Female Genital Mutilation and the Humanitarian Development Peace Nexus: Practical Ways to Support Programme-Level Implementation
About
The UNFPA-UNICEF Joint Programme on the Elimination of Female Genital Mutilation (FGM) has enhanced programme adaptation by implementing a humanitarian-development nexus approach. A key challenge has been the historical lack of focus on FGM in humanitarian settings. This lack of focus has led to gaps in understanding the impact of humanitarian crises on FGM incidence, prevalence, and how to best programme against it. The nexus approach to programming will ensure strong cooperation, collaboration, and coordination between humanitarian, development, and peacebuilding efforts at the national level to ensure collective outcomes based on joined-up, coherent, complementary, and risk-informed analysis, planning, and action.
In 2024, we released four publications which include: (English versions below)
- Facilitator's Guide: developed for facilitators conducting workshops on implementing the nexus approach.
- Participant's Workbook: provides an overview of the nexus workshop and presents examples for the adoption of the nexus approach
- