Community-Based Approaches to Reforming Female Genital Operations in Africa: a Case Study from the Oromia Regional State of Ethiopia

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Community-based Approaches to Reforming Female Genital Operations in Africa: A Case Study From the Oromia Regional State of Ethiopia

Aneesa Kassam and Alemayehu Diro Lalise

ABSTRACT: In the past, numerous attempts by colonial governments and international agencies to abolish the practice of female genital cutting in Africa failed to make any significant impact on behaviour. In this article, we describe how, since 1996, an indigenous NGO has been attempting to reform the practice in the rural communities of Oromia (Ethiopia). We show that it has brought about enduring change by creating awareness about the health consequences of the practice, facilitating collective debate on the topic using participatory methods, and involving local elders in the decision to abandon it. We compare this approach to other successful African initiatives undertaken during the same period based on similar strategies. We argue that these programmes have been able to amend the practice by empowering the communities to direct their own process of change, based on their own traditions. We caution, however, that such interventions should not be made without a full understanding of the cultural meaning(s) of the practice, which should be seen in a holistic manner.

KEYWORDS: Oromo (Ethiopia); circumcision; female genital cutting; community-based approaches

The global campaign launched in the 1980s to to adopt an insider approach to resolving the reform the practice of female genital cutting problem. (FGC) led to experimentation with a number In this article, we discuss a similarly innova- of educational programmes in Africa to address tive experiment that was undertaken from the this culturally sensitive issue at the local level. beginning of 1996 by Hundee, an indigenous These innovative attempts include, amongst nongovernmental organization (NGO), in the others, the work of the Reproductive, Education regional state of Oromia in Ethiopia. We de- and Community Health programme of the scribe Hundee’s attempts to bring about posi- United Nations Population Fund in Uganda in tive behavioural change in respect to FGC and early 1996, the Alternative Coming of Age pro- compare and contrast its approach to those gramme initiated jointly by the Maendeleo Ya adopted by the aforementioned organizations. Wanawake Organization and the Program for Our analysis of these approaches is based on Appropriate Technology in Health in Kenya in the ‘convention shift’ theory of change proposed mid-1996, and the Tostan Basic Education Pro- by Mackie (2000). gramme in Senegal from 1997 (WHO 1999). This article forms the third in a series of ar- These local initiatives succeeded where global ticles about the work that is being carried out ones had failed, mainly because they were able by Hundee in the Oromo communities of Ethi-

Anthropology in Action, 13, 3 (2006): 22–39 © Berghahn Books and the Association for Anthropology in Action doi:10.3167/aia.2006.130304 Community-based Approaches to Reforming Female Genital Operations in Africa | AiA opia. The first article provides historical back- which the problem is being tackled and describe ground to its formation in relation to the Oromo how both male and female forms of circumci- nationalist movement for self-determination, sion were conceptualized in the traditional which began in the 1970s (Kassam 2003). The Oromo culture as part of the gada social, polit- second, published earlier, analyses its ‘ethno- ical and religious institution. As Kratz (1994: development’ approach (Kassam 2002). The 346) notes, ‘[w]hat is called female circumci- present article examines an important aspect sion is part of numerous and diverse cultural of its work dedicated to eliminating the prob- practices and ceremonies, each differently em- lem of FGC, as a precursor to bringing about bedded in specific institutional and social struc- women’s development. Like the previous arti- tures’. It is important, therefore, to see male and cles, its shows that when the intransigent prob- female circumcision in relation to one another, lems of development are mediated from the as forming part of a cultural whole, rather than inside, by those who speak the language and to treat the latter in isolation, as has been the understand the culture, it is possible to bring trend in feminist literature.1 We then discuss about meaningful change. This approach in- Hundee’s Civic Education Programme and out- volves using indigenous knowledge, custom- line the participatory model that it employs in ary practices and traditional organizations as reforming FGC. We compare this approach to the basis for modern development initiatives, those of other NGOs in Africa and analyse how in this case, through the intermediary of the and why these organizations have been suc- council of elders. In this respect, Hundee’s ap- cessful in changing behaviour. proach to tackling FGC can be compared those of a number of other local NGOs in Africa, which have also involved community elders in Definition and Types of FGC in Africa the decision-making process to reform it. In broader terms, our article contributes to There is no consensus among researchers and the study of local institutions in development feminist activists on the politically correct term (Korten 1980; Esman and Uphoff 1984; Uphoff to designate the practice of cutting the female 1986; 1992), and in particular, to the important genital organ. In the literature, it is commonly role that can be played by indigenous organi- referred to by the expression ‘female genital mu- zations (IOs) (Blunt and Warren 1996). Blunt tilation’ (FGM), but a number of scholars have and Warren (1996: xiv) define IOs as ‘local-level objected to this designation as being ethnocen- institutions with an organizational base that are tric and as carrying a negative value judge- endogenous as opposed to exogenous within ment. In this article, we follow Shell-Duncan the community’. Such IOs are ‘inclined to have and Herlund (2000) in designating the practice and to use local knowledge, to respond quickly as ‘female genital cutting’, but we also use ‘fe- to changes, to handle conflict and to create cli- male genital operation’ (Young 1965; Walley mates of opinion influencing behaviour (Blunt 1997) and ‘female genital surgery’ (Shweder and Warren 1996: xiv). In the institutional frame- 2002). Where we use the expression ‘female gen- work, national NGOs, which operate supralo- ital mutilation’, we put it in single inverted com- cally, often act as intermediaries between IOs mas to indicate that it is a controversial one. and international NGOs and/or government The World Health Organization (WHO) de- agencies to foster local capacity or to bring about fines female genital surgeries as ‘all those pro- change (see Uphoff 1986: 191–192). cedures, which involve partial or total removal We begin by defining FGC, discuss its prev- of the external female genitalia or other injury to alence in Ethiopia and its health consequences, the female genital organs, whether for cultural examine the national policy framework within or any other non-therapeutic reasons’ (WHO

