THE CHALLENGE

“There is no developmental, religious or health reason to cut or mutilate any girl or woman.” – Ban Ki-moon, UN Secretary General

It’s estimated that over 125 million women and girls in Africa and the Middle East have undergone some form of Female Genital Mutilation or Excision, including 23.8 million girls and women in Ethiopia (source Unicef).

Excision, also referred to as Female Genital Cutting (FGC) or Female Genital Mutilation (FGM), covers all types of operations including the partial or full removal of women’s external sexual organs or other injuries to women’s sexual organs.

In Ethiopia, 74% of women ages 15-49 have undergone some form of FGM and close to 25% of girls under the age of 14 are subjected to the harmful practice.

FGM—which is a violation of girls’ and women’s human rights—is severely damaging for girls’ health, causing physical and psychological trauma, and entailing health risks such as pain and bleeding, difficulty passing urine, dangerous infections (including HIV), complications in childbirth, and increased risk of newborn deaths. The practice can sometimes be fatal.

Violence against girls and women in Ethiopia is widespread. In 2012, close to 50% of Ethiopian women were victims of violence and it’s estimated that 59% of women have been subjected to sexual violence at the hands of an intimate partner (source Oxfam).

The solutions we're proposing

W4’s partners, Un Enfant par La Main and ChildFund Ethiopia are working to end the harmful practice of FGM in five villages in the Bassona Worana district in Ethiopia by raising awareness about the dangers of FGM among traditional cutters, students, teachers, and the wider community.

The program adopts a holistic approach: raising awareness among all community members about FGM and violence against girls and women, providing training and capacity-building services for schools, local institutions and religious leaders, and also providing traditional cutters with income-generating activity training, enabling the women to create livelihoods that will provide an alternative source of income.

The program will provide the following:

Awareness-raising and income-generating training for 75 traditional cutters

• We will work with traditional cutters to raise awareness about the dangers of FGM, also providing them with training opportunities so that they can generate alternative sources of income. The women will receive individual and group support to help them start their new income-generating activities.

Awareness-raising, training and services to combat FGM and violence against girls for students (5000 girls and boys) and 164 schoolteachers

Young girls in primary and secondary school are subjected to insults, sexual harrassment, requests to go on dates or provide sexual favors in exchange for better grades…

• In order to combat violence against girls, radio messages raising awareness about violence against girls and targeting students will be broadcast every two weeks for 11 months in each school. The messages will include information about a helpline and support services girls can access if they are victims of violence, the measures they can take, and how to respond.
• Schoolteachers and students in schoolclubs, which are very popular in Ethiopia, will benefit from a training program about combating FGM and violence against girls. Information booklets and codes of conduct – designed by the students – will be distributed in the six schools.

Awareness-raising and training for communities and local institutions

As violence does not only occur in schools, we need to mobilize entire communities in the fight against gender-based violence, including men and women! The program will also target judicial services, health centers, religious leaders and Idirs which are one of the oldest types of associations in Ethiopia and present in many villages!

• Adapted capacity-building training programs for institutions and community discussion groups will enable communities to break the taboos surrounding violence against women and girls, harmful traditional practices, such as child marriage, son preference and FGM.

THE IMPACT OF GIVING

Your donation will help to protect women and girls!

• It will help traditional cutters to abandon FGM, thanks to awareness-raising activities and the creation of new income-generating activities;
• Fewer girls in primary and secondary school will drop out of school or be obliged to repeat their school year, and the program will contribute to reducing gender inequalities in secondary and higher education;
• The program will increase awareness among parents about gender equality: parents will be encouraged to send their daughters to school and to treat their daughters and sons equally;
• The program will increase awareness about gender issues among local administrations, Idris, religious institutions, health centers, schools and judicial systems, which leads to improved prevention, detection, and response measures for victims, as well as sanctions for perpetrators;
• In the short-term, there will be an increase in the reporting of acts of violence against girls, as community awareness improves, and this will help to reduce gender-based violence in the long-run;
• Victims will have access to adequate medical and psychological care.

WHY FUND US?

Today, in many countries, girls continue to be subjected to child marriage, gender-based violence, FGM, sexual slavery, and gender discrimination.

Protect girls’ and women’s rights by protecting them against gender-based violence!

Act now! Help us end gender-based violence so that women and girls can live in safety and determine their own futures!