UNFPA-UNICEF Joint Programme on Eliminating Female Genital Mutilation, Phase III

In 2020, over 79,863,144 people were engaged through digital approaches and campaigns promoting the elimination of FGM; 120,605 girls saved from undergoing the harmful practice, while 2,156 communities involving 2,220,937 people made public declarations to abandon FGM, of which 1,792 established surveillance systems that continue to protect girls from undergoing the practice. Of the 17 countries where the Joint Programme is being implemented, 14 have legislations that criminalize FGM. In Guinea, the new constitution adopted in 2020 now includes the countrys ban on FGM (Article 8) and a revised Children's Code that integrates FGM as a childrens rights violation. This is in addition to Law No. 2016/059/AN (the Criminal Code 2016)2, in which Articles 258261 prohibit FGM whether performed by traditional or modern methods. To further support the countrys efforts, a partnership was established with the Ordre des Avocats de Guinée (Lawyer's Order of Guinea) to provide pro bono legal assistance to girls at risk of FGM. Lawyers from the Order participated alongside juvenile judges across the country in capacity building sessions on prosecuting cases involving FGM. In Sudan, following decades of activism by the National Council for Child Welfare(NCCW), as well as women and child rights advocates, the Sudanese transitional government ratified an amendment to Criminal Law Article 141, criminalizing FGM in July of 2020. The National Council for Child Welfare is strongly committed to putting in place mechanisms for the creation of an enabling environment to enforce the newly introduced legislation. In this regard, the NCCW and the Joint Programme, in partnership with civil society organizations, established a roadmap that includes training for law enforcement officials, community leaders and health providers, in addition to strengthening the referral and tracking systems of FGM cases. It is envisaged that the roadmap will be aligned with existing national strategies for health, girls education, protection, and GBV. Also, as part of the roadmap, Article 141 was mainstreamed in the judiciary training manual, and an accountability framework was developed. Due to COVID-19, in 2020, the Joint Programme leveraged digital technology to conduct mobile surveys, risk communication and community engagement (RCCE), as well as remote training of frontline workers. Actors in the justice sector also benefited from remote training through digital means, including mobile phones. While the number of actors that received training and technical guidance was lower in 2020 compared to 2019, due to the pandemic, it is noteworthy that in 7 countries Burkina Faso , Ethiopia, The Gambia, Guinea Bissau, Kenya, Senegal, and Uganda - the number of law enforcement staff who received capacity building support in the justice sector actually increased in the reporting year. With the onset of COVID-19 pandemic, initiatives aimed at developing costed national action plans (NAPs) were put on hold as governments reallocated the available limited resources to the pandemic response measures. As such, the Joint Programme 2020 target of 16 countries could not be achieved. However, this notwithstanding, two new countries, Sudan and The Gambia, introduced costed NAPs during the pandemic, increasing the number of countries with NAPs from 10 in 2019 to 12 in 2020. Mauritania has made significant progress towards the elimination of FGM. In less than a decade, the prevalence rate in the country has dropped by five percent. Also, commendably, the countrys 2020 Finance Act includes a budget line dedicated to the prevention of FGM, which will make it easier to track government investments in the elimination of the harmful practice. Moreover, a national strategy and draft law to address GBV was adopted in 2020 and both include specific provisions on FGM. The number of countries with annual implementation review systems increased to 14 in 2020 from 12 in 2019. The two countries that newly introduced annual implementation review systems in 2020 were The Gambia and Guinea. The Gambia developed an FGM Strategic Plan (2021 - 2025) in 2020, highlighting the commitment of government and civil society to end FGM, and ensure a coordination mechanism is in place for all stakeholders working to eliminate the practice. Since 2013, there has been a growing increase in the number of institutions involved in the campaign against FGM in The Gambia. The Strategic Plan, therefore, is envisaged to serve as a guiding framework for programming, learning, resource allocation, and monitoring, all aimed at reducing FGM prevalence rates in country. In 2020, community-level surveillance systems were established across 14 countries. While the target for community-level surveillance systems was not met due to the pandemic, more than 60 percent of communities established surveillance structures following public declarations of FGM elimination. In some contexts, community surveillance systems were the only form of protection for girls at risk of FGM during the COVID-19 crisis. The pandemic has resulted inseveral countries integrating community surveillance as a non-formal protection system into the formal system. In support of improved coordination between ministries of gender and civil society in Kenya and Uganda, a WhatsApp group was created that enabled stakeholders to report and respond to cases of FGM in real-time. The WhatsApp group was set up to facilitate communicationsbetween leaders along the border of Kenya and Uganda, and has been partly responsible for many of the rescue initiatives of girls crossing into Kenya to undergo FGM. In Mali, 317 new village communities in Kayes, Ségou and Koulikoro signed public declarations of FGM elimination. Each village community has set up an early warning alert and respondcommunity networks to monitor cases of FGM following public declarations. The networks are run by adolescent girls and young people, and in 2020 prevented 165 girls from undergoing FGM. The target number of communities where religious leaders delinked FGM from religious requirements has been exceeded throughout Phase III. This particular intervention is critical in shifting social norms in countries where FGM as a harmful practice is justified as a religious reNuirement. With the exception of Mali, where religious leaders remain resistant to eliminating FGM, all countries where the Joint Programme is being implemented worked with religious leaders, some using digital platforms, to reach communities. In Mauritania, 100 Imams were mobilized through the Network of Oulemas RIOPEAB (Network of Imams and Ulemas for the Protection of Children