The Réseau des Femmes Leaders pour le Développement has organized a capacity-building workshop for traditional chiefs, religious leaders and local authorities. Based on a multi-sectoral approach aimed at ensuring that the legislative frameworks in force in Benin are fully implemented to eliminate Female Genital Mutilation, this activity was an opportunity for beneficiaries not only to learn about the legal tools that prohibit this practice, but also to understand how these tools can be legally applied.
Although Beninese lawmakers have outlawed female genital mutilation, the practice persists and has gone underground, as some northern communities still believe it to be a necessary rite of passage for young girls. Today, genital mutilation is often carried out hastily, in dangerous and unsanitary conditions that increase health risks. Girls travel in small groups to a remote location where they undergo excision, and sometimes seek treatment in a health facility afterwards.
Aware of the dangerous nature of this practice, the capacity-building of religious and traditional leaders and local authorities organized by the RFLD also aims to ensure an effective fight against FGM in Benin. Although the practice is thousands of years old, we believe there are reasons to believe that FGM can be ended in a single generation. That’s why, for several years now, we’ve been stepping up our efforts to completely eliminate this practice in Benin, in line with the spirit of Sustainable Development Goal 5: gender equality. The day-long training session enabled all those involved in the decision-making process at grassroots level to familiarize themselves with the new provisions needed to ensure a successful collective response.
Indeed, while FGM is increasingly practiced in the homes of girls, in many cases and sometimes under the grace of traditional chiefs and religious leaders who (according to testimonies reported during our latest surveys on FGM) are responsible for protecting traditional values for generations, equipping these same actors today with laws and methods of prevention is a giant step towards eradicating this phenomenon. They are therefore key players in the success of ODD5.
