Listening to African Voices - FPZ

“The problem of female circumcision is complex. We needto sit down together as Africans and look at our culture.There is need to determine what needs to be preserved,what is good and what is bad. We have to make the decisionwhich parts of our culture we want to leave behind.There has to be a refl ection on the advantages and disadvantages.”(man of Gambian origin)5.8.2.1. Inclusion of major stakeholdersSuccessful awareness raising includes the implication of differentstakeholders. The recommended parties to involve inactivities were:• Health care workers: paediatricians, midwives, gynaecologistsand social workers in contact with immigrants,• Existing migrant projects (such as MIMI, the Aids-Hilfe,Adefra),• African entrepreneurs,• Representatives of African associations (women groups,cultural groups etc.) and• Religious leaders (imams, priests and pastors).5.8.2.2. Adopt a gender-sensitive approachThe participants also emphasised the need to adopt differentstrategies when approaching men and women. As FGM/Cis a very sensitive topic that is associated with very intimatedetails, it was recommended that men’s and women’sgroups be worked with separately during activities related toFGM/C. Furthermore, immigrant women are more difficultto mobilise for group activities and should be encouraged toparticipate in activities over a long period of time. Men, onthe other hand, can be easily brought together for sporadicactivities.“Another suggestion would be, when you discuss questionsof an intimate nature, that you work separately withmen and women and to have women work with womenand men work with men.” (man of Beninese origin)“Women need a long-term project and awareness-raisingprogram. Men are more fl exible.” (woman of Kenyanorigin)5.8.2.3. Work with groups and not with individualsSeveral participants also recommended that we focus ongroup activities rather than on sensitising individuals. As asocial convention, the abolition of FGM/C demands a changein social values and behaviour. Such changes are possibleonly if the group as a whole starts to question the conventionand to decide to abandon it.“How to encourage abandoning it? […] the focus shouldbe on the community and not an individual family. Mostly,at least to the society I came from, tradition is the constitution.Everybody abides by that constitution. Therefore,it is good to focus on the general public rather than onan individual. One may invest much time and resourcesto convince a single family. But it might seem that thatindividual family is convinced and has expressed its willingnessto abandont a practice. But as long as that familyis within its society, it has no chance of abandoning thepractice that it was advised to stop. Impossible! So thefirst mechanism should be to focus on the group ratherthan on the individual.” (man, key informant of Ethiopianorigin)5.8.2.4. Use traditional resources of the practicing societyOne participant from Ethiopia also suggested that we modifythe traditional sayings and legends of their community.These folklores are perceived as traditional laws and cannotbe disrespected. He suggested that the folklore encouragingFGM/C should be rewritten and disseminated as countersayingsto FGM/C.“The second suggestion is that you produce counter folklorewhich challenges the current folklore that justifies thepractice. When I talk to German friends, they don’t understandhow folklore should be so important to us. They areunwritten laws everybody should abide by. I knew a lotof folklore justifying the importance of FGM. This folkloreshould be collected and then counter-folklore producedand carefully injected into the society. The new folklorecan later become the unwritten laws to followed.” (man,key informant of Ethiopian origin)5.8.2.5. Communication channelsSome participants suggested that we make use of media thatis commonly used by Africans to communicate messages. Wewere advised, for instance, to post information on web pagesor radio channels of specific African countries or to publishinformation in printed media like the journal “Jeune Afrique”(for more details on media preferences of African communities,see section 5.10). Other ideas were to spread messagesvia common meeting sites of African immigrants such asAfro Shops, hair dressing saloons and African restaurants.5.8.3. Provide assistance to women and men who need helpwith problems related to FGM/CAssisting women and men affected by the harmful effects ofFGM/C was also recommended as a strategy to promote theabandonment of FGM/C. Social workers or gynaecologists82Listening to African Voices