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1995). The WHO distinguishes four types of pro- other related practices. There exist a number of cedures. Type I consists of the excision of the variations within these general categories. This prepuce with or without excision of a part or the classification is currently being revised (UNI- whole of the clitoris. In the medical literature, CEF 2004: 2). this type is generally termed ‘clitoridectomy’. Type II consists of the excision of the prepuce and of the clitoris, together with partial or total Prevalence of FGC in Ethiopia excision of the labia minora. This type is also more generally known as ‘excision’. Type III FGC is widely performed in Ethiopia. The most involves the excision of part or all of the exter- common forms of operation are Types I and II nal genitalia and the stitching together of the (clitoridectomy and excision). Type III (infibu- vaginal opening. It is the most extreme form, lation) is largely found in those regions inhab- which is referred to as ‘infibulation’. Type IV ited by Somali-speaking groups (WHO 1995). includes a number of procedures such as prick- The National Committee on Traditional Prac- ing, piercing or incision of the clitoris and/or tices in Ethiopia (NCTPE) carried out a base- labia; cauterization by burning of the clitoris line survey in 1998 and provides prevalence and surrounding tissue; scraping of the vagi- rates by region, updated in 2000 (see Figure 1).2 nal orifice or cutting of the vagina; introduction The extent of FGC varies according to ethnic of substances into the vagina to cause bleeding and religious background. or to cause the narrowing of the vagina, and

Figure 1: FGC prevalance rates by region Source: Based on NCTPE 2003

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Among the Orthodox Christian Amhara of ation (especially in cases of the early marriage highland Ethiopia, excision (girz) is based on of girls). Problems associated with childbirth the traditional code of the Law of Kings (Fetha include painful delivery due to the narrowing Nagast), a collection of ancient laws. It is not, of the vulva, necessitating episiotomy (surgical however, directly imposed by the Ethiopian cutting of the vagina to facilitate birth), which Church (Huber 1966: 87). Nevertheless, an un- may lead to rectovaginal fistula and/or fecal cut woman may not enter the holiest part of a incontinence or vaginal fistula and/or urinary church, and priests can refuse burial to such incontinence. In rural women, these medical women in hallowed ground. Traditionally, in- problems may often go untreated, due to the fants normally underwent the operation below level of access to health care in the country, tween nine and forty days after birth. and in some cases may lead to death (FDRE/ Similarly, there is no scriptural basis for cut- UNICEF 2002).3 ting in Islam, but like elsewhere in the region, it is considered to form part of a wider set of ideas relating to the chastity/fidelity code that Ethiopian National Policy on FGC is linked to the institution of marriage, notions of physical and spiritual purity, and defini- The Ethiopian government has ratified the tions of gender and identity (see Gruenbaum United Nations Convention on the Elimination 2001: 62–64). of All Forms of Discrimination Against Women Hundee’s field experience indicates that in (CEDAW). The Constitution of the Federal Dem- the Christianized central, western and northern ocratic Government of Ethiopia, Article 35 (4) parts of the Shoa zone of Oromia, the opera- on the Rights of Women, stipulates that the tion is performed at an early age, usually be- ‘State shall enforce the right of women to elim- tween three and five years, and in some cases inate the influences of harmful customs. Laws, only the prepuce is cut. In the Islamized east- customs and practices that oppress or cause ern parts of Shoa and in the Arssi zone, girls bodily or mental harm to women are prohib- undergo clitoridectomy between the ages of fif- ited’ (FRDE 1995). However, this prohibition is teen or sixteen, shortly before marriage, with not legally enforced. Instead, the government the whole or part of the clitoris being removed. works closely with the NCTPE and regional health departments to tackle the problem. The NCTPE was established in 1979 under Impact of FGC on Women’s Health the auspices of the Ministry of Health, but is now an independent NGO that constitutes one The NCTPE reports that the operation gives rise of the national chapters of the Inter-African to a number of health problems. The actual ef- Committee on Traditional Practices affecting fects in any community depend on the type of the Health of Women and Children, based in surgery performed, the expertise of the person Geneva (WHO 1999: 86). Its board includes who performs it and the sanitary conditions representatives from the government min- under which it is conducted (Koso-Thomas istries, the Women’s Affairs Bureau, NGOs, 1987: 25–28). In Ethiopia, these problems include major donor organizations and the relevant high levels of infection (tetanus has a mortality United Nations agencies. Through its regional rate of 60 percent in the country), septicaemia subcommittees, it plays an active role in public and urinary infections at an early stage, whilst health campaigns at the national level. With later there may be gynaecological complications, support from UNICEF, it has carried out re- menstrual problems, urinary tract infections, search on FGC and other traditional practices painful sexual intercourse and postcoital lacer- that are considered to be harmful to the health

