10/08/2021
On October 11, 2021—International Day of the Girl—the partners of the CHAIN project, ActionAid International Italia Onlus (Milan, Italy), Equipop (Paris, France), TERRE DES FEMMES (Berlin, Germany), Save a Girl, Save a Generation (Madrid, Spain), and the European Network End FGM (Brussels, Belgium) will launch a European awareness campaign on female genital mutilation (FGM) and forced and early marriage (FEM). FGM can affect young men and boys. However, these practices mainly affect young women and girls and cause long-term damage to their lives.
The CHAIN for Change campaign is aimed at affected communities and highlights the consequences of FGM and FCP. Building on the concept of "local chains of intervention" at the heart of the CHAIN project, the videos aim to convince parents and communities to end the generational cycle of violence by saying "no" to these two practices.
The difference between "harmful traditions and practices" is that the former should be celebrated, while the latter, including FGM, must be stopped. The characters in the campaign video below help to debunk the false justifications for this practice and warn of its serious consequences.
"Another Choice is Possible" shows that FGM is practiced in the hope that the child will conform to what the community expects of her. However, this only causes suffering and resentment. A better future is possible if children are given the freedom to make their own choices.
The two animated videos, co-created with Boniato Studio & The InkLink and with the participation of individuals from the communities concerned (known as community trainers), aim to raise awareness without judgment and with cultural sensitivity.
The videos are available with voiceovers and subtitles in English and four European languages (German, Italian, French, and Spanish), as well as six other foreign languages (Arabic, Bambara, Romani, Somali, Tigrinya, and Urdu). The community voiceovers were produced in-house by the European End FGM Network with volunteers, in order to make the messages more accessible to everyone.
On this International Day of the Girl, #JoinOurChain against FGM and FFM by sharing the Chain for Change campaign!
CHAIN project partners
Background
The CHAIN project is co-funded by the EU, coordinated by TERRE DES FEMMES, and carried out in partnership with ActionAid International Italia Onlus, the European network End FGM, Equipop, and Save a Girl, Save a Generation.
Implemented over a two-year project period (September 1, 2020–August 31, 2022), the CHAIN project aims to combat female genital mutilation (FGM) and forced and early marriage (FEM), two forms of gender-based violence, through capacity building, community empowerment, awareness raising, and by bringing the concerns and needs of those affected to the political level.
One of the main objectives of the project is the development and implementation of local response chains bringing together local and national actors involved in responding to urgent cases of MSF and MFP.
In order to protect women and girls at risk and to support those affected at the institutional level, these intervention chains aim to model and raise awareness of the care pathways in cases of threats or actual incidents of FGM and/or FFM in Berlin, Madrid, Milan, and Paris. A second main objective of the CHAIN project is to build the capacity of professionals. The aim is to raise their awareness of FGM and FGM, the link between the two practices, and ways to protect against them. To this end, partner organizations in Italy, Germany, France, and Spain have trained "community trainers" who will then raise awareness among community leaders in the diaspora (religious leaders and influential people, elders) on these two topics and engage in dialogue with them. In addition, community trainers provide complementary training to health and social sector professionals, public authorities in their respective countries, and formal and informal community associations, in order to mobilize them as multipliers in the fight against FGM and FFM.
Finally, the CHAIN project aims to change attitudes towards FGM and FFM. To achieve this, End FGM EU, with the support of CHAIN partners and community trainers, and in collaboration with Boniato Studio and Inklink, has created two videos for the Chain for Change campaign.
Equipop Equipop, the French partner in the CHAIN project, is dedicated to promoting women's rights and health around the world. One of the organization's areas of focus is the prevention of violence against women. Female genital mutilation (FGM) is part of a continuum of violence that women face throughout their lives.Equipop has been working for around 20 years to promote the abandonment of female genital mutilation (FGM) in West Africa and, since 2008, in France among diasporas from countries that traditionally practice FGM. Following on from the CHANGE projects, in which Equipop was already a partner, CHAIN broadens the scope to include forced and early marriage (FEM) and provides an opportunity to continue and expand the work of training professionals and raising awareness among the general public.
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