls) discussed the most pressing issues facing girls in Vélingara.  During the forum all three generations discussed the issues at hand and worked together to identify possible solutions.  Grandmother Leader training sessions also took place in four different sites, involving a total of 42 grandmothers.  Grandmother Leaders are essential to the abandonment of harmful traditional practices – especially in the case of FGM. 

 For sustained change to take place, however, the entire community needs to be involved.  Intergenerational Forums are a way for members of the community from both genders and all age groups to come together and discuss the most pressing issues affecting their community.  During the past four months, 4 Intergenerational Forums were attended by grandmothers, mothers, fathers, adolescent boys and girls, various community leaders and the local teachers.  These forums foster discussion and consensus building in the community and are necessary for any positive change to happen.  As teacher Tidian Sow so eloquently noted:

 “Every development activity should be supported with understanding and ongoing communication. This communication should form the foundation of any initiative, without which a project will end up with heated dispute and will result more in misunderstanding and division than success.”

Grandmother Leaders are instrumental in mobilizing their communities to discuss the harmful effects of FGM and to come to a consensus on its abandonment.  Whilst many grandmothers previously spoke amongst themselves about the harm of FGM, it is only now they have been able to use their voices to make a lasting change for girls.  GMP’s Grandmother Leadership training has given them the tools they need to feel confident in their leadership role and voicing their opinions in front of the whole community and with village chiefs, imams and other community leaders.

“Since the arrival of GMP, we have been leading discussions on female circumcision. Before, we knew the dangers but it was with the project that we had the confidence and the courage to speak about it publicly.”

Fatoumata Baldé

Many grandmothers previously had an awareness and understanding of the potential harmful effects of FGM, but didn’t know how to make a change.  Using participatory learning techniques and supporting the existing strengths of senior women Grandmother Leaders have been able to make a change in numerous communities across southern Senegal. 

“Long before the Grandmother Project’s intervention, I discussed with other grandmothers of the village about the harm of cutting because I was a midwife at the hospital and had noticed problems among circumcised women. But it was only with the arrival of Grandmother Project that people really became aware of these problems. While I discussed individually with the grandmothers, GMP involved everyone. We grandmothers have made a commitment to not circumcise our granddaughters. We met together with the village chief and the parents of children and talked about the negative consequences of excision. Together, we agreed to denounce anyone who continued to practice female circumcision in the village.”

Kadiatou Baldé, Grandmother Leader

With your continued help, GMP can train more Grandmother Leaders in new communities and ensure that girls will no longer have to deal with the harmful effects of FGM.