Life For All Initiative - L.4.A

We have to stop the practice..

The continued practice of FGM/C and Child marriage is behaviour related and thus there is need to advocate for behavioural change using approaches such Positive deviant Approaches. The Positive Deviance approach is a community-based approach designed to identify solutions to community problems within the community. Communities and individuals are identified, selected and trained to address abandonment of FGM/C, Child marriage and teenage pregnancy. As part of activities, community advocates against harmful practices are recruited as positive deviants, trained and equipped with Inter Personal Communication skills (IPC) and Social Behavioral Change Communication (SBCC) to effectively communicate with their fellow community members on what individual and collective actions can be taken to prevent and end the harmful traditional practice of FGM/C, Child marriage and Teenage Pregnancy in their communities.

To enhance better understanding and support from communities an orientation meeting was held with Village Heads, VDC Chairpersons, Deputy VDC Chairpersons, religious leaders, women and youth leaders and other significant individuals in the communities of Sandu Misera and Baja K***a in URR. This activity took place on the 1st of February 2022 for both Sandu Misera and Baja K***a in the Upper River Region. The primary objective was to harness local human resources to become actively engage in advocating, communicating and mobilizing people to change social norms. This particular process has the ability and can improve community participation, ownership, increase credibility and acceptance of the behavioural change programmes.