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of women and children and provides docu- roles that they would be expected to fulfil in the mentary and other support to a number of lo- course of the life cycle (Legesse 1973; Baxter cal NGOs that are trying to reform the practice. and Almagor 1978). The rules of recruitment varied according to group. Women generally belonged to the set of their husbands. With po- Male and Female Genital Operations litical change, this system declined in most of in the Oromo Culture the agricultural groups (cf. Knutsson 1967; Blackhurst 1978), but it is still practised by the Oromia is the largest region in Ethiopia, with pastoral Borana and Gabra (cf. Legesse 1973; an estimated population of 22 million, repre- Baxter 1978; Torry 1978; Tablino 1999; Bassi senting 34 percent of the total 63.5 million 2005). However, even where gada was no longer (FDRE/UNICEF 2002: 2). Agriculture and agro- active, the customary laws that were a product pastoralism are the mainstay of the economy of the institution continued to be applied in the in the central, western and eastern parts of the resolution of social conflict in rural communi- region, where it provides 72 percent of the Re- ties. Following the restructuring of Ethiopia in gional Domestic Product (FDRE/UNICEF 2002: 1995 into regional states based on ethnic affili- 9), whilst pastoralism is practised principally ation, the gada system underwent a modest re- on the southern plateau. Eighty-five percent of vival in some parts of Oromia. the population of the region is ethnically Oromo Historical linguistic evidence indicates that (UNICEF 2004). The Oromo are divided into a the system is of great antiquity and may have number of territorially named subgroups, which existed among Eastern Cushitic-speaking peo- include the Rayya in the north, the Tullama in ples, to whom the Oromo belong, from at least the centre, the Macca in the west, the Karray- the first millennium BC (Ehret 1998: 162). These yuu and Ittuu in the east, the Arssi in the south- groups are also said to have practised both cir- east, and the Borana and Gabra in the south cumcision and clitoridectomy as part of their (see Figure 2). They practise either Islam or rites of passage into adulthood. Mythical, his- Christianity, but may also continue to adhere torical and contemporary ethnographic data to their own traditional, monotheistic religion from the Oromo suggest that the circumcision (Waaqifata). In the past, male and female circum- of males was a precondition for participation cisions formed an important part of the Oromo in the system. A myth of origin of the system culture, but due to political, socio-economic and recorded amongst the Tullama in the late 1960s religious change, these operations have gradu- links gada with the rites of ear piercing and cir- ally lost their traditional meaning(s) in many cumcision, in which the flow of blood causes parts of Oromia. the rain to fall after a protracted drought (see Until their conquest and incorporation into Blackhurst 1978: 262).4 Circumcision is thus the Ethiopian Empire by the minority Amhara symbolically associated with the regenerative at the end of the nineteenth century, the differ- substances of blood and rain, which are seen as ent Oromo groups were governed by a political having supernatural efficacy. system (gada) in which a set of democratically In the sixteenth century, ‘Abba’ Bahrey elected leaders held power for an eight-year (1954: 115), an Ethiopian monk who gave the period. This system was based on the organi- first written testimony of the system, defined zation of all the male members of the society luba as ‘those who were circumcised together’. into generation-sets (luba), made up of a num- He did not, however, indicate the timing of the ber of grades in which they underwent a series operation or distinguish between leaders of a of rites of passage and were socialized into set and the community at large. Oral data from the social, political, military, legal and religious the Arssi (Feyisso Bedhaso, personal commu-

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Figure 2: Oromo groups in Ethiopia and Kenya

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nication to Kassam, 2006) suggests that the op- short period of seclusion. Torry (1978: 191) states eration was performed collectively for the mem- that uncircumcised youths ‘are barred from the bers of the set in power, regardless of age, at battlefield [and] forbidden to marry or to par- the end of the term of office of the leaders. This ticipate in mortuary ceremonies’. Circumcision may throw light on Cecchi’s (1886: 529) state- is thus a maturity rite that confers full adult ment that amongst the Tullama ‘one can see status on a young man. Girls undergo clitori- aged men in their eighties and infants of the dectomy (gurra uradda) at puberty, also indi- tenderest age being circumcised’ together (cited vidually, sometimes in small groups, without by Legesse 1973: 122). ceremony, and remain in seclusion until the On the question of status, Huntingford (1955: wound has healed. The operation marks the 41) writes that in those groups where gada was transition from the status of an immature child still in force in the 1950s, for the leaders, the to that of a girl of marriageable age (Tablino operation did not mark ‘entry into manhood’ 1999: 98–99). as it did for other members of the society, but Among the territorially adjacent Borana, signalled the departure from the grade of lead- youths are collectively circumcised when a new ership, as such men were circumcised during age-set (hariyaa) is officially formed, usually or after their period of office (see also Cerulli when they are about twenty years old. The ini- 1922: 170, 173; and Knutsson 1967: 165). As tiation is marked by a sacrifice (sooriyoo kor- Lepisa (1975: 39) explains, ‘circumcision is a beessaa hariyaa) (Bassi 2005: 69–72). Borana girls ceremony in which the resigning members are are expected to undergo clitoridectomy at the classified as politically powerless elders, able same age as Gabra girls.5 Baxter (1954: 267) in- only to give advice’. Knutsson (1967: 170) states dicates that a youth may not legitimately en- that at the time of his fieldwork, among the gage in sexual activity until he has undergone Tullama, this operation was only a ‘ceremonial the operation.6 As in other Oromo groups, Bo- circumcision’ that involved symbolically cut- rana leaders appear to be an exception to this ting the thigh, since under Orthodox Christian rule. Unlike their peers, men who are in the influence the men would already have under- ruling gada class are not circumcised until the gone the full operation at an earlier age. He third year of this grade, when they are in their also notes that among the adjoining Macca, the late forties, are married and have fathered chil- man (jaala, literally ‘companion’) who held the dren (Legesse 1973: 90; Bassi 2005: 65). This is boy during his circumcision became his ‘ritual because only those men who were born at the father’ (Knutsson 1967: 42). On the basis of the ‘right time’ (exactly forty years or one genera- literary sources of the 1920s, Huntingford (1955: tion after their fathers) can qualify as leaders. 41) indicates that girls underwent the opera- Such men are known figuratively as ‘sons of tion of clitoridectomy at the age of eight years bulls’ (ilmaan kormaa) and are initiated into their upwards, but that infibulation was found pri- leadership roles at an early age. In the Oromo marily in Islamized groups. culture, a bull (korma) that has not been castrated Among the present-day Gabra of southern signifies wholeness, strength and prowess, im- Ethiopia and northern Kenya, circumcision is a plying that a man must be intact at the time of prerequisite for entry into the first grade of assuming office. The operation is performed their variant of the gada system (Tablino 1999: for both the men and their wives at one of the 61). Young men undergo the operation, known Borana ritual shrines.7 as qabaanqaba or dhaqaqabaan, in their early twen- Among the Islamized Arssi, FGC (kitanna) is ties, usually individually, occasionally with their considered to form part of the laws of marriage peers, without great ceremony, and enter into a (seera fuudhaa fi heerumatii) (Gemeda 2002: 121).

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Agirl who has not been excised is considered Unlike in other cultures, these transitions did to be legally ‘male’. The operation thus renders not feature in community-wide rituals. In the her both female and marriageable. A girl who case of women, in particular, they were domes- is betrothed undergoes clitoridectomy shortly tic rituals, carried out individually at the level before her marriage (Gemeda 2002: 119). The of the home and family. They constituted what mother of the girl holds a neighbourhood feast Firth (1957[1936]: 380) terms ‘general rites of in- to celebrate the event (Baxter 1979: 6). itiation’, through which women were inducted This ethnographic data would tend to sup- into social life as a whole. Nevertheless, the oper- port the thesis advanced by Young (1965), ac- ation formed part of a larger complex of ideas, cording to which genital operations are a phys- symbols and cultural values underlying the ical means of dramatically marking a status gada institution, which linked human and so- change in society for both males and females, cial reproduction, procreation and leadership, through which their sex-roles are defined and time and the social becoming of both men and solidarity is created within each gender group. It women. can be said, therefore, that in traditional Oromo Today, however, these ideas relating to fertility society, on the one hand, male circumcision was and sexuality and to generation and regenera- a means of marking a status change from boy- tion, which formed part of the traditional Oromo hood to manhood and to active membership in culture and religion, have been overlaid by other a group of men recruited on the basis of age and meanings. As a result of the historical interaction generation who were expected to assume col- of the Oromo with Islam and Orthodox Chris- lective social responsibilities that transcended tianity, the uncut female sexual organ has come kinship ties (i.e. based on solidarity), such as in to be perceived as unclean and polluting (Geme- warfare and military defence. On the other da 2002: 119). With the decline of the gada system hand, it was also used to distinguish potential in most parts of Oromia, female circumcision leaders from the rest of the members of the so- no longer has a ritual meaning, but has retained ciety, or those men who were born at the ‘right its social significance of regulating sexuality and time’ from those who were born ‘out of time’. marriage, although nowadays in conformity The former, uncut men, as the fertile ‘bulls’ of with the tenets of Islam and Christianity, rather society, were responsible for carrying the scep- than with traditional religious values. Moreover, tre (baalli) of power for an eight-year period, as a consequence of the national anti-‘female ensuring that law and order were maintained, genital mutilation’ campaign, which depicts it performing the rituals that affected the social as a ‘harmful traditional practice’, the operation and moral order, and handing over power to the is now associated with other such practices as next set. Circumcision signalled the (imminent) early marriage and abduction, as well as with departure from this grade. For women, clitori- domestic and sexual violence against women dectomy marked the social transition from girl- more generally, which have arisen as a result hood to incipient womanhood through which of social and economic change in the region. she too would become part of the gada system In the central parts of Oromia, the operation and would perform its domestic and commu- has, therefore, come to be considered by the nal rituals in the capacity of wife and mother. elders as a non-Oromo practice, which violates Hence, traditionally, circumcision was the so- women’s traditional rights and should be elim- cially institutionalized means of legitimizing inated from the culture. Hundee has played an male sexuality, of preparing women for mar- instrumental role in reviving the legislation riage and sanctioning childbearing, and of defin- process through which the operation is prohib- ing their distinct but complementary sex roles. ited under customary law.

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Hundee’s Civic Education Programme Buusaa Gonofaa, based on the southern Oromo traditional institution of welfare assistance), Hundee was formed in mid-1995 as part of the which provides loans to small groups of women expansion of the voluntary sector following the on a revolving basis. change of regime in Ethiopia. The word hundee The Civic Education Programme comprises literally means ‘roots’ in the Oromo language. two interrelated components: (a) combating Hundee sees its mandate as one of bringing harmful traditional practices affecting women; about the social and economic transformation and (b) improving women’s access to and con- of the rural communities of Oromia from within trol over economic resources.9 These two dimen- the culture, based on their own understanding sions of gender and development in Oromia of development, rather than imposing change were identified by the women who participated from the outside. The organization regards its in the focus group discussions organized by role as one of mediating between the ‘inside’ Hundee in rural communities at an early stage and the ‘outside’. Its approach is a rights-based in its activities. At these meetings, the women one, which emphasizes the Oromo right to de- spoke without inhibition to Hundee staff in the velopment (RTD) in general, and gender rights Oromo language about the physical abuses in particular, based on participatory processes that they had suffered, such as rape and domes- (on the RTD approach see Sengupta et al. 2005).8 tic violence, as well as the health complications One of its primary aims is to empower the com- arising from FGC. They described how they had munities by educating them about their consti- been forced to enter into a number of nontradi- tutional rights and by teaching them how to tional marriages, such as marriage by abduction gain access to the court system and the legal and contractual marriages. They reported that institutions of the country. Hundee is one of the adolescent girls were not attending school due only local NGOs in Ethiopia that combines an to the fear of being abducted. The women indi- interest in indigenous institutions with civic ed- cated that they had few or no rights of access ucation and development goals (see Kassam or control over the property of their ‘spouses’, 2002; 2003). Since its inception, Hundee has particularly in cases of divorce, despite the long been operating mainly in the central part of the hours that they worked in the home and in the Oromia regional state, in the northern, western fields. This emotional outpouring revealed the and eastern Shoa zones, as well as more re- extent to which women had been exploited in cently in the southeastern Bale zone. the patriarchal system of production and the Hundee has five development programmes, nature of the physical and psychological dam- which are interlinked and overlap to a certain ages they had suffered for generations. degree: (1) Civic Education; (2) Women’s Eco- Through these initial and subsequent work- nomic Support; (3) Food Security; (4) Environ- shops, Hundee made two important findings mental Rehabilitation and Protection; and (5) of an ethnographic nature, which influenced Elderly Support. It does not have a specific its approach. First, it found that like the ‘ritual gender programme, but this issue is addressed father’ of boys, female initiates acquired a ritual throughout its work, in particular in the Civic or ‘eye mother’ (haada ijaa) during circumcision. Education and Women’s Economic Support It learnt that the girl established a lifelong bond programmes, which focus on women and es- with the woman who supported her by cover- tablish their strategic and practical rights to ing her eyes during the operation, which was development, in both human and legal terms. reinforced by the exchange of gifts at other im- More recently, Hundee established an inde- portant ceremonial occasions. This female bond pendent micro-finance institution (known as of solidarity widened the girl’s network of fic-

