Testing the effectiveness of integrating community-based approaches for encouraging abandonment of female genital cutting into CARE's reproductive health programs in Ethiopia and Kenya

Abstract

Between 2000 and 2002 CARE International with technical support from the Frontiers in Reproductive Health Program of the Population Council implemented an operations research (OR) project among the Afar people of Ethiopia and Somali refugees in Daadab camps in Kenya. The OR project aimed to assess the effectiveness of community-based female genital cutting (FGC) strategies in increasing the knowledge of harmful FGC effects and positive FGC related attitudes and intended behaviour among the intervention communities. Both communities are predominantly of Islamic faith and practice infibulation the most severe form of FGC. In both Ethiopia and Kenya CARE integrated FGC interventions into existing community-based reproductive and primary health care information and service delivery activities. The study in Ethiopia was designed to test the effectiveness of education activities using behaviour change communication (BCC) approaches and advocacy activities by religious and other key leaders in the intervention site. No interventions occurred in the control sites. In Kenya both the intervention and comparison sites had education/BCC activities. The intervention site had advocacy activities in addition to education/BCC activities. The OR study assessed the effectiveness of BCC and advocacy activities versus no interventions in Ethiopia while in Kenya the comparison was between BCC strategies alone and the combination of BCC and advocacy activities. (excerpt)