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

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.