Community-based interventions targeting behaviour change towards the practice of FGM in Burkina Faso and Sudan | ICRH

TEAM MEMBERS 

Els Leye; Soetkin Bauwens; Marleen Temmerman; Amel Fahmy; Elise Johansen; Patricia Claeys

PERIOD 

01/01/2004 - 31/12/2008

PARTNERS

• World Health Organisation, Switzerland (project coordinator)
• International Centre for Reproductive Health (project partner) 
• Mwangaza Action, Burkina Faso (local principal investigator)
• Ahfad University for Women, Sudan (local principal investigator) 

OBJECTIVES

Main objective

• To contribute to the global effort towards the abandonment of FGM and, in addition, to generate a behaviour change process in the intervention communities in Burkina Faso and Sudan

Specific objectives

• To identify successful determinants in designing, implementing, monitoring and evaluating best practices on FGM and to develop guidelines for these practices
• To develop and test an adapted intervention based on existing community-based interventions and derived from a theoretical model
• To create a social mobilization process in the intervention communities in Burkina Faso and Sudan
• To generate a sustained momentum towards behaviour change with regard to FGM in the intervention communities.

METHODS

• Participatory approach 
• Situation analysis prior to the design of the intervention to assess the socio-cultural context of the intervention community and to better plan, implement, monitor and evaluate the intervention
• Integrated approach within a broader programme of community empowerment to improve sustainability of the intervention, to increase the benefits for the community.
• Determination of a suitable theoretical framework to provide legitimacy to the approach used and to better assess stages of behaviour change
• Introduction of FGM as part of a broader programme and to pay careful attention to strategies to enter the community
• Social mobilization activities in the communities as part of the intervention
• Creation of monitoring bodies at grassroots level to ensure community ownership and maintain sustainability
• Baseline and endline measurement

ACTIVITIES

PHASE I: Preparatory phase (6 months)

• Activity 1: Selection of local partner and FGM team, orientation workshop and memorandum of understanding (two months)
• Activity 2: Collection and/or development of training material and IEC materials (two months)
• Activity 3: Situation analysis (one month)
• Activity 4: Planning meeting (one month)
• Activity 5: Training workshop on study methodology (one month)

PHASE II: Intervention phase (12 months)

• Activity 6: Raising awareness/positive deviants/intergenerational dialogue/community mobilisation
   Raising awareness activities to break the silence surrounding the topic of FGM; to create a supporting environment with regard to the activities of the programme; to create a wide base of community awareness on the issues surrounding the practice of FGM.
   Identifying positive deviants and integrating them in the programme as agents of change
   Intergenerational dialogue to create an enabling environment to discuss taboo and sensitive subjects such as sexuality, gender roles, FGM, etc.
   Community mobilization to create a critical mass of people who can decide to abandon the practice of FGM.
• Activity 7: Closing workshop (one month)

PHASE III: Dissemination phase (5 months)

• Activity 8: Evaluation of the intervention (two months)
  A set of qualitative and quantitative indicators will be developed to monitor the implemented activities (process indicators) and to assess outputs of the project (baseline/endline indicators).
• Activity 9: Development of guidelines (one month)
  The outcome of the intervention study will result in the development of guidelines for the design, implementation, monitoring and evaluation of future FGM community-based interventions, including cost and human resources estimates.
• Activity 10: Dissemination seminars (two months)
  The results of the intervention will be communicated to the intervention communities during a local seminar in each community.

EXPECTED RESULTS

• Creation of a social mobilization process towards behaviour change with regard to abandoning FGM in the intervention communities
• Contribution to the progressive abandonment of the practice. 
• Guidelines for policymakers and others on how to address the changing nature of FGM and how to adapt an intervention to a specific or different setting.