Stakeholders in the fight against female genital mutilation have intensified efforts to tackle the vice through the adoption of a multifaceted approach.
In the latest push, the Africa Coordinating Centre For Abandonment Of Female Genital Mutilation (ACCAF), the International Committee for the Development of Peoples (CISP) have partnered with the United Nations International Children’s Emergency Fund( UNICEF ) to develop executive short courses on social norms change expected to influence social behavior change.
According to ACCAF Coordinator Patrick Ndavi , the short courses seeks to interrogate the harmful practice that has violated the rights of girls, women and children as well building the capacity of the trainees on appropriate social norms.
“Our work here as ACCAF is evidence generation, capacity building as well as advocacy .We note that communities are dynamic and we must remain alive to that and work with them in maintaining the dignity of its people,”said Ndavi.
The pilot phase will involve students, government agencies and non- governmental organizations drawn from four countries including Kenya, Somali, Ethiopia and Uganda.
CISP County Representative, Michelle Stella say they have been implementing the approach of engaging communities through dialogues and specific methodologies to achieve change on social norms deemed as harmful to women and children.
“We have partnered with UNICEF ESARO to offer trainings targeting CSO’s practitioners and government officials in different countries across East and Southern Africa to build a regional team of experts who can then deliver the programme in the field, “he said.
The two courses offered will include Diagnosis of Social Norms which involves designing and Implementing contextualized programmes for changing social norms with the other offered on the second week on Measurement which involves monitoring, evaluating, accountability ,adaptation and learning .
A budget of 75 million shillings has been set aside for the delivery of social norms training which will be spread over the next one year.
