Keywords
COLLECTIVE ACTIONSCURRICULUM
FEMALE CIRCUMCISION
MEDIA
FAMILIES
INTERPRETERS
VIOLENCE
VILLAGES
LEARNING
NONFORMAL EDUCATION
WOMEN'S RIGHTS
GIRLS
WOMEN'S HEALTH & HYGIENE
PARENTS
HYGIENE
LOCAL CULTURE
CULTURAL FACTORS
HUMAN RIGHTS
NONGOVERNMENTAL ORGANIZATIONS
PERSONAL RELATIONSHIPS
LITERACY
RELIGION & CULTURE
GENDER SENSITIZATION TRAINING
INDIGENOUS KNOWLEDGE
PARTNERSHIP
WOMEN'S LEADERSHIP TRAINING
COMMUNITY-BASED METHOD COMMUNITIES
Full record
Show full item recordOnline Access
http://hdl.handle.net/10986/10807Abstract
The note explores the dimensions of the initiative to abandon the practice of female genital cutting (FGC), which begun in Senegal, and spread nationwide, and to several other African countries. This initiative took part in a non-formal education program, sponsored by a Senegal-based nongovernmental organization, "Tostan", a program focused on themes of women's health, and human rights, and the beginnings of literacy. During the training program, women shared their experiences on this taboo topic, and confronted them with a new sense of women's rights, by approaching local authorities, and community members to win support for a declaration of intent to abandon this practice. The statement renouncing the practice, made in July 1997, made a minor media impact, though in local culture it did have greater impacts, despite some opposition. Regardless of the controversy, the spread of the initiative reached a turning point, when a religious leader became supportive of this cultural change, which led to the development of a strategy. Essentially, the strategy strength was based on its collective nature, on the fact that it came across as a movement for internal consistency, and liberation, not as an outside condemnation, and, it was an empowering method, i.e., its resolution was left to the initiative of each community, and its members.Date
2001-04Identifier
oai:openknowledge.worldbank.org:10986/10807http://hdl.handle.net/10986/10807