Aidos organized a workshop in Addis Ababa, from the 16th to 20th of October 2023, to involve men and boys in the elimination of the practice of female genital mutilation (FGM), through a gender transformative approach. The latter is a fundamental concept and practice of our Gender Transformative Approaches to Ending FGM phase 2 project.
For the occasion, three persons from Aidos went to Ethiopia, Clara Caldera, Cynthia Umurungi and Seydou Mamadou Niang, who facilitated a training aimed at 14 representatives of civil society organizations from Ethiopia, Nigeria, Tanzania and Tunisia. After the workshop, the attendees followed up on what they experienced and elaborated in the classroom by organizing similar trainings in their contexts, developing project proposals that actively involve men and boys in their communities or integrating them into the annual strategic plans of their organizations’ gender transformative actions to eliminate FGM. To support the organizations that participated in this phase of training, a practical training guide and a brochure summarizing the approach and lessons learned were created, providing guidelines for the involvement of boys and men in eliminating the practice.
Like any other form of gender based violence, FGM is closely linked to power relations between men and women and is a manifestation of gender inequality. Programs that aim to inform and raise awareness among communities about the negative impact of the practice must incorporate gender transformative approaches. This is important to be effective in information and awareness but above all to transform the mentality of men and boys on toxic masculinity, questioning social gender norms, including harmful gender stereotypes, while promoting the empowerment of women and girls. Aidos aims to strengthen the capacities of organizations, activists and professionals, in Africa and Europe, to prevent and respond to FGM by addressing discriminatory social and gender norms, to promote gender equality and women’s decision-making power.
This project is funded by the Joint UNFPA/Unicef Program on the Elimination of Female Genital Mutilation and the Spotlight Initiative to eliminate violence against women and girls.