FGM
Naguru Teenage Centre and UNFPA work with schools, youth leaders, communities and district structures to prevent FGM across Karamoja and Sebei. The programme uses Anti-FGM clubs, teacher mentorship, radio, social accountability and referral systems to protect adolescent girls and keep them safe and in school.
Supporting the UN Sustainable Development Goals
Background & Need
The FGM Joint Programme to End FGM helps girls and communities reject female genital mutilation and related harmful practices through school clubs, teacher mentorship, youth-led accountability, radio and district referral systems.
FGM and related harmful practices place adolescent girls at risk, particularly where information is limited, services are difficult to reach and protection systems are stretched. School withdrawal, child marriage and FGM can be interconnected, making early identification and coordinated response essential.
Implemented by Naguru Teenage Centre with UNFPA support, the programme takes prevention and protection closer to girls and their communities — schools provide spaces for information, peer vigilance and referral, while radio reaches dispersed audiences including hard-to-reach communities in Sebei.
Objectives
Overall goal: to contribute to the abandonment of FGM and other harmful practices affecting adolescent girls by strengthening knowledge, community action and protective systems.
- Empower adolescent girls and their communities with accurate information that supports the abandonment of FGM.
- Mobilise communities to end FGM and other harmful practices affecting adolescent girls.
Target Groups
- Adolescent girls and school-going learners exposed to FGM, child marriage, school withdrawal and other protection risks.
- Teachers, including senior women and senior men teachers, who provide guidance and support in schools.
- Youth leaders and peer educators who promote awareness and social accountability.
- Parents, families and community members reached through mobilisation and radio programming.
- District community development and probation structures responsible for case response and referral.
Areas of Implementation
Amudat and Nakapiripirit in Karamoja, and Bukwo, Kween and Kapchorwa in Sebei, with related SAY Plus school activities reported in Kibuku and Butebo.
Major Activities
- Orienting teachers on the National Framework for Emotional, Health and Life Skills through school-level, on-the-job mentorship visits.
- Installing Anti-FGM signage and functionalising school Anti-FGM clubs.
- Conducting interactive radio talk shows to reach dispersed and hard-to-reach communities.
- Training youth leaders in social accountability and supporting community accountability meetings.
- Conducting school situation assessments, and training and mapping peer educators in Kibuku and Butebo.
- Strengthening school-to-district referral pathways for learners facing protection risks.
Key Achievements
- 123 teachers oriented against a target of 28 (440%), after the programme adopted school-based mentorship.
- 24 Anti-FGM signs installed and 14 Anti-FGM school clubs established and functionalised.
- Five radio talk shows conducted (100% of target).
- 30 youth leaders trained in social accountability, with meetings reaching 200 participants (100% of target).
- In Kibuku and Butebo, assessments reached 28 schools; 30 peer educators trained and 30 mapped (100% of target).
- A 14-year-old learner withdrawn from school ahead of planned FGM and child marriage was identified through an Anti-FGM School Club; the referral to district child-protection structures stopped the planned practices and she returned to school.
