Enhancing the capacity of Girls and Women to resist FGM/C through vocational and life skills training

1. Good evening and welcome to today’s tweet conference, I am Ola Moses Morakinyo @honolamoses1 #endcuttinggirls

 

2. And I’ll be joined by @danzzy and @cynthiaomo02 #endcuttinggirls

 

3. We shall be addressing the topic; Enhancing the capacity of girls and women to resist FGM/C through vocational and life skills training. #endcuttinggirls

 

4 This session will run for the next 90 minutes (5:00-6:30pm) after which, we’ll be taking your questions. #endcuttinggirls

 

5 For the sake of those joining us for the first time, we shall have a brief introduction on what FGM/C is. #endcuttinggirls

 

6 FGM/C stands for Female Genital Mutilation/Cutting and comprises all procedures that involve the partial or total removal of external genitalia or other injury to the female genital organs for non-medical reasons. #endcuttinggirls

 

7(a) There are four types of FGM/C and they are: #endcuttinggirls

 

7 (b) Type 1 (Clitoridectomy) involves the removal of the prepuce with or without excision of part of the clitoris. #endcuttinggirls

 

7(c) Type 2 (Excision) is the removal of the clitoris with partial or total removal of the labia minora #endcuttinggirls

 

7(d) Type 3 (Infibulation) is the removal of part of the external genitalia, stitching and narrowing of the vaginal orifice for urination and menstrual flow #endcuttinggirls

 

7(e) Type 4 (unclassified) refers to all other harmful procedures such to the female genitalia such as pricking, piercing, incising, scraping, etc for non-medical reasons #endcuttinggirls

 

8 FGM/C is deeply rooted in culture, has no health benefits, violates the human rights of women and girls #endcuttinggirls

 

9 According to World Health Organisation (WHO) over 200 million girls and women alive today have undergone some form of FGM/C. #endcuttinggirls

 

10(a) FGM/C has short terms and long term effects on the health and well-being of women. #endcuttinggirls

 

10(b) Short term effects include: severe pain, excessive bleeding, shock, genital tissue swelling, infections, etc #endcuttinggirls

10(c) Long term effects cut across: chronic genital infections, urinary tract infections, painful urination, keloids, perinatal risks, etc #endcuttinggirls

 

10(d) For more info on this and other FGM/C related issues, please visit www.endcuttinggirls.org  #endcuttinggirls

 

10(e) You can also like our Facebook page using the link www.facebook.com/endcuttinggirlsnigeria or visit our YouTube channel https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCyB8f8IM3k2xTsKNfUZf9wg/videos #endcuttinggirls

 

11 I’ll hand over to my colleague @danzy who would take it from here, please stay with us #endcuttinggirls

 

12 Thank you for that enlightening introduction @honolamoses1 #endcuttinggirls

 

13 To grow into well-functioning adults, it is critical that girls learn key life skills. #endcuttinggirls

 

14 Life skills are abilities for adaptive and positive behaviour that enable individuals to deal effectively with the demands and challenges of everyday life. (World Health Organisation, 1993) #endcuttinggirls

 

15 The term ‘life skills’ refers to a broad group of psychosocial competences and interpersonal skills that help people make informed decisions, solve problems, think critically, communicate effectively, build health relationships, empathise with others, and cope with and manage their lives in a healthy and productive manner.  #endcuttinggirls

 

16. Life skills are important psychosocial and interpersonal skills that may be grouped into three broad categories, namely; A. Communication and Interpersonal Skills; Decision-Making and Critical Thinking Skills; and Coping and Self-Management Skills. #endcuttinggirls

 

17 Life skills help people make responsible and informed choices and can promote healthy lifestyles as well as career skills. They may be directed toward personal actions or actions toward others, as well as toward actions to change the surrounding environment to make it conducive to health #endcuttinggirls

 

18 Every school should enable children and adolescents at all levels to learn critical health and life skills. #endcuttinggirls

 

19 Many children do not have access to education that provides such life skills training. #endcuttinggirls

 

20 World Education works with partners—including ministries of education, schools, and NGOs, to develop life skills curricula and training approaches—to assist programs to more effectively integrate and teach life skills to students in both formal schools and Non-formal settings.#endcuttinggirls

 

21 In Cambodia, for example, World Education is supporting the National Life Skills Education Policy by developing a teacher training curricula with a three-tiered classification of life skills including general life skills, pre-vocational skills, and career skills. #endcuttinggirls

 

22 In Nepal, World Education created integrated literacy curricula whereby out-of-school students learned literacy skills using materials that taught them key life skills—from health and cleanliness to avoiding being trafficked—while learning to read. #endcuttinggirls

 

23(a). In Nigeria, the Federal Ministry of Education introduced the National Family Life and HIV Education (FLHE) Curriculum for Junior Secondary Schools (JSS) in 2003, while the National FLHE Curriculum for Lower Primary, Upper Primary and Senior Sec. Sch. (SSS) was developed in 2004 #endcuttinggirls

