Dr. Morissanda Kouyaté - Executive Director, Inter-African Committee on Traditional Practices - DFID Girl Summit 2014

Spotlight B2 - "Bringing it all Together: Ending FGM Through Strong and Effective National Action"

Context: This presentation is from one of the 14 "Spotlights on Progress" video-recorded sessions from the Girl Summit 2014, London, United Kingdom (UK). The sessions were organised to share best practice between practitioners, grassroots activists, and government ministers across the issues of female genital mutilation (FGM) (also FGM/C - female genital mutilation/cutting) and child, early, and forced marriage (CEFM). The Girl Summit is a project of the Department for International Development (DFID), UK.

Profile of speaker: Dr. Morissanda Kouyaté is Executive Director of the Inter-African Committee (IAC) on Traditional Practices, a regional and international non-governmental organisation affiliated with the United Nations, the African Economic Commission, and the African Union. He has held this post since 2011, having spent the previous 9 years as IAC's Director of Operations. Born and trained as a paediatrician in Guinea, Dr. Kouyaté subsequently obtained diplomas in infertility treatments and HIV/AIDS at Johns Hopkins University (in the United States - US) and in Health Services Management and Behavioral Change Communications at Clark Atlanta University (also in the US). He has received numerous awards and international recognition for his work combating the practice of FGM worldwide, an issue to which he has dedicated his professional life for decades, including a Certificate of High Appreciation from the US Peace Corps and an Award of Excellence from the World Bank.

Strategy overview: The IAC is an African regional umbrella body that has been has been working on policy programmes and actions to eliminate FGM, CEFM, and other harmful traditional practices and to promote positive traditional practices that improve and contribute to the health, human development, and rights of women and children in the African Region and around the world since 1984. With 29 African member countries as of 2014, the IAC has been at the forefront of supporting resolutions toward banning FGM in the African Union (AU) and United Nations (UN). The IAC therefore extends its work to the African Diaspora and has 18 affiliates in 4 other continents. The IAC believes that ending FGM requires a worldwide dynamic and coordinated movement. Click here to learn more about IAC's communication and advocacy strategies, which include, amongst other things, the creation of various networks, including regional and national networks of religious leaders, parliamentarians, media professionals, health professionals, and youth. Thousands of volunteers participate in the work of IAC in Africa and around the world. To cite one example: IAC has mobilised African communities through, for instance, the public laying down of the excision knives by excisers in Benin, Chad, Gambia, Guinea, Mali, Senegal, Sierra Leone, and Togo. Proposition and advocacy resulted in the adoption of February 6th as the International Day of Zero Tolerance to FGM - to point to only one of many examples of IAC's work.

In his presentation "Building a solid and interactive bridge between Africa and the world to accelerate ending FGM and child, early and forced marriage since 1984", which can be viewed in the video below, Dr. Kouyaté noted that there was varying progress on tackling FGM across the 29 members of the IAC. There was no one-size-fits-all solution, with each country having specificities. He noted that Burkina Faso's success was due to: political commitment, a law, law enforcement, and the involvement of communities, religious leaders, and the media. In Guinea, many stakeholders were involved, including government and civil society organisations; however, there was a very small group of religious leaders holding them back. In Mauritania, there had been a fatwa [the legal opinion or learned interpretation that the Sheikhul Islam, a qualified jurist or mufti, can give on issues pertaining to the Islamic law] against FGM, and so they were moving forward. Mali had seen resistance due to a few fundamentalists, but progress was now starting to be made. Given this African diversity, Dr Kouyaté stressed the need to fully involve diaspora groups globally to tackle the issue. He said that it is crucial to share information between countries.

Overview of this Summit session: Speakers from African and European countries came together in this session to discuss what they have done to ensure coordinated and comprehensive national action towards ending FGM in their own countries and seek insight from each other's experiences. They talk about how they have creatively brought together diverse groups to achieve consensus on what needs to happen to end FGM, highlighting critical steps towards success as well as challenges. Following an opening by Cathy Russell, Ambassador-at-Large for Global Women's Issues, United States, the speakers, in order of appearance, are:

• Hon. Dr Linah Jebii Kilimo, Chair of the Anti-FGM Board, Kenya
• Dr. Alain P. Zoubga, Minister for Social Action and National Solidarity, Government of Burkina Faso
• Norman Baker, MP Minister of State for Crime Prevention, Government of the United Kingdom
• Zsanett Shashaty, Anti-Slavery Officer for the Welsh Government
• Vitor Almeida, Senior Advisor in the Portuguese Commission for Citizenship and Gender Equality, Government of Portugal
• Dr. Morissanda Kouyate, Executive Director, Inter-African Committee on Traditional Practices

The session was moderated by Susan Bookbinder, who is a journalist, broadcaster, columnist and media consultant with a particular focus on FGM.

Footage of this (available below) presentation and others are available on DFID’s YouTube channel.

The Girl Summit is a project of DFID. Click here and scroll down to see the full list of individuals and organisations committed to working on girls' issues, as well as a list of Girl Summit Charter signatories.