Technical assistance to the interagency coordination group seeking to reduce female genital mutilation/cutting

This report documents technical assistance provided by FRONTIERS to the Interagency Coordination Group seeking to reduce female genital mutilation/cutting (FGM/C) in sub-Saharan Africa. In particular, staff assisted the group in networking, learning to talk to each other, setting up an operational way of functioning, and influencing key international policy and programmatic documents. Lessons learned through operations research on FGM/C were disseminated widely through the group’s activities and FRONTIERS technical assistance influenced several plans of action and implementation programs. The report notes that in addition to better networking for presenting a common regional vision during the development of policy and programmatic international documents, there is room for improving the collaboration between agencies. Recommendations include more coordination and information sharing within each agency, particularly between headquarters and regional offices

Technical assistance to organizations in Guinea seeking to reduce female genital cutting

This reports details the technical assistance the Population Council’s FRONTIERS program provided to WHO’s Africa Bureau to implement a project addressing medicalization of female genital cutting (FGC), and to support Tostan in replicating its program in Guinea. Technical assistance had several aims: to improve the effectiveness of strategies to abandon FGC in Guinea, to assist WHO in developing and implementing a project to reduce FGC medicalization by health providers, to build the capacity of Guinean organizations to appropriately monitor and evaluate their FGC-related activities, and to enable the Comité de Lutte contre les Pratiques Traditionnelles portant Atteinte aux Femmes (CPTAFE) to re-orientate its activities toward a comprehensive community approach. The project revealed a clear need for technical assistance concerning FGC activities in Guinea, however lack of additional funding hampered efforts to continue program implementatio

Improving communication between parents and adolescents on reproductive health and HIV/AIDS

Cette recherche opérationnelle avait pour but d’évaluer la fonctionnalité et l’efficacité d’un modèle d’intervention destiné à prendre en charge les besoins d’informations des adolescent(e)s en matière de santé de la reproduction et cela à travers le renforcement et l’amélioration de la communication entre les parents et les enfants/adolescent(e)s. Les résultats ont montré la faisabilité de mettre en place un programme qui est spécifiquement destiné à améliorer le niveau et la qualité de la communication entre les parents/tuteurs et les adolescent(e)s sur les questions de SR/VIH/SIDA et cela malgré le caractère encore sensible de cette question dans le contexte socioculturel sénégalais. Pendant toute la durée du projet, les efforts pour mobiliser les dirigeants politiques, administratifs, religieux, et communautaires ont continué, ce qui a grandement contribué au succès du dialogue intergénérationnel. Un partenariat entre diverses institutions a montré la faisabilité de l’approche multi-sectorielle. --- The purpose of this operations research study was to assess the functionality and effectiveness of an intervention model to address adolescents\u27 reproductive health information needs through the strengthening and improving of communication between parents and children/adolescents. The results showed the feasibility of setting up a program that is specifically aimed at improving the level and quality of communication between parents/guardians and adolescents on reproductive health and HIV/AIDS issues, despite the still sensitive nature of this question in the socio-cultural context of Senegal. Throughout the duration of the project, efforts to mobilize political, administrative, religious, and community leaders continued, which contributed greatly to the success of the intergenerational dialogue. A partnership between various institutions has shown the feasibility of the multisectoral approach

Strategies for encouraging the abandonment of female genital cutting in West Africa: Experiences from Senegal, Burkina Faso, and Mali

This article explores efforts to encourage abandonment of female genital cutting (FGC) in Senegal, Burkina Faso, and Mali. The strategy of encouraging traditional practitioners to stop performing FGC is not effective as community-level support for the practice remains high. Training health staff significantly improved healthcare providers\u27 levels of knowledge about FGC and its complications. Consequently, it was recommended that such training be incorporated into preservice medical training. The use of community-based strategies like the Village Education Program (VEP) showed the most promise, as their multifaceted approach addresses knowledge, attitudes, actions, and communal support in an integrated manner. The way forward lies in implementing interventions that are based on a thorough understanding of the communities involved and on facilitating grassroots involvement in the process of social change

Sharing experiences with comprehensive responses to adolescent reproductive health needs in Africa

In 1999, the Population Council’s USAID-funded Frontiers in Reproductive Health (FRONTIERS) project, began a three-year collaboration in Senegal on an adolescent reproductive health (ARH) pilot project that showed that a multisectoral, multidisciplinary approach can increase knowledge, enhance attitudes, and foster positive behaviors for reproductive health. Following requests from several neighboring countries, and given the long collaboration with WHO, FRONTIERS initiated efforts in 2007 to enable utilization of these findings in other African countries. The purpose of this report is to promote the utilization of multisectoral approaches for improving ARH programming by governments, donors, and national and international agencies in francophone West Africa. The most important recommendations for those seeking to replicate this approach to maximizing utilization of findings from research and scaling up effective service models are the continued involvement of key institutions from the outset, the use of a participatory process to ensure ownership and build capacity, and widespread and repeated dissemination of the results expressed as programmatic recommendations