30 | Community-based Approaches to Reforming Female Genital Operations in Africa | AiA tive kin relations in the community. Hundee Stage Two: Women’s Sensitization Workshop sought ways of retaining this positive dimen- sion of the practice. Second, through its discus- The second stage consists in holding a women’s sions with the women, who constantly referred sensitization workshop, to which are invited its staff to the elders, it also discovered that the representatives of women’s associations, female Oromo customary law still prevailed in these schoolteachers, selected female students, female rural communities. It became evident to Hundee household heads, traditional birth attendants that any interventions made to address women’s and local circumcisers. Hundee’s facilitators do issues would need to include the participation not challenge the traditional ‘wisdom’ of FGC. of men and would have to involve the elders. Rather, they allow the women to analyse the practice for themselves, making the case against it by highlighting its harmful effects based on Hundee’s Participatory Model the medical evidence, and finally induce a new, informed, collective awareness of it that will Hundee’s participatory approach to sensitize lead to a willingness to change it. The women the communities to the health risks of FGC and are asked to form small discussion groups, to to mobilize them in abandoning it evolved em- which a Hundee facilitator is assigned to act as pirically. It changed and was refined as a result rapporteur, to examine the different dimensions of the interactions of the organization with the of the practice, the justification for it and prob- communities and of the problems encountered lems encountered with it in their particular lo- in applying the approach in practice. Hundee’s calities. The reasons given by participants for model currently consists of a six-pronged ap- the operation include: conformity to tradition; proach, which is outlined below. ensuring the chastity of girls and their fidelity after marriage by reducing libido; facilitating penetration during sexual intercourse; render- Stage One: Planning Workshop ing a woman clean and ‘complete’; and mak- At the first stage, Hundee holds a planning ing a woman a ‘cultured’ person. In effect, in workshop, to which are invited various gov- the Oromo culture, it is believed that a female ernment officials and representatives of the or male who has not been circumcised has not Women’s Bureau in the district where the pro- been properly socialized and lacks self-control. gramme work is to be carried out. Hundee The women then reconvene to report back on outlines the objectives of the programme. Par- their discussions. ticipants then discuss the practical details of At this point, Hundee facilitators outline whom to invite to the workshops, where to the potential health risks of the operation by hold them and how to conduct them. An ad hoc drawing on the women’s own experiences of committee is then formed to liaise with Hun- contracting infections as a result of unsanitary dee staff and to oversee the implementation of conditions. They discuss the chronic urination the programme. In this way, all the relevant problems, through which women become so- authorities of the district are fully informed cially outcast, as well the complications expe- about and involved in planning and approv- rienced during child delivery that sometimes ing the proposed activities. In principle, any result in death. They also show that if the same administrative obstacles to the subsequent work- razor is used for cutting several girls it could shops should be removed, but in practice, bu- cause the transmission of HIV/AIDS. Occa- reaucratic obstruction at different regional levels sionally, they screen an NCTPE video on FGC constantly hampers Hundee’s work. to reinforce these health messages. After shar-

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ing this information, the facilitators ask women participants who attended the single-sex work- to consider whether they wish to expose their shops are invited. The meeting enables partic- daughters to the same health risks. They also in- ipants to review FGC, to reconsider its negative form them of their constitutional right to refuse health consequences and to agree on the collec- to undergo the operation. At such workshops, tive measures to ban it. At such sessions, men traditional circumcisers sometimes dramatically solemnly and publicly promise their wives to announce that they are ready to renounce the support them fully in their decision to change roles that they have played hitherto in main- the practice. taining the practice. Schoolgirls often declare that they do not want to undergo the operation Stage Five: Law-making Assembly and are supported by their teachers. Such emo- tionally charged responses encourage other The fifth stage marks the culmination of the women to affirm that they, too, wish to abandon previous consultation process. It consists in a the practice. After such sessions, few openly law-making (seera tummaa) assembly, held at a dissenting voices remain. mutually convenient date, to ban FGC from the community. Seera tummaa literally means to ‘forge’ or to ‘beat out’ the law. It is a community- Stage Three: Men’s Sensitization Workshop wide event that is attended by all workshop At the third stage, a parallel men’s sensitization participants, their neighbours and friends, lo- workshop is held shortly after that for women, cal government officials and members of the to which are invited community elders, gada law-enforcement agencies. It is convened and leaders, local government officials, schoolteach- presided over by the elected leader (abba gadaa), ers and other residents of the community. The assisted by other officers. Its performance varies men’s discussions follow the same format as from community to community, and is often that of the women’s workshop. Men are gener- highly choreographed. Generally, the men ar- ally more conservative about changing tradi- rive at the ritual meeting ground (chaffee) astride tional practices such as FGC than are women colourfully bedecked horses. The women and and are less easily persuaded by the detrimen- their daughters come in groups, the former tal health information. However, when they wearing their best finery and carrying their begin to examine the legal dimensions of the traditional marriage sticks (siiqqee). The gada practice, led by the traditional leaders, they leader bears his spear (waarana) and whip surmise that it is not based on Oromo natural (alanga) that are ritual emblems of his author- law (uumaa), but has been adopted from other ity. A bull of a specific colour is led to the scene cultures and is, therefore, socially constructed. in readiness for the final sacrifice. They argue that the practice has no historical The leader announces the law (or laws) to basis in Oromo cultural tradition, contrary to be enacted and invites male members of house- the ethnographic evidence presented above. holds present who object to it (them) to make They conclude that it should be abandoned, their opinion known. This process of dissent is but agree that the role of the ‘eye mother’ can known as gunguma (expressing one’s doubts). be retained as part of the custom of gift-exchange If objections are raised, they are collectively (galata). debated until consensus is reached. When there is full agreement, the leader pronounces each ‘article’ of the law with a crack of his whip, Stage Four: Joint Consensus-building Workshop and the members of the community affirm in At the fourth stage, a consensus-building work- unison that it will be upheld; this assent is both shop is held to which both the male and female legally and morally binding. He then invites

