Prevention and eradication of Female Genital Mutilation (FGM) and other Harmful Traditional Practices (HTPs)

The Project 
Save the Children Norway, Ethiopia (SCN-E) and Norwegian Church Aid (NCA) initiated a joint programme for combating Female Genital Mutilation (FGM) and other Harmful Traditional Practices (HTP s) in Ethiopia. SCN-E is the contracting partner with the Embassy. SCN-E has worked through the government structures, or more specifically through the bureau of Social and Labour Affairs in Northern Gondar. NCA has worked through local partner organizations, mostly located in the southern regions of the country. A three -year contract was signed late 2005 for a total grant of NOK 7.5 million, shared equally between the organizations. A midterm review was performed in the period between end 2007 and beginning of 2008 (Jan 2008).

Interesting Findings

• The joint programme is highly relevant from the perspectives of Ethiopian policies on gender and reproductive health. The team found that in the absence of specific programmes from the coordinating body at federal level, the Ministry of Women's Affairs, both SCN-E and NCA have responded adequately by focusing their efforts directly to the regional, Woreda ( district administration) and Kebele (local administration) levels.
• Both organizations have emphasized community participation and community ownership, which in the opinion of the review team are central factors to success. It was quite clear that the community both owned the process and its pace.
• Another noticeable trend was that both organizations demonstrate essential flexibility and adaptability in addressing the problem.  FGM and HTP belong to fundamental, deep core, normative belief systems. It is personal, painful, belonging to the female sphere and has traditionally not been talked about. The programme has succeeded in bringing FGM and HTPs out of the personal sphere and into the public domain. A variety of methods are being used but community conversations and radio broadcasting have proved to be particularly promising.
• In the team's opinion women have been truly empowered as a result of this programme. The involvement of men has varied, however. It is quite clear that even if FGM and HTPs for the most are practiced by women and on women, there is still a masculine hand behind the decisions made, because these practices to a large extent deal with the "marriagability" of women.
• An encouraging finding was that knowledge and understanding in the community had exceeded expectations of the local partners. Most also found that the interventions had strengthened the Woreda (district administrative level) capacity to deal with the issues. In terms of reaching quantitative goals such as number of workshops, number of trainees, all partners seems to be on track according to own set plans and goals.
• Generally the partners were also content with the support they got from their Norwegian partners in terms of administrative support, relevant technical advices and networking. It should also be noted that both NCA and SCN-E regard their relations with their partners in terms of accountability and meeting transparency requirements positively. The review team also found that partners all followed-up and monitored the interventions quite closely.
• The team could not find much evidence of the good intentions of a joint partnership indicated in the joint proposal. The reasons for the two organizations to work together seem to have become increasingly less clear as time has passed. The review team recommends that efforts to eradicate FGM and HTPs should be intensified and that the support through SCN-E and NCA should be continued. The future support to NCA should be integrated in the strategic agreement with SCN-E. Issues related to strategic partnership should be clarified.