Resilience in Action: Lessons Learned from the Joint Programme during the COVID-19 Crisis

"[G]irls and women are once again the most vulnerable as the [COVID-19] crisis exacerbates discriminatory structures and practices in part because of gender inequitable access to resources, capabilities and opportunities including the perception that programmes targeting girls and women, such as the elimination of harmful practices, are not life-saving."

While evidence from the 2014-2016 Ebola outbreak in West Africa showed a decrease in female genital mutilation (FGM) due to containment measures, the opposite appears to be the case with COVID-19. According to estimates by the United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA), the COVID-19 pandemic may result in 2 million cases of FGM that would otherwise have been averted. Intended for staff, partners, and stakeholders working towards the elimination of FGM, this report documents lessons learned during the COVID-19 crisis in countries in which the UNFPA/United Nations Children's Fund (UNICEF) Joint Programme on the Elimination of Female Genital Mutilation: Accelerating Change is being implemented: Burkina Faso, Djibouti, Egypt, Eritrea, Ethiopia, Gambia, Guinea, Guinea-Bissau, Kenya, Mali, Mauritania, Nigeria, Senegal, Somalia, Sudan, and Uganda.

The Joint Programme supports "learning by doing", which means replicating and scaling up proven interventions in adapting to the COVID-19 crisis while also supporting experimentation. Drawing on rapid assessments and surveys, as well as consultations with country and regional offices, the brief presents: challenges and opportunities the Joint Programme has faced with the COVID-19 pandemic, many programme examples, and plans for adjusting the programme based on lessons learned. For instance:

• In developing and implementing national COVID-19 humanitarian response plans (HRPs), most governments initially focused on a health response and did not prioritise FGM. Building on the Joint Programme's longstanding relationship with governments, country offices advocated for the inclusion of girls and women in planning processes and the integration of FGM into national and local HRPs. Example: In Burkina Faso, participation in coordination meetings during the development of the national HRP made it possible to integrate gender-based violence (GBV) and FGM across social protection, health, education, and humanitarian programmes.
• During the initial outbreak of COVID-19, as services were disrupted, the Joint Programme ensured telephone helplines were operational to provide counselling and referrals, while also providing community sensitisation about FGM - either through mass media or by integrating messages about the practice in public information campaigns on COVID-19 and/or GBV. "Dignity kits" were also created and distributed to share information about available GBV and FGM-related services. Furthermore, establishing electronic access to e-Justice is a way of ensuring continuity of legal services and reducing case backlogs in countries where the courts have remained closed due to the pandemic. Example: In Guinea, radio programmes are being produced by key implementing partners, including government, civil society, youth activists, and religious leaders, about FGM prevention, and "Magbana" minibuses and taxis, as well as billboards in markets and public spaces, have been used to spread messages promoting the elimination of FGM.
• Community-level surveillance systems, such as community-based child protection committees or peer social networks, are critical in the Joint Programme for sustaining a collective commitment to abandon FGM and for holding communities accountable for protecting a girl's right to health and bodily integrity. Community surveillance committees track girls at risk and report cases of FGM to law enforcement during the COVID-19 crisis (e.g., using WhatsApp). Example: In Ethiopia, with support from district-level Anti-Harmful Traditional Practices (HTP) committees, 306 adolescent girls, leaders from girls' clubs that provide life skills, have been monitoring their communities and providing regular updates to the HTP committees. Creative solutions for continuing community engagement despite limited mobility included mobilising girls' clubs and religious leaders to facilitate community dialogues and increasing the number of facilitators, mentors, and trainers who continue to convene communities for dialogues but in smaller groups.
• Under the Joint Programme, communication for social norms change, referred to as communication for development (C4D) by UNICEF, can play a critical role in supporting the elimination of FGM by provoking critical reflection on harmful practices. The underlying assumption of the Joint Programme's communication approach is that attitudinal and behaviour change are more likely if individuals hear mutually reinforcing messages from a variety of communication channels over time, including organised diffusion (interpersonal communications), mass media (radio and television), and digital engagement. Selected examples:
  • In Nigeria, the hashtag #endcuttinggirls was used on social media platforms to broadcast messages about the prevention of COVID-19 and FGM. The social media campaign reached 282,974 Twitter accounts, with 64,000 impressions and 210 retweets between May and June of 2020. Six new community radio stations, along with 10 existing partners' stations, were supported in airing radio dramas and jingles sparking conversations about FGM, which reached over 300,000 people in Ekiti, Osun, and Oyo states. Public declarations of the abandonment of FGM in some communities in Nigeria are now broadcasted on radio programmes, which also incorporate messages about the prevention of COVID-19.
  • In Egypt, an upcoming Y-PEER episode of the podcast "Peer Cast" will feature guests addressing FGM in the context of COVID-19, with a special focus on the social, gender, and religious aspects of the practice. And as part of the Dawwie initiative, adolescent girls are taking leadership roles in their communities by sharing information related to COVID-19 prevention.
  • In Ethiopia, 161 mothers and 39 girls were honoured as role models in their respective communities for saying "no" to FGM and child marriage in public ceremonies that respected social distancing guidelines. The ceremonies were broadcasted on community radio. In partnership with the Population Media Center (PMC), radio talk shows about FGM and child marriage are being produced as a discussion forum for communities. As part of the show "Tumen Sera", PMC will produce a mix of interviews, articles, short plays, and music on FGM featuring role models such as government officials, advocates, and writers. A partnership with Viamo is expected to involve sending tailored bulk messages to communities as well as interactive voice response (IVR) for adolescent girls and community members as way to support their role in facilitating community dialogues.
  • At the global level, in partnership with the Global Media Campaign (GMC), the Joint Programme launched a training series on the strategic use of media campaigns to address FGM. The #EndFGM Media Campaign started with a session on media campaigns in the context of COVID-19, sharing experiences from media activists in Kenya, Sierra Leone, Gambia, and Nigeria; it attracted over 380 participants.
• COVID-19 is a deeply gendered crisis that also presents governments, policymakers, and girls' and women's rights advocates with an opportunity to rebuild systems and societies in a more inclusive way. The Joint Programme has prioritised partnering with local women's organisations so that girls and women exercise voice, leadership, and decision-making in the planning and implementation of national and local action plans for the elimination of FGM in development and humanitarian settings. Example: Think Young Women, a Joint Programme implementing partner in Gambia, launched a training and mentorship initiative for 10 adolescent girls and young female politicians from 6 different regions in the country. The training supported leadership skills development, meaningful participation in decision-making processes, and the ability to advocate for human rights and access to health care and education, and the elimination of FGM. Some of the trainees have been actively involved in community sensitisation on COVID-19.
• Up-to-date data and assessments on FGM by the Joint Programme have informed interventions. Example: In Guinea, qualitative and quantitative data on GBV and female genital mutilation is collected and processed through an app called KOBO.

