PowerPointPrsentation

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Women Deliver Global Conference London, Oct. 18
20, 2007 Panel 130 Making Strides against
Female Genital Mutilation/Cutting New Knowledge
and Partnerships18 October, 430 pm 600 pm,
SG16
Good Goverance and Female Genital Mutilation A
Political Framework for Social Change Kerstin
Lisy Teamleader, Supraregional Project Promotion
of Initiatives to End Female Genital
Mutilation German Technical Cooperation (GTZ) on
behalf of the German Federal Ministry for
Economic Development and Cooperation (BMZ)
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Conceptual Note

• Underlying thesis
• The practice of female genital mutilation is an
  expression of poor governance. The task of
  abandoning it is closely linked to issues of good
  governance.
• Problem
• Approaches to end FGM rarely work at the level of
  the political framework/good governance.
• Aim
• Offer concrete recommendations in six areas of
  good governance for measures aimed at ending FGM
• Forge new coalitions for the abandonment of FGM

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• Arguments for linking FGM with Good Governance
  (GG)
• FGM is in opposition to key principles of GG
  (Human rights, rule of the law, equal rights)
• The State has an obligation to protect its
  citizens from human rights violations.
• FGM is an obstacle to development and has
  implications for almost all the Millennium
  Development Goals.
• A governments actions can be said to be
  pro-development where serious efforts are made to
  eliminate the practice.

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• Arguments for linking FGM with GG
• Bringing the practice to an end is not merely a
  challenge in the field of health but one that
  applies to society as a whole and that places
  part of the responsibility on the state.
• FGM is an expression of structural discrimination
  against women, and deep-seated gender roles need
  to be overcome.

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Key Concept Institutional Pluralism

• Need do distinguish two perspectives
• FGM as a socially desired practice from an
  insider perspective
• FGM as a grave violation of human rights from an
  outsider perspective
• Institutional Pluralism as a useful concept for
  the description of co-existing perspectives about
  values, norms and rules
• Need for approaches that make equal use of both
  perspectives and that are multi-level

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Six Good Governance topics that support the
abandonment of FGM

• Good governance at national level (reform of
  public administration, public finances, promotion
  of democracy)
• Good governance at local level (local municipal
  self-administration, decentralisation, local
  governance)
• Law and the judiciary
• Human rights
• Empowerment of civil society
• Gender

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Good Governance at National Level

• Parliaments, media information campaigns,
  training
• Financial and budgetary planning allocate funds
  at ending FGM, eg for health and legal services
• Integrate FGM into Training for government staff
  (AIDOS manual)
• Design of national action plans on FGM
• Support for specific institutions on FGM, if in
  place
• Strategic contributions to achieving the equality
  of women and men

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Good Governance at Local Level

• Concrete offers relating to FGM in the areas of
  legal and health services as well as eduation at
  decentraliced levels
• Work with Community Parliaments and female
  representatives
• Foster gender equality at local level

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Law and judiciary

• National legislation on FGM in combination with
  information and awareness-raising to increase
  social acceptance of the legislation
• Legal advice oriented at bringing together legal
  claims of the state and legal reality
• Involve traditional authorities and elites,
  create spaces for debate and exchange
• Work with communication go-betweens and change
  agents
• Emphasise and work with interpretations of
  islamic religious law that are favourable for
  abandoning FGM
• Bring state legislation closer to civil society
• Support innovative forms of dispensation of
  justices (mediation, paralegals)
• Create transparency through information policy

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Human rights

• Support for institutions to enable the state to
  respect, protect and guarantee human rights
  including measures for political participation
  and dialogue between state and society
• Human rights work brings FGM out of the taboo and
  makes it a subject of public debate
• IEC Campaigns
• Increase womens knowledge on human rights

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Empowerment of Civil Society

• Differentiated approach needed that takes into
  account that civil society structures can also be
  ad odd with the ideals of good governance
• Foster forums of debate and dialogue on FGM
• Support for groups in society that work on FGM
  (capacity building)

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Gender

• Combatting gender based violence
• Legal reforms to promote womens rights
• Specific programmes on gender equality as well as
  the mainstreaming of the gender approach into
  programmes of development cooperation can have a
  postive impact on ending FGM

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Conclusion

• There is a considerable number of measures to
  address FGM at the national and macro level that
  have not been systematically been put into
  practice.
• Community based approaches need to be accompanied
  by approaches that work at the level of the
  political framework in order to create an
  enabling environment for social change.

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For further information please visitwww.gtz.de/
fgm
or contactKerstin Lisy kerstin.lisy_at_gtz.deBian
ca Schimmel bianca.schimmel_at_gtz.deGisela
Rosenberger gisela.rosenberger_at_gtz.de