On Sunday, June 5, 2011, 197 communities congregated in Bissikrima, Guinea, to declare their abandonment of female genital cutting (FGC) and other traditional practices harmful to the health of women and girls. At the event, the government representative of Debola, Ibrahima Sy Savane, stated: “The abandonment of female genital cutting through the promotion of human rights is an immense contribution towards the realization of the Millennium Development Goals in Guinea.” Mr. Savane attended the declaration in the company of a large delegation from the Ministry of Health and Public Hygiene and the Ministry of Social Affairs for Female Advancement and Childhood.
Tostan’s Community Empowerment Program (CEP) equips communities with the knowledge and confidence to create positive change. Forty-seven of the communities involved in the public declaration participated in the CEP. The remaining 150 villages were exposed to the CEP curriculum through organized diffusion, a process where communities participating in the CEP travel to neighboring communities to share the information learned during the program.
Click here to see photos on the Tostan Facebook album.
