Listening to African Voices - FPZ

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3Methods3.1. Stages of study implementationThe research project was implemented in the following threephases/stages:I. Preparation of the field study:• Development of the methodological concept of thestudy and literature review (Feb 2010 - Jun 2010);• Meetings with the Hamburger Behörde für Soziales,Familie, Gesundheit und Verbraucherschutz (BSG)(Department of Social and Family Affairs, Health andConsumer Protection) (March 2010 - June 2010);• Recruitment of interviewers (May to August 2010);• Participatory training and preparation of the datacollection (August 2010);• Development of a toolkit (August 2010);II. Implementation of the field study:• Collection of qualitative data (Aug - Sept 2010);• Collection of quantitative data (Sept - Oct 2010)III. Data entry, analysis and report writing(October - December 2010)The three stages are explained consecutively in the followingparagraphs. Furthermore, ethical considerations (section 3.5)and difficulties and limits of the research (section 3.6) areoutlined.3.2. Preparation of the field study3.2.1. Development of the methodologicalconcept of the studyPlan Germany has funded several projects promoting theabandonment of FGM/C on the African continent. Overthe past decade, Plan has become more and more active inadvocating for effective prevention of FGM/C in Germanyand for improving national, regional and global approachesfor the abolition of the practice. An obstacle to scalingup programs against FGM/C in Germany (and in Europe)has been the absence of baseline data. Most activities inGermany have been implemented on the basis of anecdotalevidence or on data from Africa which are not necessarilyvalid for communities of the diaspora. To fill this gap,Plan started designing a project to establish baseline dataon FGM/C for one pilot city in Germany. The idea was toexplore how immigrants of different practicing countries perceivethe practice of FGM/C and whether there is evidencethat the practice continues in Germany. The location chosenwas the city of Hamburg. Being one of Germany’s largestcity and a vibrant centre of the country’s economy, Hamburghas become home to many migrants from Africa and fromthe West African region in particular. It is also the site of PlanGermany’s office, which ensures the presence of the necessarylogistics and contacts to facilitate the implementation ofsuch a project. The study concept was revised and fine-tunedwith support of other experts regarding FGM/C in Germany(Terre des Femmes, GTZ, Integra) and an extensive literaturereview was carried out.The research questions to be investigated are complex andinclude a wide range of variables. In order to create validdata, the methodological approach incorporated the followingcomponents:• It is participatory, cooperative and engages communitymembers in a joint research process;• It uses a triangulated research design by working withdifferent tools to collect qualitative and quantitative datafrom different target groups;• It foregrounds gender and other axes of social differencein the research design, data collection and analysis;• It is innovative and committed to co-learning;• It is culture-fair and trans-disciplinary, drawing on resourcesfrom ethnic, developmental, sociological, psychological,critical media literacy and women’s studies.3.2.2. Recruitment of interviewersDiscussing the topic of FGM/C in an interview setting is adelicate matter: the practice is taboo and not easily discussedwith strangers. The ethnic group, age and sex of theinterviewer also play a significant role. People tend to givemore details when talking to someone of the same sex, whois about the same age and who is familiar with traditionalpractices of the ethnic group. Furthermore, some womenmight still suffer from post-traumatic reactions related totheir experience of FGM/C. They feel sad or disturbed whenthe topic is raised or make efforts to avoid it.Apart from the topic, conducting interviews with Africanimmigrants is challenging in itself:• Numerous African immigrants are more comfortableexpressing themselves in languages other than German,in particular when it comes to sensitive topics. Some immigrantsonly speak local dialects.Listening to African Voices 13
• Many of them are struggling to legalise their papers andrefuse to provide information, fearing that this mightendanger their residence status and infl uence the outcomeof their asylum process.• Some cultures demand that the husband gives his permissionbefore the wife can be interviewed.• Many immigrants have accumulated negative experiencessince their arrival in Germany: the daily encounterswith authorities, the police and their work colleagues aremarked by discrimination or racism. This reduces theirwillingness to show high compliance during interviews;Hence, we needed interviewers who have access to, areknown by the communities and are considered by mostAfrican community members as acceptable persons to posequestions on this sensitive topic. In order to obtain accessto different communities and to both men and women, wemade efforts to recruit a team uniting diverse nationalitiesand ethnic backgrounds 2 as well as the same number of menand women of different ages. Further requirements for theinterviewers were:• Integration in one of the African communities and to havea wide range of contacts with other African migrants;• Fluency in either French or English (as spoken in Sub-Saharan Africa);• Fluency in at least one local language;• Motivation and commitment to participate in research onFGM/C;• Emotional stability and maturity to cope with the psychologicalhardship of conducting interviews on FGM/C;• Intellectual