Women Development Children and Gender (WDCG) Program
The Christian Council of Tanzania (CCT) Women Development Children and Gender (WDCG) program has been engaged in promoting women empowerment in social justice with emphasis on gender equity. The program also seeks to enhance the capacity of women and children’s participation in decision making processes for their political, socio-economic and cultural well being. Specifically, the WDCG program has continued to focus more on advocacy against Gender Based Violence (GBV) and in particular Female Genital Mutilation (FGM) in five districts: Kiteto (Manyara Region), Singida (Singida region), Tarime, Serengeti and Rorya districts in Mara regions.
Baseline surveys conducted by CCT in these five districts indicated FGM to be rampantly practiced mainly on young girls. In Singida district, FGM is practiced on girls as young as one day old; in the other four districts it is performed on older girls, some of them as old as 12 or 14 years of age. It is believed that the reason for reduction of age of FGM in Singida is fear of legal action being taken against the perpetrators as there is a law against FGM. Therefore they conduct FGM on girls as soon as they are born so there is less chance of being caught. It should be understood that more than 80% of women in Tanzania deliver at homes with the help of traditional birth attendants (TBAs). In most cases it is the TBAs who perform the FGM. The CCT WDCG program continues to engage different stakeholders in addressing issues of FGM in these districts.
VICOBA Program - a way of sustaining advocacy against Gender Based Violence (GBV) in Kiteto
Kiteto is one of the districts of Manyara region. This region has one of the highest rates of Female Genital Mutilation (FGM). The region is mainly occupied by Masai groups and they are the ones practicing FGM at high rates. Other groups of people living in the district have followed Masai tradition due to longstanding relationships in the community.
The work of advocacy against FGM in Kiteto by the CCT started 2008 after a baseline survey showed a high prevalence of FGM in many areas of the district. Since then, CCT has worked on anti-FGM programs in collaboration with the district Maternal Health Coordinator as well as the district’s Department of Social Welfare. Work with women ‘circumcisers’ has improved their understanding of FGM issues. These practitioners of FGM identify themselves as traditional birth assistants but in reality they are the perpetrators of this offence against women and children. Through advocacy programs, the women circumcisers have come to understand the legal aspects of this practice and are therefore aware that it is illegal to conduct FGM on young girls and women.
Learning from other CCT programs it was decided to establish a Village Community Bank (VICOBA) program in Kiteto as a way of sustaining anti-FGM advocacy programs. While VICOBA programs are aimed at improving the economic status of community members, it also provides a forum to discuss gender issues.
Through the efforts of 8 VICOBA facilitators in Kiteto, there are now 28 VICOBAs in the area, each with an average of 30 members. The groups have managed to collect 40 million shillings through sale of shares to members. Much of this money has been given out to members as ‘soft’ loans. Members of VICOBA groups have had their capacities improved through entrepreneurship training and are now running economic activities which in turn help them to repay the loans and contribute to their family’s needs.
Anti FGM issues are discussed by members of VICOBA groups in conjunction with programs like legal aid. In the future, gender based violence issues will be prioritized in VICOBA programs and discussed even before the sale of shares or before discussing other VICOBA issues. Plans are to have issues of Gender Based Violence mainstreamed into VICOBA programs at the time when new facilitators are trained.
Children Festival against FGM makes a stride towards fight against FGM in Singida
November 13 and 14, 2010 are days to remember for children and residents of Ngimu Village in Singida rural district. Located 44 kilometers north of Singida town, Ngimu is a remote village with poor infrastructure. The road leading to Ngimu is loose surface, no tarmac, hilly and rocky. The village faces severe problem of water shortage as it is located on a dry rift valley.
How did CCT select Ngimu as a ‘focus’ village? In March 2010, CCT organized an advocacy program against FGM which was presented to selected church leaders in Singida district. One of the church leaders who attended this training, Reverend Simeon Apollo Kusina, was a priest from Ngimu village. This is where it all started!
Reverend Kusina was unhappy with the training the first day as he saw as it as an affront to discuss issues of FGM since it was an accepted tradition in his community. As the facilitator continued to engage participants and sharing details of the adverse effects of FGM, Reverend Kusina began to see sense in the training. At the end of the workshop he saluted the CCT by saying he had been “born again” as he had changed his traditional way of viewing FGM and he was now prepared to advocate against FGM in his area.
Priests at the training suggested there was a need to train Sunday school teachers so that they would be well equipped to pass on FGM issues to Sunday school children. CCT took up the suggestion and trained 30 Sunday school teachers in June 2010. Some of the teachers were drawn from Ngimu village. The teachers’ training ended with action plans for implementation by respective Sunday school teachers and children. One of the activities planned was to organize a children’s festival against FGM.
