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Ahead of International Day of Zero Tolerance to Female Genital Mutilation, Lynne Featherstone visits African country making good progress in eliminating FGM/C.

Lynne Featherstone in Burkina Faso. Picture: Lindsay Mgbor/DFID

International Development Minister Lynne Featherstone is visiting Burkina Faso to see the progress the country is making in eliminating Female Genital Mutilation/Cutting (FGM/C).

The UK is backing an African-led global movement to end FGM/C within a generation and as the largest international donor of resources to end FGM/C, is supporting African countries to eliminate the practice. This includes Burkina Faso where the Department for International Development (DFID) is supporting the United Nations Joint Programme work with communities on the ground to help abandon FGM/C.

During her visit to Burkina Faso Lynne Featherstone will seek to understand more about how Burkina Faso is taking action to end FGM/C including:

•    visiting communities who have abandoned FGM/C, to learn how this change has come about and the successes and challenges

•    visiting the Suka Clinic with First Lady Mrs Chantal Compaore to find out how the UK Government can support to African leadership in ending FGM/C

•    meeting the Minister of Health and Secrétariat Permanent du Conseil National de Lutte contre la Pratique de l’Excision, to learn about the strategy used to implement the law criminalising FGM/C and cooperation with Mali to further abandonment at their shared border

•    visiting a hotline that allows people to anonymously report planned or completed acts of cutting

•    observing a live radio show on Savane FM about FGM/C

•    visiting Lycee Venegré secondary school to observe a classroom session on FGM/C and hear students’ views about the practice and how young people can help end FGM/C.

Lynne Featherstone said:

FGM/C is one the worst kinds of gender violence. Girls around the world have suffered a lifetime of damage, sometimes even death, as a result. Burkina Faso has shown great leadership and success in supporting the African-led movement to eliminate FGM/C and is an excellent example for the international community and the rest of Africa.

I have come to visit Burkina Faso because I want to learn from these successes and understand more about how the UK and other international organisations can help support communities in Africa to end their use of FGM/C. The momentum created by the African Union to end FGM/C gives us an excellent window of opportunity to do everything we can to support the ending of FGM/C in a generation.

DFID announced last year that it was launching a new £35 million programme to help 15 countries in Africa end FGM/C within a generation. The programme includes working with governments and traditional leaders to back laws and policies to end FGM/C; funding new research into the most effective approaches to ending FGM/C and work with others to build a global movement to end the practice. The programme will also support diaspora communities in the UK to help change practices in their countries of origin.