and Charitable Actions), who made public statements de-linking FGM from religious reNuirements. In Somalia, 148 religious leaders (30 women and 118 men) educated their peers and conducted education sessions about how Islam does not support FGM. Within the Phase III timeframe, the Joint Programme has exceeded the target for the number of communities which provide capacity development packages including life skills and Alternative Rites of Passage (ARP) programmes. This programmes include comprehensive sexuality education offered through school or community-based clubs. This has been attributed to the Joint Programmes emphasis on gender transformative approaches, including strengthening girls agency and empowerment, while in some communities, the school closures due to COVID-19 pandemic meant that clubs were the only social activity available to adolescents. As such, in 2020, despite the challenge posed by COVID-19, the number of communities where girls became change agents after completing a capacity development package was 3,622, overly exceeding the annual target of 1570. In 2020, 403,748 girls and women received FGM health services, less than the annual target of 459,046. As Neetu et al note, critical services, including health services, became either unavailable, deprioritized, or deemed non-essential during the COVID-19 crisis.19 Specifically, six countries reported a decrease in health care services: Burkina Faso, Egypt, Guinea, Senegal, Sudan, and Uganda. As part of its response strategy to COVID-19 interruptions in health services, the Joint Programme advocated for the inclusion of FGM in national humanitarian response plans, which would support continuity of services. It is likely there was a period during the initial phase of the pandemic when girls and women were confined to their homes or services were unavailable. Projections show the Joint Programme exceeding the target for Phase III, which signifies noticeable shifts in seeking behaviors for health services related to FGM, as well as an increase in access to similar services by both survivors and girls and women at risk of FGM. In Ethiopia, the Joint Programme ensured continuity of SRHR services, which were interrupted due to COVID-19 public health response. Support included providing training to 45 community-based Health Extension Workers and 319 health care providers, along with 258 trained birth attendants on care services for girls and women affected by FGM, including mental health and psychosocial support (MHPSS). The trained health care workers reached 238,403 girls and women in 2020, providing front-line health care services At regional level, in the context of the African Union Commission (AU) Saleema Initiative for the Elimination of FGM, the AUC launched the Saleema Youth Victorious Ambassadors (SYVA) programme, an example of gender-responsive accountability, as activists and survivors, the Ambassadors will participate in the Saleema accountability initiative for ending FGM. For the Joint Programme, this means holding AUC Member States accountable for their commitment to eliminate FGM by 2030.

The overall goal of the Programme is to accelerate efforts towards the reduction of FGM, fulfilling the rights of the girls and women by realizing social and gender norms transformation by 2021. The Programme is based on the following hypothesis/theory of change: If policies and legislation are in place and appropriately resourced for the elimination of FGM, and women and girls at risk of and affected by FGM access comprehensive services, and individuals, families and communities accept the norm of keeping girls intact (i.e., not subjected to FGM), then there will be elimination of FGM at the household, community and society levels by 2030. Outcome 1: Countries have an enabling environment for the elimination of FGM practices at all levels and in line with human rights standards The Programme will work with regional and sub-regional political entities to increase accountability among governments ensuring the implementation of laws and policies. The Joint Programme will facilitate links between governments, civil society organizations (CSOs) and networks in developing policies and programmes.Output 1.1: Strengthened regional accountability mechanisms for ensuring increased national commitment to end FGM.Output 1.2: Increased national capacity for the development, enactment and implementation of FGM laws and policies.Output 1.3: Increased engagement of civil society and young people with policymakers for the elimination of FGM. Outcome 2: Girls and women are empowered to exercise and express their rights by transforming social and gender norms in communities to eliminate FGMIn supporting social norms change, the Joint Programme will continue to educate, encourage dialogue, engage in consensus-building and facilitate community commitments for the collective abandonment of FGM. Scaling up the amplification of a new norms that supports keeping girls free from FGM will be a key innovation. Phase III will be marked by a greater emphasis on gender norm transformation, addressing gender roles and power relations that often contribute to perpetuating FGM.Output 2.1: Improved community and interpersonal engagement to address and amplify social and gender norms transformation.Output 2.2: Strengthened girls’ and women’s assets and capabilities to exercise their rights.Output 2.3: Increased engagement of men and boys on changing social and gender norms. Outcome 3: Girls and women access appropriate, quality and systemic services for FGM prevention, protection and careThe Joint Programme will continue to prioritize access to quality and appropriate services to meet child protection and SRH needs, as well as the rights of girls and women at risk of and affected by FGM. The Joint Programme will also focus on creating a cadre of service providers advocating to end the medicalization of FGM.Output 3.1: Improved availability and quality of FGM services in Joint Programme intervention areas.Output 3.2: Existence of a cadre of advocates amongst FGM service providers, including social workers, teachers, midwives, nurses and doctors. Outcome 4: Countries have better capacity to generate and use evidence and data for policymaking and improving programming In Phase III a fourth cross-cutting domain is introduced focusing on piloting a social norm measurement framework and establishing a global knowledge hub – a platform for sharing the programme’s FGM content across countries and with the Diaspora.Output 4.1: Increased generation of evidence for social norms change and programme improvement.Output 4.2: Enhanced knowledge management and exchange of good practices for policy and programme improvement.