32 | Community-based Approaches to Reforming Female Genital Operations in Africa | AiA the traditional circumcisers to make a solemn plicitly based on the nested decision-making pledge before the assembly that they will no and consultative processes that are characteris- longer carry out the operation. Finally, an as- tic of the traditional Oromo democratic system sistant sacrifices the bull, which seals the new of government, presided over by elders.10 This law. This dramatic act brings the proceedings method of reaching consensus on social issues to an end. through debate under the guidance of the elders is common to a number of other African societies (see Richards and Kuper 1971). Stage Six: Performance Assessment and Monitoring Report System At the sixth stage, a meeting is held at the inter- Comparing Approaches to locality level a few weeks after the event to assess Reforming FGC in Africa the effectiveness of the law-making assemblies on attitude change in the communities and to There is little published data on the approaches establish a system for monitoring and reinforc- used by other African organizations to reform ing the new law instituted. Male and female FGC. For our comparison, we draw mainly on community representatives are invited to pro- a WHO (1999) report that reviews the work vide feedback on Hundee’s intervention in their of these organizations, supplemented by other localities. Their reports normally indicate a high sources. rate of compliance with the new law, with few The Reproductive, Education and Commu- or no cases of violation. Women’s Defence Com- nity Health (REACH) Programme was created mittees are then formed to monitor the situa- by the United Nations Population Fund in 1996. tion and to deal with any problems arising. The It grew out of a workshop held in 1995 to dis- locality and subdistrict committees are made up cuss the problem of FGC that was attended by of community representatives and local admin- community leaders, local elders, youth and po- istrators; the district-level committee is com- litical representatives of the Sabiny (also known posed of government officials and representa- as Sebei) group, who live in the Kapchorwa dis- tives of the women’s bureau and of the police trict of eastern Uganda. The Sabiny are farm- authority. This three-tiered structure creates a ers and pastoralists who traditionally practised mechanism for reporting any cases of violation both male and female circumcision, as part of to the appropriate authorities and an institution- the initiation rites into adulthood. Goldschmidt alized means of taking action against the offend- (1976) provides a description of the traditional ing parties when social pressure alone fails. Hun- rites. He describes the female operation as a dee also monitors compliance through its other ‘labiodectomy’, which involves the ‘severing programmes, participation in which depends of the whole labia minora’ (Goldschmidt 1976: on having abandoned the practice of FGC. 267). All attempts to reform the practice by In this way, Hundee’s participatory approach Christian missionaries in the 1930s and 1940s gradually draws all the key actors in the com- failed. Following a campaign to impose a ban munity and local government into an inclusive on the operations by the Ugandan government process and encourages them to take concerted and the Inter-African Committee on Traditional action in reforming FGC through a culturally Practices (IAC) in 1989, there was a resurgence instituted means recognized by both customary of the practice. As the WHO (1999: 117) report and national law. It involves the different stake- comments: ‘The Sabiny community felt offend- holders in the various stages of planning, im- ed that “outsiders” were passing judgement and plementation and evaluation of the programme. finding fault with their culture and tradition, This model is doubly effective because it is im- implying that they were backward and bar-

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baric’. The REACH Programme took a similar As in the REACH and Hundee approaches, approach to Hundee’s by involving different the MYWO involves the major stakeholders sections of the community in its health educa- (mothers, daughters, fathers and community tion seminars and workshops, which included, leaders) at all stages of implementing the pro- most importantly, the Sabiny elders. It also in- gramme and begins by educating them about volved other actors at the national and interna- the harmful effects of the practice. As a result, tional levels. In this way, it enabled the Sabiny mothers have become the most vocal advocates to determine their own process of change based of reform and have played an instrumental role on their own cultural values. The solution pro- in convincing their husbands and community posed by the community was to continue to leaders to abandon the practice. The men make celebrate the ceremonial aspects of the initia- a public vow that they will prevent the operation rites for girls, but to relinquish the practice tion being performed on their daughters. The of cutting. As a result, the number of opera- success of the programme, widely reported in tions decreased from between 36 percent and the media, has led another ethnic group, the 90 percent in some areas in 1996 (WHO 1999: Kisii, to adopt a cultural variant of the model in 119). In 1998, the Sabiny Elders Association re- their own district. The programme has initiated ceived an award from the United Nations Fam- a movement for change in Kenyan communities. ily Planning Association in recognition of their The Tostan Basic Education Programme, efforts to reform the practice. founded in 1991 in the USA to provide literacy The Alternative Coming of Age Programme and skills training to women in the Thiès re- in Kenya was developed jointly by the Maen- gion of Senegal, uses a nonformal, participa- deleo Ya Wanawake Organization (MYWO) tory approach to changing FGC. Tostan means and a US NGO, the Program for Appropriate ‘breakthrough’ in the Wolof language. Its man- Technology in Health (PATH), in 1996, among date is to empower communities by educating the Meru in the Tharaka Nithi District. The them. The programme is composed of a num- MYWO is a national NGO formed in 1952 that ber of modules, one of which provides instruc- has played an active role in promoting women’s tion in health and hygiene (WHO 1999: 112– development. It operates through committees 115; UNICEF 2005: 23). The Senegalese popula- at various administrative levels. The Meru pro- tions practise a variant of infibulation, in which gramme forms part of a wider strategy to iden- the clitoris is excised and the vagina ‘sealed’ tify culturally accepted alternatives to FGC in through the coagulation of blood, rather than seven districts in Kenya with the participation being stitched together (Shell-Duncan and Her- of the communities concerned (WHO 1999: lund 2000: 5). In July 1997, a group of women 107–111). The Meru traditionally practised cli- from the Bambara village of Malicounda who toridectomy, and like the Kikuyu, they defied had undergone the health-training module took colonial campaigns to ban it (Thomas 2000). the decision to persuade other women, their The programme has been successful in reform- husbands and religious leaders to abandon the ing the practice, by substituting surgical cut- practice. The consultative process that ensued, ting with a programme of ‘excision by word’ led by the elders, persuaded the villagers to (Ntanira Na Mugambo). These alternative rites make a collective pledge, known as the Mali- include a week of seclusion during which the counda Commitment, to end FGC. This declara- ‘initiates’ are given instruction into both tradition created a movement for reform that gained tional wisdom and modern ‘family life skills’ wider momentum, leading other groups of vil- by a group of mothers trained by the MYWO, lages in the region to make similar pledges. As and a coming-of-age ceremony that publicly of 2000, over one thousand villages had made celebrates their new status. such declarations. As a result of this grassroots

