Women's Health Commons^™

Managing And Preventing Female Genital Cutting (Fgm/C) Among The Somali Community In Kenya, Maryam Sheikh Abdi, Jaldesa Guyo, Ian Askew

Reproductive Health

This report details the Council’s innovative work with religious leaders to reduce the practice of FGM/C in the Somali community in Northern Kenya. In the mid to late 2000s, through the USAID Frontiers project, the Council successfully engaged religious leaders and scholars as community educators to correct the customary misconception that FGM/C is a requirement of Islam. Through sermons and training sessions, these leaders were able to dis-associate FGM/C from Islam, raise public awareness about the harms associated with the practice, and encourage its abandonment.