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Senegal

Female genital mutilation in Senegal - Insights from a statistical analysis

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Senegal’s programmatic response to FGM

Female genital mutilation is a deeply entrenched practice in Senegal, usually affecting girls at a very young age. Despite ongoing efforts, levels of FGM have stagnated for at least the last two decades.To meet SDG target 5.3 by 2030, Senegal needs to intensify and accelerate investments in FGM prevention and response.

It is vital to increase political will and translate it into funded and coordinated multisectoral interventions.These must comprise proven approaches that engage communities in dialogue and transform FGM-related social and gender norms. Positive norm changes are key to engendering active surveillance at the community level to support enforcement of the law prohibiting FGM. Clear roles, objectives and indicators need to be assigned to each sector that contributes to FGM abandonment, with clear accountability mechanisms. Building a strong civil society movement opposing the practice is also essential to boost advocacy efforts and increase the demand for change, including through political and religious leadership.

Senegal enacted a law in 1999 prohibiting FGM and implemented various action plans to end the practice. Abandonment of FGM is an objective of the National Development Plan, and a national strategy is being prepared towards that end.

The Ministry of Family, Women, Gender and Child Protection leads strategy implementation, with the engagement of other ministries, civil society organizations (CSOs) and UN agencies. Priority areas include:

  1. Creating an enabling environment for the protection of girls’ rights: Multisectoral coordination and accountability mechanisms are being strengthened, including the National Board to End FGM at the central government level and various platforms at decentralized levels, including child protection committees led by local authorities. These platforms seek to harmonize sectoral services and coordinate prevention and response efforts by CSOs, particularly women and youth groups, and religious and community leaders. Law enforcement is a central concern and a priority. Efforts are being made to raise legal awareness, strengthen reporting, prosecute perpetrators and improve accountability. Since FGM has major cross-border implications, joining forces with neighbouring countries is essential. Efforts are also being made to promote multisectoral policy commitments to the FGM national action plan, for example, and to the mainstreaming of FGM in sectoral policies and institutions.

  2. Social mobilization, community engagement and girls’ empowerment: Senegal is focusing its efforts on promoting dialogue at the community level, with the aim of involving both men and women, youth and elders, and health and social workers in achieving consensus and commitment to the abandonmentof FGM. Community dialogues seek to broaden understanding of the adverse effects of FGM while engaging religious leaders, whose influence is critical. Through this process, adolescent girls have increased their sense of agency and become empowered to speak out against FGM. All interventions aim to get at the root causes of gender inequality.

  3. Quality services for FGM prevention, protection and care: The capacity of service providers to promote FGM abandonment and to respond to FGM cases is being strengthened. Investments are under way to increase FGM survivors’ access to quality services, including adolescent-friendly reproductive health and rights information and services, along with legal, psychosocial and medical support.

  4. Knowledge-generation: Evidence provides the groundwork for advocacy, programming and the tracking of progress to end FGM. Gathering such evidence entails the strengthening of monitoring and reporting mechanisms; administrative data collection in related sectors, health in particular; an effective monitoring and evaluation framework; and partnership with relevant research institutions.