In Somaliland,
the International Solidarity Foundation runs a Network against FGM (NAFIS). The network’s main goal is to eradicate FGM in the territory by campaigning for anti-FGM and through engagement with religious leaders and policymakers, who are mostly men. Through their community meetings, local civil society organisations managed to influence a FATWA (a ruling on a point of Islamic law given by a recognised authority) on FGM in favour of an optional Sunnah cutting instead of an obligatory and more extensive practice and were also instrumental in the drafting of an anti-FGM bill (2019) condemning all types of FGM whether carried out by a parent, caregiver, health worker or a traditional cutter.
Tackle Africa a UK founded organisation working in Africa, uses football to engage and educate men and boys to address sexual and reproductive health right issues, including FGM. Their education sessions take place on the pitch where they take their beneficiaries through drills to educate them on issues like FGM or HIV, by making them answer pertinent questions and provide solutions to problems. Tackle Africa employs an inclusive method to train African young leaders to become coaches and deliver the message to other young people.
In The Gambia,
Safe Hands for Girls and
HeForShe organisations implement various education and training programs on FGM for law enforcers, who are mostly men.
The Annual 16 Days of Activism Nationwide Caravan is a very popular and widely used medium in the country for community engagements on violence against women and sexual and reproductive issues like FGM. It takes different organisations and activists to all the regions in The Gambia to advocate for gender equality and the eradication of FGM.
Through their male champions program, the Kenyan organization Men End FGM engages men and boys in various communities they work with by educating them on FGM and their possible role in the fight against the practice. This program has created a significant ripple effect where men from the community engagements go back to their communities to lead anti-FGM campaigns and help eradicate the practice. The NGO reports that they have saved 250 girls who were at risk of FGM, increased the number of men spreading the message in their community, reported a change of attitudes and overall significant reduction of cases of FGM in their areas of intervention.
The “Men Speak Out Against FGM” was a partnership between three European NGOs (GAMS Belgium, FORWARD UK, HIMILO foundation in the Netherlands) aiming to engage men in the process of ending FGM and, on a larger scale, to contribute to ending violence against women and promote gender equality. Through the program, that ran from 2015 to 2017, peer educators were trained in the three countries and specific tools were developed for men (posters, booklet, video, TV and radio programs), addressing FGM with a human rights and gender approach. The trained male peer educators organized awareness-raising activities in their communities and also contributed to the data collection of a study that was conducted parallel to the awareness-raising activities. At the end of the “Men Speak Out” program national events were held in the three countries in which male allies were invited to take a public stand against FGM and also to engage in dialogue with women.