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Photo Albums
CIDA 2001 CIDA 2003 - Village meetings CIDA 2003 - Workshop
Anti-FGM pledge Anti-FGM Poetry Competition
Anti-Female Genital Programming
CIDA Final Report - 2003
SAACID has been conducting anti-FGM initiatives since its inception in 1990. Female Genital Mutilation (FGM) pervades Somali society with an estimated 98.5% of the Somali female population undergoing some sort of genital mutilation.
In Somalia, four types of FGM are carried out:
SAACID has concentrated most of its very limited resources into the rural district of Adale in the Middle Shabelle Region of Somalia.
SAACID conducted its first campaign there in 1991. In 1996, SAACID conducted its first international partnership on anti-FGM programming with ADRA - Somalia (Adventist Church). This programme was conducted in Adale Town and was an education campaign aimed at providing the population with knowledge of the biological problems associated with the procedure. In 2001 SAACID partnered CIDA (Canadian International Development Agency). This programme was tailored with the lessons learned from our programming in Mogadishu and from the prior ADRA initiative. It was aimed at modifying behaviour away from the procedure in Adale Town. It focussed on empowering local communities and making them responsible for modifying behaviour towards FGM in their local community. It was a tactical success, but was limited in its impact because the programme did not focus on the wider community in the district. Without wide community support and agreement no substantive change can take place, as the only 'social security' anyone has is the clan, and if the clan grouping as a whole does not agree with something, it cannot happen.
A second collaboration with CIDA in 2003 widened the scope of the initiative to include all the major villages in Adale District (11 in all - plus Adale Town). The aim was to empower local communities so that they would create and implement a strategy for the complete eradication of FGM in their District. The programme was broken down into a 4-day workshop for all the major leaders in the district - to provide an outline of the initiative and to get their input as to how it should proceed. The second phase was to then go to each of the 11 major villages in the district and have open village meetings to provide the local leaders with a summary of the outcome of the workshop, the education necessary to implement the necessary change, and to initiate the development of a village committee that would develop a village strategy to eliminate the practice in their village.
The village meetings exceeded SAACID's expectations. All communities agreed to completely eradicate FGM from their communities over the next 5 years. All communities have set up committees and these committees meet on average once per month to provide ongoing impetus for the initiative.
An inaugural pledge by mothers and girls in the district not to have the FGM procedure performed was held in Adale Town in August of 2003 (see photos). Many girls couldn't come due to the distances involved and the lack of transport. Many of the girls who did attend were fearful that they were being taken to have the operation performed. SAACID sees that as a first concrete step to the complete eradication of the procedure in the district.
SAACID believes that the format that it has developed can be transferred to other communities within Somalia. SAACID lacks the financial backing to carry this initiative further.
SAACID has strong expertise in anti-FGM education programming. If you would like to know more about our anti-FGM programming, or like to contribute to future programming, please feel free to contact us using the link below.