One of the lessons learned from the above-summarised experiences: A rapid assessment by UNICEF in 2020 on digital civic engagement by young people shows that many adolescents take to digital spaces to develop their civic identities, as it contributes to a sense of socio-political empowerment and agency that may not be afforded to them in traditional civic spaces. With social isolation, digital platforms were in many contexts the only way for young people to remain civically engaged. Notably, while digital engagement has played a critical role during the COVID-19 crisis, it also further highlights the digital divide based on gender and poverty.

Other Joint Programme activities in the context of COVID-19:

• UNFPA and UNICEF have engaged in regional and global advocacy. For example, UNICEF organised 2 webinars through the Female Genital Mutilation Donor Working Group that provided opportunities for North-South knowledge sharing. The first webinar explored challenges and opportunities in addressing FGM during the COVID-19 crisis. The second webinar looked at digital engagement in support of social norms change including during the COVID-19 pandemic. Both webinars included over 150 participants.
• UNFPA and UNICEF staff have been receiving ongoing support to work remotely and to access staff development opportunities to maintain continuity of critical functions during and following the pandemic. For example, UNFPA is partnering with PMC to build the capacity of national partners in applying an entertainment-education (edutainment) approach to communication campaigns to support social norms change and strengthen media-related interventions.
• In providing technical guidance to Joint Programme countries, the Headquarters (HQ) team: developed several technical briefs; supported the revision of workplans and the programme's results framework; increased remote monitoring of programme activities; and identified new partners. These activities are detailed in the report.

UNFPA and UNICEF conclude by stressing that, during the COVID-19 crisis, while there should have been an opportunity to do more multisectoral programming, the response has instead reinforced the usual siloed approach in most contexts. However, "Post-COVID recovery presents an opportunity for the Joint Programme to shift towards the humanitarian-development-peace nexus, and build sustainable and resilient systems that protect girls' and women's rights, enhances their resilience to humanitarian crises, and ensure gender-transformative approaches to social norms change and the elimination of female genital mutilation are supported across the nexus."