34 | Community-based Approaches to Reforming Female Genital Operations in Africa | AiA movement, the government of Senegal legislated for the change. In this way, the NGOs were able against the practice in 1999. The programme to empower the communities to propose a cul- has won a number of international awards for turally acceptable form of abandonment. In the its work, which include the WHO best practice Ugandan and Kenyan cases, the reform con- award in 2003. Since 2000, its model has been sisted in substituting alternative rites, or ritual applied in a number of other African countries, without cutting. As Mackie (2000: 274) concedes, such as Mali, Burkina Faso, Guinea and Sudan. such cessation also constitutes a convention shift. Thirdly, in all the communities, a socially binding declaration was made by all sections Analysing Change: of the community to maintain the ban. This The ‘Convention Shift’ Model declaration can be compared to taking a public oath. Further to Mackie (2000), it can be said that Mackie (2000: 254–255) describes the move- such pledges, whether they are made through ment for change that was initiated by villagers a law-making assembly or as a public declara- in Senegal as marking what he calls a ‘convention of commitment, have efficacy and binding tion shift’. He hypothesizes that certain prac- power as a result of their ritualization. Like the tices, such as foot binding in China or female initiation rites that they displace, pledges are surgeries in Africa, revolve around a set of con- performative events (Kratz 1994). Once such a ventions relating to marriage, which are collec- convention shift takes place and becomes so- tively followed by members of a community. cially acceptable, it gathers its own momentum, Parents who do not adhere to the established and has the tendency to spread from commu- tradition will not find marriage partners for nity to community. their offspring. Hence, the custom is highly re- We can draw a number of conclusions from sistant to change. However, when a critical mass these case studies. There are three points that of people agrees to modify an aspect of this relate specifically to the topic of indigenous tradition, it can effect a convention shift. As knowledge and development. Mackie (2000: 279) explains, such a convention Firstly, the four educational programmes shift can be brought about through a ‘tripartite seeking to reform FGC in Africa refute the mod- strategy: basic education, public discussion and ernist view that traditional societies are resistant public declaration’. This analytical framework to change. They query the pessimistic opinion can be applied equally to all the programmes of international campaigners that the problem discussed here. is an intractable one and that it will take several As we have seen, firstly all four organizations decades to modify such behaviour. The studies provided a nondirective programme of basic presented support the view that if change is education to the communities on the harmful approached from the inside, from the point of consequences of FGC. In all four, cultural in- view of the actors, in a culturally sensitive man- siders usually provided this instruction in the ner using participatory methods, which are language of the participants. In this way, they inclusive and take account of people’s own in- were able to gain the trust of the community digenous institutions and value systems, it is and to deal with any issues arising in a sensi- possible to bring about meaningful develop- tive way. Secondly, the organizations initiated a ment. As Mackie (2000: 6) also notes, the aboli- community-wide discussion on the topic, which tion of FGC should not be seen as an end in included the participation not only of women, itself, but should constitute a foundation for but also of their husbands and daughters, and furthering women’s health and human rights, crucially, of the elders of the community, who as a prerequisite for their development, and provided the legitimacy and moral authority should form part of a multisectoral approach.

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Secondly, as La Fontaine (1985: 116) also isso Bedhaso for facilitating the interview and points out, before action is taken to change FGC, follow-up questions. it is important to understand it in its social, economic, cultural and historical contexts. None Aneesa Kassam is a Research Associate in the De- of the organizations studied here appear to partment of Anthropology at the University of have carried out such a preliminary cultural Durham. Her research interests are in the cultural analysis, probably due to the fact that FGC is a system of the Oromo peoples, in particular the donor-led issue, which focuses exclusively on Gabra and Borana nomadic pastoralists of north- women’s health problems. ern Kenya and southern Ethiopia. She has also Thirdly, our own attempt to contextualize worked on issues of change and development in both male and female circumcision in the tra- the Oromia state of Ethiopia. (Aneesa Kassam, ditional Oromo culture raises some important Department of Anthropology, University of epistemological issues for the application of Durham, 43 Old Elvet, DURHAM DH1 3HN, indigenous knowledge in development. As we England. E-mail: [email protected].) have shown, the ritual significance of the prac- Alemayehu Diro Lalise is the Head of Programme tice in the traditional way of life of the Oromo Operations for Hundee Grassroots Initiative and has been obscured by the economic, political has worked for the organization since its incep- and religious changes that have taken place in tion. He gained his first degree in Economics at the society over the last century, leading to a the University of Addis Ababa, and later took an form of ‘cultural amnesia’ in respect to its mean- MA degree in Anthropology. His MA dissertation ing by the elders in the central parts of the re- explores how the agricultural Oromo of central gion most influenced by Amhara occupation. Ethiopia conceptualize development. (Alemayehu This is an interesting phenomenon that would Diro Lalise, HUNDEE, P.O. Box 9062, ADDIS merit further analysis in terms of the interac- ABABA, Ethiopia. E-mail: [email protected].) tion of dominant and nondominant knowledge and religious systems. This finding teaches us that prior to embarking on a plan of reform, it Notes is important for development programmes to fully document the historical and contempo- 1. There is no comprehensive study of circumci- rary meanings of any practice they seek to sion in the Oromo culture. This article provides modify, so that their interventions can be located the first overview of the issue, based on an temporally in the anthropological knowledge analysis of scattered references in the ethno- base by future scholars of social change. graphic literature. The topic needs further de- tailed investigation. 2. The Southern Nations, Nationalities and Peo- ples (SNNP) regional state comprises more than Acknowledgements fifty ethnic groups, only some of which practise FGC. In the Gambella region, only the Nuer Aneesa Kassam’s research on FGC in Oromia practise it. (Ethiopia) was carried out between 2001 and 3. See also Huber (1966). As far as we know, there 2004 and was funded by the Nuffield Founda- are no national statistics for these health prob- tion. This grant is gratefully acknowledged. lems. She thanks the director and staff of Hundee for 4. The Oromo make a symbolic equivalence between ear piercing and circumcision. Gurra logistical support for workshop attendance and uradda (to pierce the ear) can be used to desig- for access to programme documents. She also nate circumcision in both sexes, as can dhaqa- expresses her appreciation to Dabassa Guyyoo qabaan and qabaanqaba, but is more generally for his teaching on gender rights and to Fey- applied to that of girls.

