UNFPA

 UNFPA, the United Nations Population Fund, is an international development agency that promotes the right of every woman, man and child to enjoy a life of health and equal opportunity. UNFPA supports countries in using population data for policies and programmes to reduce poverty and to ensure that every pregnancy is wanted, every birth is safe, every young person is free of HIV, and every girl and woman is treated with dignity and respect.

Accelerating Change: UNFPA-UNICEF Joint Programme

Female genital mutilation, or cutting, predates Christianity and Islam - it is thought to have originated in the time of the pharaohs. UNFPA and UNICEF, through a joint programme launched in 2007, are leading efforts to end this persistent violation of the basic human rights of girls and women in one generation.

That is the ambitious goal of the Joint Programme on Female Genital Mutilation/Cutting launched in late 2007. Called "Accelerating Change", it covers 17 countries. By 2012, the two agencies, working closely with governments, NGOs, religious leaders and small community groups, hope to bring about a 40% reduction of the practice in target communities, and to have at least one country declared free of FGM/C.

Although FGM/C has been shown to have many harmful effects, both physical and emotional, the practice is sustained by a set of social rewards, including the idea that girls will face shame and social exclusion, including diminished marriage prospects, if they forego the practice.

That is why a number of culturally sensitive strategies are employed to encourage large core groups to abandon FGM/C together. These include are media campaigns, community debates, garnering the support of stakeholders (especially professional associations, religious leaders, parliamentarians, civil society and NGOs),encouraging group commitments to abandonment, and legal measures.

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