 

23 (b) The National FLHE curriculum was organised around five themes for JSS, namely, Human Development; Personal Skills; HIV Infection; Relationships; and Society and Culture. Each theme covered knowledge, attitudes and the necessary skills that are age-appropriate. #endcuttinggirls

 

23 (c) Some of the personal skills covered by the National FLHE curriculum are a) Refusal; b) Decision Making; c) Goal Setting; d) Building Self Esteem; e) Assertiveness; f) Time Management; g) Value clarification; h) Communication; and i) Negotiation #endcuttinggirls

 

23 (d) UNICEF/Nigeria supported the National Youth Service Corps (NYSC) to implement the National Reproductive Health, HIV&AIDS Prevention and Care Project by forming Peer Educators Clubs in Secondary Schools and teaching life skills to students. #endcuttinggirls

 

23 (e) In 2009, the National FLHE Curriculum was integrated into key Junior Secondary School Curriculum under four key subjects, namely, a. Basic Science; b. Social Studies;
c. Home Economics; and d. Physical and Health Education. #endcuttinggirls

 

24 Some of these life skills play important role in the abandonment of Female Genital Mutilation/Cutting (FGM/C) . #endcuttinggirls

 

25. Decision making skill helps women decide if they will subject their female children to FGM/C after looking at the consequences of the practice. #endcuttinggirls

 

26. Effective communication skill plays a vital role in FGM/C abandonment camping, it helps the girls and women to say no and give reasons why they shouldn’t undergo FGM/C. #endcuttinggirls

 

27. Life skills are very essential in helping women and girls resist FGM/C. #endcuttinggirls

 

28. Workshops and training on FGM/C for women and girls should include topics on life skills. Similarly, FGM/C education should also be mainstreamed into programmes on Life skills #endcuttinggirls

 

29. Many women and girls know the consequences of FGM/C but they lack the necessary life skill to resist the practice when confronted in such situation. #endcuttinggirls

 

30. In families where FGM/C is negotiated by the husband and wife before it is being carried out, it important for the woman who is against the practice to have good life skills to drive her points. #endcuttinggirls

 

31. FGM/C persists in some communities because those who are knowledgeable on the negative consequences of the practice lack the essential life skills to speak out against the practice. #endcuttinggirls

 

32. In communities where promiscuity is seen as an excuse for FGM/C, life skills helps in the moral upbringing of the female children. #endcuttinggirls

 

33. FGM/C shouldn’t be taught to women and girls without including life skills. #endcuttinggirls

 

33. I’ll hand over to my colleague @cynthiaomo02 who would take it from here, please stay with us #endcuttinggirls

 

34. Thank you for that enlightenment on Vocational Skill @danzzy #endcuttinggirls

 

35. The number of girls who undergo FGM/C will continue to grow if efforts are not significantly scaled up. #endcuttinggirls

 

36. Kudos to UNICEF/UNFPA for this joint programme towards the abandonment of FGM/C. The programme currently focuses on 17 African countries, including Nigeria, and also supports regional and global initiatives. #endcuttinggirls

 

37. There is an urgent need to train and empower women and girls in this fight against FGM/C. Vocational and life skills can empower women to communicate their views and assert their rights in their community, particularly on issues that concerns them. #endcuttinggirls

 

38 (a). Women when gathered in a place, usually during engagement in their vocation, pass viable information. FGM/C when introduced into one of such discourse could create an awareness #endcuttinggirls

 

38 (b). Thus FGM/C abandonment information could be passed through such gatherings by women and girls that have been trained as end FGM/C Champions, and provided with essential life skills #endcuttinggirls

 

39. Most vocations in Nigeria have associations/unions. These associations are veritable platforms through which the message of FGM/C abandonment can be passed to women and girls #endcuttinggirls

 

40 (a). It is believed that a good number of circumcisers are women and although they know the effects of FGM/C on women, and they hold on to this practice because it is their only source of income. #endcuttinggirls

 

40 (b) If women like these are trained in one skill or another, we would sooner than later experience a massive drop or total reduction of the number of circumcisers. #endcuttinggirls

 

41. Thank you for joining us today. We shall now take your questions. As you ask questions we hope you have made a decision to join us to end FGM/C #endcuttinggirls @endcuttinggirls

 

42. Do join us again on March 14, 2018 for another edition. For more information about the efforts to #endcuttinggirls, you can visit our webpage www.endcuttinggirls.org. You can also follow us in all our social accounts using @endcuttinggirls.

 

43 We have come to the end of the Tweet conference, On “Enhancing the capacity of Girls and Women to resist FGM/C through vocational and life skills training” Thank you. #endcuttinggirls @endcuttinggirls

 

 

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