How victims of FGM became the motor of a growing social movement to abolish the practise of excision in Mali? （女性割禮受害者如何成為馬里反割禮運動的主要推手）

Introduction:
Since the very start of our association, our aim has been to save our girls from the practice of excision (FGM).
But how to change the behaviour of the mothers and all people in the society of these girls, which was not a conducive environment at all for this change?
• With often illiterate people, living in rural areas, far from the urban centres?
• In an environment where more than 90% of all women had undergone excision?
• On a highly sensitive topic related to sexuality ?
• With respect to a custom that for many people is part of the traditions and profound religious values to be preserved in our society ?
• In an environment where certain women occupy the role of exciser and depend on the income from that profession ?
• In an environment where most women are confronted with the problems of economic subsistence and would probably be less interested in « another problem »?
• With information from the western world, describing these customs as « barbaric » with consequences that we did not always recognize as such ?
• With experts who were not all well acquainted with our environment, our values, our realities ?
• In a country with a government who was afraid of criminalizing the practice of excision?
• And with very little financial resources ?
Our little group of women and some men was motivated to contribute to realise the necessary change in our society and was willing to face the challenges mentioned above.
During my presentation, which will take 90 minutes, I will highlight the elements of our approach that we believe have been key in facing those challenges <and to work> towards the change that we are witnessing today. I will do this using a powerpoint presentation, videos and discussions with the audience.

The structure of my presentation is proposed as follows:

Part 1: short presentation of our organization
which is called Tagnè, which means progress in Bamanan (Mali). An organization which was founded in 1998 and has managed to prevent tens of thousands of girls from being circumcised. I will also briefly describe our work area, which covers over 1,000,000 citizens, of which 51% are women and girls.

Part 2: The problems of female circumcision and the factors that maintain it in Mali

Part 3: The working methods of Tagnè
Where professionalism and informal contact merge

Part 4: Achieved results
which can be summarized by 99.99% of the population groups that are visited and stop female circumcision without repeat infringement. Our organization is largely composed of women who have not received a lot of training. Our target groups have received even less. Through a combination of a certain basis of professional knowledge, informal contact, and respect for people, however, we have managed to gain results that one could dream of.
Despite all efforts, the female circumcision rate in Mali is still estimated at 78%.
Part 5: Display video of the celebration of the abolition of female circumcision
In February 2018, 28 villages jointly signed to abolish female circumcision. These types of ceremonies, which are celebrated abundantly, take place several times a year.
Part 6: Conclusions
Part 7: questions from the audience
Part 8: Thank you and close