The REPLACE* Approach: Supporting Communities to end FGM in the EU. A Toolkit

Abstract

Printed in the United Kingdom. To access this publication online visit www.replacefgm2.eu Reproduction is authorised provided the source is acknowledged. Grant (2013-15). Consequently, the REPLACE Approach has been tried and tested across five different EU member states, and five different migrant populations. It is flexible and tailored, and importantly, makes use of the assets and skills that lie within communities to help them bring about change for themselves. ISBN: 978184600062The REPLACE Toolkit and the accompanying REPLACE Community Handbook provide a 'how to' guide for community members affected by FGM, and community leaders and organisations working with them to bring about an end to FGM in the EU. The Toolkit provides detailed yet easily digestible 'tools', set around a simple five-point 'cyclic framework for social norm transformation' for supporting and empowering communities to bring about change from within. The Community Handbook presents this information in a brief and functional form, to help community members 'pick up and run' with the REPLACE Approach. 4The REPLACE Approach addresses many of the criticisms levied at current efforts to bring about an end to FGM in the EU. It does this in an accessible way, by incorporating interdisciplinary strategies and drawing on the strengths of all the partners and communities involved in its development. The team are to be commended on this bold step forward in working together to end FGM in the EU. This Toolkit presents the REPLACE Approach which has been developed with the goal of ending FGM in the EU. It is a bottom-up approach that empowers communities and puts them at the centre of social norm transformation using behavioural change theory. It is thus aimed at those within FGM affected communities or those working with these communities, whose goal is to end FGM in the EU. It is also relevant to policy makers who aim to end FGM; since the success of the REPLACE Approach is enhanced by political support. Neena Gill, West Midlands MEP 5 Table of ContentsEXECUTIVE List of Tables ContextThe exact number of women and girls living with FGM in Europe is not known (EIGE, 2013;Leye, et al, 2014). However, in 2009 the European Parliament (EP) estimated that up to half a million women living in Europe had been subjected to FGM with a further 180,000 women and girls at risk of being subjected to the practice every year (EP, 2009). This data has been extrapolated from the prevalence data in countries of origin and the number of women from those countries living in the EU. The UNHCR (2013) suggests that those EU countries with the highest numbers of girls and women who have survived or are at risk of FGM are:France, Italy, Sweden, the UK, Belgium, Germany and the Netherlands.The very limited data available on FGM in the EU does not differentiate the type of FGM being experienced. It is assumed that the type of FGM performed in home countries will be performed by migrants from that country when they relocate to a host country in the EU. This 10 assumption may no...

Undoing female genital cutting: perceptions and experiences of infibulation, defibulation and virginity among Somali and Sudanese migrants in Norway

“…Instead, detailed notes were taken during the interviews and were subsequently carefully transcribed. Additionally, the subject of female genital cutting may be less sensitive than often expected by outsiders (Barrett et al 2011;Johansen 2006a;Johnsdotter 2002), and most informants talked freely and all answered all queries.…”

The REPLACE* Approach: Supporting Communities to end FGM in the EU. Community Handbook

“…The REPLACE Approach is presented in this Community Handbook which has been written to give interventionists, community leaders and others working with communities to end FGM, practical guidance on how to implement the REPLACE Approach. It is a stand alone handbook, but those using it may benefit from reading the REPLACE Toolkit (Barrett et al, 2015) which gives more information on the REPLACE Approach with examples and findings from the REPLACE Project.…”

“…The REPLACE Approach is presented in this Community Handbook which has been written to give interventionists, community leaders and others working with communities to end FGM, practical guidance on how to implement the REPLACE Approach. It is a stand alone handbook, but those using it may benefit from reading the REPLACE Toolkit (Barrett et al, 2015) which gives more information on the REPLACE Approach with examples and findings from the REPLACE Project.After working with FGM affected communities on REPLACE1 (2010-11) the REPLACE Team at Coventry University (Barrett et al, 2011 andBrown et al, 2013) argued that as FGM is a social norm and that each community has different belief systems and enforcement mechanisms supporting its continuation, there was a need to draw on both individualistic and community focussed theories of behaviour change to fully capture the complexity of the practice of FGM in an approach to end it. The REPLACE Approach achieves this by:…”

The Applicability of Behaviour Change in Intervention Programmes Targeted at Ending Female Genital Mutilation in the EU: Integrating Social Cognitive and Community Level Approaches

“…The bodily integrity message emphasises women's individuality regarding sexual pleasure, but, if we accept that sexual enjoyment is shaped, mediated, and controlled through social institutions and understandings of sex and sexuality [18, 23], then we must accept that women's enjoyment of sex will be informed by their own experiences embedded within their specific sociocultural environs. For those women who perceive their sexual enjoyment to be “normal” and providing them a sense of intimacy, then the credibility of this approach may be questioned.…”

“…The results of this part of the research were then applied to a grounded health behaviour change approach in line with WHO's [16, page 2] call for the reorientation of anti-FGM communication strategies “from awareness raising to behaviour-change intervention approaches”. REPLACE produced a toolkit designed to introduce behaviour change approaches to those working to end FGM amongst affected communities in the EU [18]. This was achieved by integrating social cognitive and community level behaviour change intervention strategies.…”