Training #MenEndFGM Champions in Kenya

We are happy to inform our distinguished supporters that we have embarked on documenting the impact of our trained male champions from 2021 and 2021. The documentary showcases what the trained champions have been up to for the last 3 to 4 years since they underwent the training. It captures young men, chiefs, religious leaders and survivors and their thoughts on engaging men and boys as well as showcases the number of girls rescued from harmful practices, number of community members reached, the key lessons learnt and challenges thereto.

Our aim is to screen the documentary as a way of rallying more like-minded individuals, organisations and activists to join the noble cause #MenEndFGM

Here is a preview of our upcoming documentary: 

Links:

• https://youtu.be/5nbPxIRbYEk?si=0szreUvEsk17sjOx

We have sustained our engagement with the community members in five counties of Wajir, Tharaka Nithi, Meru, Samburu and Kajiado for the last half a year. In Meru, we have sustained dialogues with FGM survivors, offering them mental and psychosocial support to confront their fears and undergo trauma healing. Young men in Meru were also engaged through sports to address negative masculity elements that perpetuate FGM. In Wajir, we held community dialogue with FGM survivors, underscoring the effects this harmful practice has had. They were able to relate the medical, pyschological and economical consequences of FGM. Similar to Meru, we engaged young men through sporting activities, highlighting their role as young men in the campaign to end FGM in their community.

In Tharaka Nithi county, teenage pregancies are on the rise. We have taken the initiative to engage the youth on SRHR. Further, we held dialogue with women in the county on the need for collective action to stop FGM especially during the upcoming school holiday. In Samburu, young morans are continuing to be sensitized on the need to support the efforts to end FGM and other harmful practices such as beading. Young morans are the defenders of the community and the cultural practices. They have no knowledge of the dire effects of FGM to women and girls. Morans in Samburu have had eye opening sessions, facilitated by our trained male champions. In Kajiado, our male champions have conducted inter-generation dialogue with elders and young men in efforts to correct the perpetuation of worng culture to the next generation. 

Links:

• Men End FGM latest newsletter