Dialogue to Promote Change from Within: A Grandmother-Inclusive and Intergenerational Approach to Promote Girls’ Health and Well-being and to Eliminate FGM

This report offers an overview of project results and lessons learned from the Développement Holistique des Filles (DHF) project, which was designed to eliminate female genital mutilation (FGM) in Senegal and was implemented by World Vision in Velingara, Senegal with technical assistance from The Grandmother Project (GMP). The report offers a synthesis of findings from a Mid-term Project Review and a rapid assessment, both conducted in October 2009.

As stated in the report, the goal of the Développement Holistique des Filles (DHF) project is to strengthen the capacity of local communities to promote the revival of positive cultural values and practices that contribute to the optimal physical, moral, spiritual, social and intellectual development of girl children and to advocate the abandonment of female genital mutilation (FGM) and other harmful practices.

The DHF project is built on a series of principles, several of which, according to the project, distinguish it from other programmes. These include: recognition and inclusion of grandmothers; strengthening intergenerational communication; a holistic approach that promotes all facets of girls’ development; strengthening positive cultural traditions while discouraging harmful ones; and use of an innovative adult education and community development approach.

Implementation of field activities in the DHF project started in September 2008. In October 2009 a Mid-term Project Review was conducted by the World Vision Design, Monitoring and Evaluation unit and also a rapid assessment of the project was carried out by a consultant hired by World Vision Africa Region. During the two reviews in-depth discussions were held with more than 136 community members as well as education/development agents to elicit their feedback on project principles, strategies, and initial results.

According to the report, the feedback received through the two assessments is quite positive both in terms of community attitudes toward the DHF approach and the initial results it appears to have produced. After only one year of project implementation, both assessments suggest that the DHF strategy has had three positive effects at the community level. It has strengthened relationships and communication within and between groups of all ages and both sexes; it has increased both appreciation and promotion of positive cultural traditions by children, adults, and elders; and it appears to be catalysing change in community attitudes toward harmful traditions, including FGM and early marriage.

Based on the conclusions of the two assessments and also on extensive qualitative documentation collected during project implementation, key facets of the project approach are identified that appear to have contributed to the positive preliminary results. Based on these elements a series of "lessons learned" were developed that should inform ongoing implementation of the DHF project and that may be applicable in other settings. The following are some of the lessons learned:

A holistic approach to promoting girls’ health and well-being that addresses all facets of their growth and development is more acceptable to communities than one that narrowly addresses a single “problematic” aspect, such as FGM.

Explicitly honoring local cultural roles, values and traditions in community programs responds to a deep-seated and generally unaddressed community concern about the loss of cultural identity and values.

Recognition and inclusion of senior women, or "grandmothers", based on their culturally-designated role in families and communities, validates their central role in the lives of children and families, a cultural reality that is often not taken into account in development programs, and unleashes an abundant resource for change.

Inclusion of elders who are viewed as a valuable cultural resource, lends credibility to the DHF project. All community groups, and especially younger people, clearly state that they are more comfortable with an approach that explicitly involves elders, creating a synergy between the wisdom of the elders and the energy of youth.

Strengthening intergenerational communication as a basis for community dialogue and change contributes to developing consensus regarding immediate issues and problems but also increases social capital and social cohesion for collectively dealing with other community concerns.

A bottom up approach to promoting child rights has been used in which communities are challenged to identify the "needs" of girls in order to ensure their healthy growth and development based on cultural, religious, and other community and universal values. The DHF experience suggests that communities are more responsive to an approach that involves them in defining girls’/children’s "needs" and their own responsibilities related to such needs than to an approach in which child "rights" are dictated to them and they are told what they should do to properly educate and raise their own children.

The use of open-ended communication/education methods , which encourage community dialogue and critical thinking, help to develop a consensus both among and between community groups on priority needs related to practices that should be preserved and those that should be changed. Many NGO and government field workers have been trained in more directive communication approaches based on message-dissemination and therefore, adoption of this alternative approach requires considerable retraining.

Using an approach based on Unconditional Positive Regard (UPR) to promote change. There has been very strong community support for the UPR approach in which greater emphasis is given to validating existing values and practices than to promoting change. This approach can be effective in strengthening community engagement and openness to reconsider age-old practices like FGM and early marriage.

Maintaining close and supportive relationships with community members by development field staff is a key factor in promoting ongoing community dialogue for action. Considerable earlier research clearly shows that while mass media activities can provide information to people, interpersonal communication and support is required to promote collective and sustained change in practices at the community level. This lesson has significant implications for programme design, allocation of human resources and field supervision.

A French version of the study is also available and can be obtained from the contacts below.