AIDOS, GAMS Belgium and the End FGM European Network are organising an International Virtual Stakeholder Dialogue (ISD) on Gender transformative approaches to ending Female Genital Mutilation (FGM).
The International Stakeholder Dialogue (ISD) working groups will meet in October and November 2021, in the run-up to the Donors Working Group on FGM meeting that will be taking place in November/December 2021 (dates TBC) and will result in a concrete set of recommendations for donors and key actors in the field. In order to gather these recommendations, two working groups (one in English and one in French) will hold a series of 3 meetings of about 2 hours each.
The Dialogue will gather stakeholders from the public, private and civil society sectors, in Africa, Europe and beyond, working towards the elimination of Female Genital Mutilation. The dialogue builds on the Action points of the Generation Equality Forum that took place in Paris in June 2021, in particular, Action 1 and Action 3 that, if implemented and fully funded, can contribute to lasting and transformative change. Participants at the stakeholder dialogue will discuss how the above Actions may be (or are) implemented in the field, with regard to the elimination of Female Genital Mutilation. Organisations bringing innovative feminist practices and strategies are encouraged to participate and share their experience.
The outcomes of the dialogue will be taken forward in the future work of the Community of practice on FGM (CoP FGM), which provides virtual spaces for collective discussion, ideas and information-sharing on Female Genital Mutilation, whilst applying a Building Bridges perspective among different geographical areas of the word. Parallel with the International Stakeholder Dialogue, the discussion will also be opened up to all members of the CoP FGM through a thematic discussion.
The dialogue is supported by the UNFPA-UNICEF Joint Programme on the Elimination of Female Genital Mutilation and Spotlight Initiative to eliminate violence against women and girls funded – project “Building bridges between Africa and Europe to tackle FGM”.