Upon return to their village, Sunday school teachers from Ngimu and surrounding villages set about planning the children’s festival. They shared the idea with Reverend Kusina and together they organized a remarkable Festival. The festival ran for two days with children demonstrating how they have learned to put anti FGM advocacy issues into the Sunday school curriculum. The festival brought together community members and children from Christian and non Christian families. It was a well attended festival on both days and the children did their best. Some girls shed tears as they sang poems and songs which informed their parents of the adverse effects of FGM and how it was against their human. Parents looked quite touched and when the priest stood up to ask members of congregation what they thought of children’s message, they shouted FGM will be stopped immediately in their community.
The festival is over and Rev Kusina in collaboration with the Sunday school teachers is following up with the children and parents and plans to start pressure groups among the children so that they will continue to advocate against FGM in their community. Message sent and received!!
Training in reproductive health to young boys and girls as a way of addressing FGM in Mara region
“If you want to succeed in changing attitudes and behavior, start at a tender age”….so goes the saying which can be attested to by the following account.
CCT started working on advocacy programs against FGM in Serengeti and Rorya districts January 2010, after baseline information indicated FGM was high in the two districts. With ten years of experience in implementing advocacy programs against FGM in Tarime, CCT planned to address groups which had not earlier being actively involved in the fight against FGM. It was decided to involve young children to change their mind set from an early age so that their generation would grow up free from FGM. A total of 200 young girls and boys attendeded training camps in Serengeti and Rorya districts with the aim of raising their awareness of reproductive health and gender based violence. Attendees were picked from primary schools in project areas and were between 10 and 14 years of age. They demonstrated enthusiasm as the talented facilitator took them through a very participatory learning process. The children got to learn about their bodies and their external reproductive organs. The children said that this was the first time in their lives that they had learned about their bodies and reproductive systems. The trainings camps were organized separately and at different times for boys and girls. This was purposely done so as to give boys and girls the freedom to express themselves and to be more open and confident in their discussions. Bhoke*, a girl aged 12 from Serengeti district commented, “I am happy the training involves only girls as it would have been hard for me to speak openly about my body and functions of external reproductive organs in front of boys”. On the other hand Magabe* from Rorya said it would have been fun to see how we both express or respond to questions asked about our bodies had we had girls around us.
In the coming year, both boys and girls will attend one training camp to share their experiences since the training and to discuss the challenges they have faced both at their homes and schools in advocating against FGM.
In Serengeti, out of 50 girls who attended the training camp in September 2010, only two had undergone FGM. The girls were touched by the issues of FGM and they shared that they had never heard about the adverse impact of FGM before. As the training came to the end, the girls were each asked to name one action she would take in response to the training. 45 girls out of 50 said they were going to convince their parents to stop pushing girls into FGM. Ghati*, a girl aged 10 asked the local project coordinator for Serengeti, Sophia Mchomvu, to come with her to her parents to help plead with them so that she is not taken for FGM when time comes. She felt that she would not be heard if she speaks to her parents alone. Sophia promised the girls that she would engage community members including their parents and believed that the parents would listen to them because of the training through community programs. However, Sophia agreed to go for support to the homes of those girls who felt they needed her help in persuading their parents to stop.
Women circumcisers (ngariba) ask for alternative means of survival after they stop FGM
As we planned to engage women circumcisers in the fight against FGM, a question came to my mind whether that was going to be practical. People had warned me that it would have been very difficult to identify them let alone engaging them in any activity. According to experience from those who had earlier tried to work with them was that they fear to be taken to court since there is a law which prohibits any person from conducting FGM.
Our approach of using the district health personnel in Kiteto has proved successful. Working with the district Maternal and Child Health (MCH) coordinator, it was easier to identify 65 women circumcisers cum traditional birth attendants in Sunya and Engusero wards, Kiteto district in 2010. In collaboration with the district MCH coordinator, training programs on effects of FGM were conducted and the women demonstrated a good understanding of pertinent issues of FGM including socio-economic, psychological issues and legal implications of such an act. After gaining confidence that no legal action will be taken against them they all agreed to have performed FGM to young girls although they insisted to have stopped. From their looks one could tell that they were lying. However each appreciated the fact that the tradition is harmful and that it was high time they stopped. They all indicated to be gaining materially and financially from performing FGM and asked if there could be an alternative way of getting money if they were to stop FGM. It was then agreed that FGM is not the only way to sustain life, it only contributes to other means. In this regard the women were advised to strengthen the other means of getting money while CCT explores ways of building entrepreneurship skills among the women circumcisers.
