Message sent to me from the U.S base human right Body Toscan:

MOVEMENT TO ABANDON FEMALE GENITAL CUTTING AND CHILD/FORCED MARRIAGE
IN THE GAMBIA GROWS AS 13 VILLAGES MAKE PUBLIC DECLARATION

In the second declaration in five months in The Gambia, 13 villages
declare abandonment of harmful traditional practices to Gambian,
National, and International media as well as diaspora community
members worldwide

MANNEH KUNDA, THE GAMBIA October 25, 2009 – On Sunday, 13 Mandinka
villages from the Upper River Region (URR) of The Gambia joined a
growing movement in the country and in East and West Africa as they
publicly declared their abandonment of female genital cutting (FGC)
and child/forced marriage.

The declaration signaled the commitment of all 13 villages to abandon
these and other harmful practices in order to promote and protect
human rights.  It was also a call to other Mandinka communities in The
Gambia, West Africa, and diaspora communities worldwide, to join them
in abandoning these practices.

The village of Manneh Kunda, approximately three kilometers from
Basse, the largest town in the eastern-most part of the country,
hosted the declaration event which was attended by hundreds of people.
In attendance were government officials, the Director of the Women's
Bureau, the UNICEF Representative for the URR, other NGOs, neighboring
villages, and religious and traditional leaders from the URR.

The program included singing, dancing, and skits that depicted the
reasoning behind this collective decision all performed by the URR
National Troop and local youth groups celebrating the declaration.
There were also several guest speakers, including local UNICEF
Representative, Mariama Sabally, who spoke about Tostan’s respectful
and non-judgmental approach, noting that it had enabled Tostan to
succeed in shifting a deeply ingrained social tradition.

Yayhu Bangura, a local religious scholar instrumental in the social
mobilization campaign that led to this declaration, reiterated that
FGC is not a part of the Islamic faith and called on people present to
help spread this information. Two former cutters from villages taking
part in the declaration also testified, sang, and danced at the event.
One woman explained how through Tostan she had come to understand that
the health problems experienced by some girls, including death, were
caused by the cutting rather than by witchcraft. Based on this
information and her involvement in the Tostan’s Community Empowerment
Program (CEP), she voluntarily gave up cutting.

Closing the event, Regional Governor Yadi Nget expressed his support
for the Tostan program and the declaration. He thanked the community
members and Tostan, emphasizing in particular that the CEP teaches
communities how to solve their own problems and explaining that this
fosters and facilitates peace in the region.

This event was the second public declaration for the abandonment of
FGC and child/forced marriage in The Gambia organized by communities
of the Mandinka ethnic group. The first Gambian declaration of 24
communities took place in Darsilameh on 14 June, 2009.

According to the Multiple Indicator Cluster Survey (2005/2006: UNICEF,
World Bank, and The Gambia Bureau of Statistics), the national
prevalence rate of FGC in The Gambia is 78% percent, with a 99%
prevalence rate in the URR. According to the same data source, the
prevalence of child/forced marriage in rural areas of the country is
as high as 45%.

The communities leading this movement have participated in the CEP
implemented by the NGO Tostan in collaboration with UNICEF, the
Women’s Bureau of the Government of The Gambia and two local NGOs –
Wuli And Sanda Development Agency and the National Youth Association
for Food Security – since 2006.

The Tostan CEP is a 3-year non-formal education program comprised of
modules on democracy, human rights, problem-solving, hygiene and
health, as well as literacy, math, and basic management skills. Social
mobilization committees led by each of the communities traveled to
surrounding villages to share and discuss the content of the CEP.
Finally, a weekly radio program produced by Tostan discussed the
content of the CEP classes to a much larger audience.

The CEP has facilitated similar successes elsewhere; including, to
date, the abandonment of FGC by 4,229 communities in Senegal, Guinea,
Burkina Faso, The Gambia and most recently, on October 5, in the
Northeast Zone of Somalia, Puntland.

Molly Melching, Executive Director of Tostan, believes the key to the
success of the Tostan model of community empowerment lies in its
holistic and respectful approach. “Tostan meets people where they are.
The CEP provides information about health, hygiene, and human rights
while also providing a forum for dialogue among all members of the
community and their extended family network. This empowers communities
to identify issues within the community and provides the community
members themselves with the tools to find their own solutions.”

Further information:

Tostan is a US 501(c)(3) nongovernmental organization based in the
West African country of Senegal. Tostan works primarily in rural
regions to promote basic education and increase community engagement
in projects related to health and hygiene, child welfare, human rights
and democracy, the environment, literacy, and economic development.

Tostan is committed to innovative and effective means of facilitating
community-led development.  In 2009, Tostan launched the Solar Power
Project in collaboration with the Barefoot College in India, training
mothers and grandmothers to provide solar energy and training in solar
engineering to their communities. Walking the Path of Unity, a film
produced in collaboration with the community of Diégoune in rural
Senegal to publicize their abandonment of FGC and to encourage
communities elsewhere to do the same, has recently been selected for
the UNICEF International Children’s Rights Film Festival to take place
in locations worldwide during November.

Tostan is currently implementing its program in Djibouti, The Gambia,
Guinea, Guinea Bissau, Mali, Mauritania, Senegal, and Somalia.

For more information about Tostan, please visit www.tostan.org.

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