Mainstreaming adolescent reproductive health in Senegal: Enhancing utilization of the findings from the youth reproductive health project

From 1999–2003, FRONTIERS implemented a Global Agenda program of operations research projects to address the reproductive health (RH) needs of adolescents in four countries—Bangladesh, Kenya, Mexico, and Senegal. The project was implemented in urban areas of Saint-Louis and Louga, in northwestern Senegal, and was known as Improving the Reproductive Health of Youth in Senegal. The project supported a public-sector, multisectoral intervention to enhance young people’s knowledge and behavior regarding HIV prevention and RH, and systematically tested its feasibility, acceptability, effectiveness, and cost. The intervention had a significant positive impact on young people’s awareness and understanding of RH issues. The pilot project showed that a multisectoral partnership with government agencies and involving interventions in communities, schools, and public health clinics could have significant positive results. Based on the pilot’s success, FRONTIERS worked with the Ministries of Health and Youth to launch a follow-up project. As noted in this report, the project (2004–07) focused on sustaining adolescent RH activities in the two pilot districts and enabling scale-up in other areas of Senegal as well as replication by other organizations in francophone West Africa

Enhancing utilization of the findings from the youth reproductive health project in Senegal

This operations research (OR) study focused on providing information appropriate to the cultural context of Senegalese adolescents on a variety of reproductive health issues including: knowledge of the human body; puberty; sexuality; gender roles; different cultural, familial, and peer values regarding sexual and reproductive behavior; contraception; responsible parenthood; STIs and AIDS; and sources of help and services. The study was undertaken in three urban communities in northern Senegal and had an overall positive result on young people\u27s reproductive health knowledge, enhanced community understanding of youth reproductive health needs, and showed that a multisectoral approach is vital to supporting young people’s healthy growth. This success prompted a follow-up effort to institutionalize youth reproductive health in the study districts, create a favorable policy and funding environment for adolescent reproductive health at the national level, and scale up the intervention in Senegal and to other francophone African countries (Mauritania, Guinea, Burkina Faso, Mali). This summary describes the essential process elements of this institutionalization effort. FRONTIERS provided technical assistance to the government ministries to develop action plans which were submitted to development partners for funding

Evaluation of the long-term impact of the TOSTAN programme on the abandonment of FGM/C and early marriage: Results from a qualitative study in Senegal

In 1998–99, a village empowerment program was implemented in the Thiès/Fatick and Kolda regions of Senegal by the nongovernmental organization Tostan, to mobilize communities to hold public declarations in support of abandoning harmful traditional practices, including female genital mutilation/cutting (FGM/C) and child marriage. The information presented in this report indicates that many did end the practices following a public declaration, however, the lack of follow-up in the field and the absence of support mechanisms pose a large obstacle. Nevertheless, the program achieved significant results: knowledge of life skills resulting in positive changes and a shift in the perception of FGM/C moved everyone toward abandonment of this practice. Two main recommendations emerged from this retrospective assessment: 1) there is a need to provide support to these villages following the public declaration; and 2) there is a need to provide more support to families/communities that have abandoned the practice

Replication of the TOSTAN Programme in Burkina Faso: How 23 villages participated in a human rights-based education programme and abandoned the practice of female genital cutting in Burkina Faso

This document is a summary of the process followed in implementing a community-based education program in Burkina Faso. The Population Council initiated a collaboration between two NGOs, Tostan in Senegal and Mwangaza Action in Burkina Faso, to replicate the program for improving women’s reproductive health and contributing to the end of female genital cutting (FGC). In Burkina Faso, the participants (men and women) held discussions to analyze the problems faced by their communities and to find appropriate solutions. Many positive changes occurred in the participating villages: the communities now promote reproductive health and human rights and work to improve public hygiene; stand up against violence toward women; have increased the utilization of health services, and improved their knowledge in general and changed their views on women’s roles in community development activities. At the end of the program, the 23 communities made a public declaration for the abandonment of the practice of FGC

Renforcement des capacites villageoises: Comment 23 villages s\u27initient aux Droits Humains et abandonnent la pratique de l\u27excision au Burkina Faso

This document is a summary of the process followed in implementing a community-based education program in Burkina Faso. The Population Council initiated a collaboration between two NGOs, Tostan in Senegal and Mwangaza Action in Burkina Faso, to replicate the program for improving women’s reproductive health and contributing to the end of female genital cutting (FGC). In Burkina Faso, the participants (men and women) held discussions to analyze the problems faced by their communities and to find appropriate solutions. Many positive changes occurred in the participating villages: the communities now promote reproductive health and human rights and work to improve public hygiene; stand up against violence toward women; have increased the utilization of health services, and improved their knowledge in general and changed their views on women’s roles in community development activities. At the end of the program, the 23 communities made a public declaration for the abandonment of the practice of FGC