capacity and moral integrity sufficient to collecthigh quality data and to deal with the research topicappropriately;• A German work permit.Plan Germany launched the recruitment process in May 2010by posting an advertisement on the student vacancy page ofthe University of Hamburg. In the following weeks, effortsto spread the advertisement were multiplied. Flyers wereposted in Afro Shops and student halls. The call for applicationswas communicated to friends and former colleaguesof African origin who could further disseminate the callfor applications. Once recruitment interviews had started,candidates were invited to forward the advertisementto other African immigrants. We made special efforts toidentify potential candidates from high prevalence countries(e. g. Guinea, Ethiopia) or countries with a high number ofmigrants in Hamburg (Ghana, Togo, Nigeria and Egypt). ByAugust, 12 interviewers had been selected, six women andsix men from the following countries of origin: Ghana (2),Togo (1), Cameroon (1), Guinea (1), Gambia (1), Kenya (1),Ethiopia (2), Tanzania (1), Burkina Faso/Senegal (1) and Coted’Ivoire (1). Once the second phase of the data collection,the quantitative survey, had started, another nine interviewersjoined the team. These were six women and three men(from Guinea (1), Nigeria (2), Cote d’Ivoire (1), Ghana (1),Burkina Faso (2), Benin (1) and Togo (1)). Plan Germany didnot receive any applications from candidates of Egyptianorigin. Despite several attempts to get access to the Egyptiancommunity and identify potential candidates, we were notable to recruit any interviewers from this country.3.2.3. Training of interviewers and preparationof the data collectionThe 12 recruited interviewers were invited to participate ina 5-day training and preparation week from 16 to 20 August2010. The sessions were prepared and facilitated by thereport author. The agenda of the first half of the week aimedto encourage the interviewers to explore their feelings andperceptions towards the practice and to build up their knowledgeof FGM/C. The sessions included contents such as:• the prevalence, geographical spread and different types ofFGM/C,• socio-cultural and religious motives for practicing FGM/C,• medical, sexual and psychological risks and effects associatedwith the practice,• the legislation in African and European countries regardingFGM/C as well as• programming strategies to eliminate FGM/C in Africa.The sessions of the second half of the week had the objectiveto present, discuss and adapt the research methodology,to train and practice interview and question techniques andto develop and finalise question lists for the key informantinterviews. The interviewers learnt about and conducted roleplays on how to introduce the topic of FGM/C in a sensitivemanner. The importance of keeping a neutral attitude duringthe interview and of using non-suggestive methods of posingquestions was particularly emphasised in order to avoidinfl uencing the response pattern of the participants and toavoid the creation of socially desired answers. At the end ofthe week, a work plan for the first weeks of data collectionwas jointly drawn up.3.2.4. Description of the research toolsThe methodological approach of the project included twodata collection methods: (1) key informant interviews and(2) semi-structured individual interviews with African communitymembers.2 Of Sub-Saharan countries practicing FGM/C.14Listening to African Voices
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Table 32: Socio-demographic charact
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It was not an easy task to get the
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“As I said, for a number of pract
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“Female circumcision is and will
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Table 36: Proportion of women and m
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Table 37: Knowledge of German law a
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that FGM/C had been carried out in
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5.7.1. Protective factorsThe findin
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5.7.2.4. Low awareness and indiffer
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“The problem of female circumcisi
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The two remaining gynaecologists ha
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and an acceptable job, uniting the
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Daughters who were born in Africa a
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making power to protect their daugh
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challenging and requires reaching v
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• In order to encourage an attitu
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BEHAVIOR CHANGE MODEL: Abolition of
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Institut National de la Statistique
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8.3. Question list for key informan
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8.5. Questionnaire for quantitative
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Evaluation of girls at riskQ214 CHE
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8.6. Questionnaire for quantitative
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Evaluation of girls at riskQ214 CHE
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8.7. Map of the geographical spread
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8.9. Map of the geographical spread
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