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5. Hassan Arero (Horniman Museum, London) References informs us that amongst the urbanized Gabra and Borana in Kenya the operation is now be- Bahrey, A. 1954. ‘History of the Galla’, in C.F. Beck- ing medicalized. ingham and G.W.B. Huntingford (eds) Some 6. As in all Oromo groups, Gabra and Borana, Records of Ethiopia, 1593–1974, London: Hakluyt girls are expected to be virgins at marriage. Society, 111–129. Young men can only have sexual access illicitly Bassi, M. 2005. Decisions in the Shade: Political and to married women. The woman’s husband re- Juridical Processes Among the Oromo-Borana (Horn mains the social father of any children born of of Africa), Translated by Cynthia Salvadori, this union. The lover-mistress (jaala-jaaltuu) re- Trenton, N.J.: Red Sea Press. lationship is quasi-institutionalized, but due to Baxter, P.T.W. 1954. ‘The Social Organization of the the spread of HIV/AIDS, under pressure from Galla of North Kenya’, Ph.D. dissertation, Lin- the federal government, Borana leaders are coln College, University of Oxford. now advocating marital fidelity. Baxter, P.T.W. 1978. ‘Boran Age-sets and Genera- 7. The operation is performed at the shrine of tion-sets: Gada, a Puzzle or a Maze?’, in P.T.W. Ejersa Gurura, near Nura in Boranaland (Leg- Baxter and U. Almagor (eds) Age, Generation and esse 1973: 90). According to Dabassa Guyyoo, a Time: Some Features of East African Age Organisa- Borana elder of the Hawaatuu clan interviewed tions, London: C. Hurst and Company, 151–182. by Aneesa Kassam in Kenya in 2003, the women Baxter, P.T.W. 1979. ‘Atete in a Highland Arssi Neigh- only receive a token cut of the clitoris, but the borhood’, Northeast African Studies 1 (2): 1–22. men (and their assistants) are fully circumcised. Baxter, P.T.W. and U. Almagor 1978. ‘Introduction’, 8. The Declaration on the RTD was adopted by in P.T.W. Baxter and U. Almagor (eds) Age, Gen- the United Nations in 1986. Article 1, para- eration and Time: Some Features of East African graph 1 states that ‘[t]he right to development Age Organisations, London: C. Hurst and Com- is an inalienable human right by virtue of which pany, 1–35. every human person and all peoples are enti- Blackhurst, H. 1978. ‘Continuity and Change in the tled to participate in, contribute to and enjoy Shoa Galla Gada System’, in P. T. W. Baxter and economic, social, cultural and political devel- U. Almagor (eds) Age, Generation and Time. Some opment, in which all human rights and fun- Features of East African Age Organisations, Lon- damental freedoms can be fully realized’. This don: C. Hurst and Company, 245–267. rights-based framework encompasses seven in- Blunt, P. and D.M. Warren 1996. ‘Introduction’, in terrelated approaches that link human rights P. Blunt and D.M. Warren (eds) Indigenous Orga- principles with development. These approaches nizations and Development, London: Intermediate (1) connect all human rights in a holistic man- Technology Publications, xiii–xv. ner; (2) are based on international human rights Blunt, P. and D.M. Warren 1996 (eds). Indigenous principles; (3) seek to contribute to social jus- Organizations and Development, London: Inter- tice; (4) strive to improve human capabilities; mediate Technology Publications. (5) consider development itself as a human right; Cecchi, A. 1886. Da Zeila alle Frontiere del Caffa, (6) treat equitable development as an obliga- Rome: Ermano Loescher. tion and responsibility of the state; and (7) em- Cerulli, E. 1922. ‘Folk-literature of the Galla of ploy a transformative pedagogy using partici- Southern Abyssina’, Harvard African Studies, patory methods (Marks 2005). Vol. III, Cambridge, Mass.: Peabody Museum. 9. Hundee’s Civic Education Programme has Ehret, C. 1998. An African Classical Age: Eastern and received funding from a number of agencies, Southern Africa in World History 1000 B.C. to A.D. including the Inter-Church Association for De- 400, Oxford: James Currey. velopment Cooperation, Oxfam (Canada) and Easman, M.J. and N. Uphoff 1984. Local Organiza- Oxfam Community Aid Abroad, the National tions: Intermediaries in Rural Development, Ithaca: Endowment for Democracy, the German Tech- Cornell University Press. nical Aid Agency (GTZ) and, more recently, FDRE (Federal Democratic Republic of Ethiopia) Equality Now, which has been supporting its 1995. Constitution of Ethiopia, Federal Negarit work on FGC. Gazeta (1): 21 August. 10. On the Borana decision-making process, which FDRE/UNICEF (Federal Democratic Republic of is still operational, see Bassi (2005). Ethiopia/United Nations Children’s Fund)

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