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COUNTERING FEMALE GENITAL MUTILATION PRACTICES IN KIRINYAGA COUNTY.
Date: 11-11-2023
KIRINYAGA WOMEN EMPOWERMENT PROGRAMS (KWEPS)is a community Based organization whose main concern is lack of social, political and economic empowerment of women, leading to a vicious cycle of poverty among women and their families in rural areas.The organization believes in the full realization of rights as a pre-requisite and a driver for poverty eradication, sustainable development and economic growth as well as peaceful and inclusive societies.
Female Genital Mutilation(FGM)was traditionally practiced in Kirinyaga in the last two decades. It has been slowly dying due to a lot of advocacy that has been happening countrywide. However in the recent times especially during COVID 19 period it picked up especially in Kanyeki-ini,Ndia constituency of Kirinyaga county. Some residents would sneak their girls to counties that are less hostile towards the practice such as Embu and once the girls are circumcised they are brought back home to heal. Some of these girls would then reveal to us or their peers about these horrible experiences and it is very hard to intervene because the acts are done at family level and are treated as family decisions.
As KWEPS, we embarked on advocacy and community awareness through targeted training of community leaders and other stakeholders on FGM,as well as empowering women and our members more on knowledge on referral systems and linkage services that may be useful in reducing this practice that is very high an infringement of women rights. We also involved young teenage girls and women in our advocacy campaigns who suffer silently with forms of GBV and have very low capacity of what to do to protect themselves. Sensitizing them about their rights and not to undergo the abuse of rights in form of FGM which sometimes is done out of ignorance.
All this was made possible by the Urgent Action Fund who gave KWEPS the resources to heighten the campaign against Female Genital Mutilation(FGM) practices that were becoming increasingly pronounced in parts of the county though secretly at family levels.
KWEPS trained the communities as the watchdog against the vice. The focus was kanyeki-ini in Ndia sub-county.
The campaigns brought together a social movement of state and non-state actors such as traditional leaders, administration officials as well as women and girls to end child marriage, female genital mutilation and other harmful practices, as well as promotion of gender equality in Kirinyaga amid stringent opposition from the perpetrators and supporters of FGM.
The most significant story of change during the entire project implementation was the recruitment of 30 anti-FGM men champions who were very enthusiastic about the idea of leading their fellow men in ending violence against women and girls.
Speaking after the training, the organization’s Executive Director M/s Ruth Muthoni Karimi urged communities to be vigilant and report any case of girls being subjected to this cruel form of gender based violence. She called upon parents to take their girls back to school even if they become pregnant after giving birth and stop marrying them off at early ages. This will allow them to unlock their full potential.
Figure 2A little fun for the day.