Dear Friends,

All I want for Christmas/Hanukah/etc. is to end the practice of Female Genital Mutilation. As for the past few years, I will not be exchanging presents for the holidays, and will instead be facilitating this fundraiser. Instead of getting presents of any kind for me for the holidays, please consider making a donation on this page to benefit TOSTAN, an incredible organization that has been advancing sustainable community development in Africa for over twenty years. If you are unable to donate (and also if you are), you can help by spreading the link to this page and by educating yourself on the issue. You can find out all about TOSTAN, its history, and its involvement at http://tostan.org

The image on this page is a mock flyer for a hypothetical documentary as part of a media project proposal that I wrote as a final project for my Media, Health, and Culture course. This class has been instrumental in exploring pressing global issues as well as how to take action, and has allowed me to explore my interests by providing a venue in which to research FGM in the context of the course's curriculum. For this I am very grateful.

The photo is taken from a recent article about TOSTAN's success in The New York Times, an inspiring piece which you can read here: http://www.nytimes.com/2011/10/16/world/africa/movement-to-end-genital-cutting-spreads-in-senegal.html?_r=3&scp=1&sq=Tostan&st=cse

Here is a comprehensive fact sheet on FGM/FGC from the World Health Organization:

http://www.who.int/mediacentre/factsheets/fs241/en/index.html

Here is a summary of Tostan's involvement with FGM activism from the Tostan Website:

Abandoning Female Genital Cutting (FGC)

In 1997, a group of women from the Senegalese village of Malicounda Bambara stood before twenty journalists and declared their decision to end the practice of female genital cutting (FGC) , a centuries-old tradition in their village. The women had participated in Tostan's basic education program, and the knowledge they had gained in classes on human rights and health led them to make this momentous decision. As of July 2011, 6,236 communities in seven countries have joined the women of Malicounda Bambara in abandoning both FGC and child/forced marriage:

Senegal (5232)
Guinea (561)
The Gambia (216)
Burkina Faso (23)
Somalia (34)
Mauritania (78)
Djibouti (92)

Although ending FGC was not one of Tostan's initial objectives, it has become a rallying point for Tostan participants, leading many participants and their communities and social networks to publicly abandon this harmful tradition. We believe that the significant results seen above are due to Tostan's respectful approach and methodology in regard to FGC.


Why Does Tostan's Approach Work?

Tostan takes a respectful approach that allows villagers to make their own conclusions about FGC and to lead their own movements for change. In the modules on human rights, participants learn about their human rights to health and to be free from all forms of violence, and they discuss the responsibilities they share to protect these rights in their community. In sessions on health, they learn about the potential immediate and long-term harmful consequences of the practice and discuss ways to prevent these health problems in the future. Thus, rather than blaming or criticizing, the Tostan program places villagers in charge of decisions regarding the practice. Ending FGC is not a requirement for communities to participate in the education program.

Tostan's methodology is central to FGC abandonment. Because FGC is linked to marriage opportunities, abandonment requires a collective decision by intramarrying groups . By helping to foster collective abandonment, Tostan's program allows community members to share the knowledge they gain with their neighbors, friends, and family members. Participants and Community Management Committee (CMC) members travel to other communities to raise awareness about what they have learned in class. Through this process, entire zones or regions can decide to end FGC together without having directly participated in Tostan classes.

Visit our FGC Abandonment News page for recent news about FGC abandonment in communities.

 

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