After three years of implementing a pilot project in Kayes, Mali, Equipop is launching the second phase of the "Protecting Future Generations" project with its partners: AMSOPT in Mali and SOS/JD in Burkina Faso for the period 2018-2020. This project aims to end female genital mutilation and early marriage in these two countries.
This summer, Equipop, AMSOPT, and SOS/JD are launching the "Protecting Future Generations" project to end female genital mutilation and early marriage in Mali and Burkina Faso through advocacy and awareness-raising activities.
Female genital mutilation is a public health issue and a violation of human rights. It is part of a continuum of gender-based violence that society inflicts on girls and women. Abandoning excision requires a holistic approach and multi-stakeholder, transcontinental collaboration. The project's holistic approach, combined with strong community involvement, has created a positive dynamic for ending excision and child marriage in the Kayes region of Mali. Mali's experience will be replicated for the first time in Burkina Faso in the Fada Ngourma and Diapaga regions, where these practices persist.
Equipop has been working in Mali on the issue of female genital mutilation since 2006. The NGO began with a fistula repair program. From 2008 onwards, the strategy consisted of incorporating medical care into an integrated strategy to end the practice. The new phase of the project focuses on political mobilization in Mali with a view to passing a law banning excision, while continuing the process of abandoning the practice in the project villages in Kayes. In Burkina Faso, a large field team is responsible for implementing the project in the communities of Fada Ngourma and Diapaga in the northeast of the country.
Press contacts: Nathalie Perrotin-Milla – nathalie.perrotin@equipop.org – +33 (0)1 85 08 05 19
Notes to editors: Since 1993, Equipop has been working on sexual and reproductive health and rights issues in West Africa by mobilizing political leaders, initiating pilot projects, and supporting local civil society. In West Africa, we lead a consortium of 21 associations in six countries (Benin, Niger, Mali, Burkina Faso, Côte d'Ivoire, and Senegal).
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