Burkina/Northern Region: 60 villages pledge to combat violence against children
Under the aegis of the Groupe d'appui en santé, communication et développement (GASCODE), in partnership with UNICEF, populations from 60 villages and neighborhoods in the northern region made a public declaration to abandon female genital mutilation and child marriage, and to combat violence against children. The declaration was made on Tuesday February 25, 2025 in Song-Naaba, a village some ten kilometers from the town of Yako, capital of the Passoré province. The ceremony, which was presided over by the high commissioner of the Passoré province, represented by the province's secretary general, provided the setting for a public declaration of abandonment of these harmful practices by the various social strata.
With this official activity, the Groupe d'appui en santé, communication et développement (GASCODE) has come full circle, as similar work has been carried out in other parts of the region. The determination of GASCODE and its partners is clear: "Zero tolerance of female genital mutilation, child marriage and violence against children".
According to Félicité Bassolé, Chairwoman of the GASCODE Executive Council, this ceremony is the result of a process initiated in June 2024 with UNICEF (United Nations Children's Fund), with the aim of contributing to the fight against FGM.The aim is to help improve the social status of children and women by promoting and protecting their rights in 150 villages in eight communes of the Nord region. To achieve this, she recounts, orientation and information outings were first made to the administrative and technical authorities, and community leaders in the Nord region.
Then, Félicité Bassolé continues, the implementation team was organized, oriented and empowered. "Subsequently, 4,486 adolescent boys and 8,936 adolescent girls were identified for follow-up in the 150 villages of these eight communes in the provinces of Passoré, Zondoma and Yatenga. The identification of these young people enabled 150 adolescent clubs and 298 adolescent clubs to be set up. The capacities of the members of these clubs have been strengthened in life skills, with the aim of enabling them to resist pressures of all kinds and realize their potential, in order to take their destiny into their own hands", explained the president of the GASCODE executive board.
The intervention has, she says, achieved a number of results, including 1,472 community leaders (traditional chiefs, religious leaders, village development councillors, etc.) signing up to the project.) involved in the implementation of the activities; 13,763 people (4,565 boys, 9,198 women and 2,030 internally displaced persons) actively participated in the project's activities.) took an active part in education sessions or group discussions on masculinities and harmful gender norms. We also note that 29,777 people (including 2,069 IDPs with disabilities) took part in discussion sessions on the consequences of child marriage and solutions to avoid it, the rights of adolescents and gender equality. Among the many results achieved, 50 vulnerable families received support to set up an income-generating activity. income-generating activity; 60 imams trained in the use of the preaching guide on child marriage andexcision, including the promotion of positive masculinity; capacity-building for 21 primary school teachers on gender-sensitive education, sexual and reproductive health and positive social norms, with a view to improving their professional classroom management practices.
"These achievements have enabled 60 villages to commit themselves individually to abandoning the practice of female genital mutilation, child marriage and violence against children. GASCODE used a holistic approach based on changing social norms for greater effectiveness. In addition to information, education and behavior-change communication activities, emphasis is placed on building the capacity of families and the community as a whole to fulfill their duty to protect children, and on changing individual and collective behavior to better protect children. This aspect has helped to create the conditions for community members to become aware of and committed to child and women protection issues", declared Félicité Bassolé.
She added that this approach took into account the socio-cultural specificities of the various communities, and created a critical mass of people within the population of the intervention zone who were willing to take action.It has created a critical mass of people who have decided to change their social norms, by declaring the abandonment of the practice of female genital mutilation, child marriage and violence against children. This public declaration ceremony was organized to crown this achievement. "These achievements should not blind us to the fact that the abandonment of female genital mutilation, child marriage and violence against children cannot be achieved without the promotion and protection of children's and women's rights, and a change in social norms. Abandonment is possible, but will remain futile without the coordination of everyone's efforts towards collective abandonment. Today, promoting the abandonment of these harmful practices requires us to redouble our efforts, to be vigilant and swift to denounce any attempt to adopt these practices in our villages, among our neighbors, in our families, in view of the evolution and new strategies adopted by those who have the power to stop them.evolution and the new strategies adopted by those who continue to practice", urges the president of the GASCODE executive council, Félicité Bassolé.
An approach and results that the high commissioner of the Passoré province, who presided over the ceremony and was represented by the secretary-general of the Passoré province, also welcomed.rale de la province du Passoré, Noëllie Béréhoumdougou, praised a noble decision by the population to abandon these practices. "According to the statistics, the situation is still worrying. Indeed, data from the 2021 Demographic and Health Survey (EDS-BF) show that the practice of female genital mutilation is still widespread in Burkina Faso; it is more common in rural than in urban areas; the Sahel (80%), North (75%), Centre-Nord (72%) and Centre-Est (65%) regions are the most affected by the phenomenon. As for child marriage, according to the UNICEF-UNFPA country profile report on child marriage, 2022, Burkina Faso has 2.8 million children married before the age of 18 (including 548,200 before the age of 15). Currently, the prevalence rate of child marriage among girls under the age of 18 is 52%", presents the authority, noting however that multiple actions have been implemented to address the situation.These include the creation of institutional frameworks to promote the abandonment of these harmful practices, and the adoption and enforcement of laws.
This has led to a number of victories, including the commitment and involvement of certain community, religious and political leaders; the drop in the prevalence rate of female genital mutilation for women aged 15 to 49 (from from 75.8% in 2010 to 56.1% in 2021); the decline in the prevalence of female genital mutilation among children aged 0 to 14 (from 13.3% in 2010 to 9.4% in 2021); the existence of national coalitions to combat excision and child marriage.
In the opinion of the authority, it is also necessary, in spite of these results, to remain vigilant, because these practices of female genital mutilation, child marriage and violence against children have a hard skin. This is why she salutes the work of GASCODE, in collaboration with UNICEF, in working with communities to abandon these harmful practices and promote actions for the development of girls, women and children.
According to the first vice-president of the Yako special delegation, some people tend to believe that female genital mutilation is a traditional practice. This is false, they have nothing to do with it", he clarifies, before reminding us of the consequences of the practice and appealing to the population to abandon it.
During the ceremony, a female excisor testified and publicly pledged to abandon the practice once and for all.
In addition to the speeches and testimonials, two other major acts marked the ceremony. These were the declarations made by the various social strata (representatives of youth, women, Catholics, Protestants, Muslims, traditionalists), through their representatives, on the abandonment of these harmful practices. In short, all social strata in the 60 villages and neighborhoods of the northern region made a "firm commitment" to abandon excision, child marriage and violence against children.
GASCODE leaders, authorities and the local population also attended the burial of the equipment used to perform female genital mutilation.
Source: lefaso.net/
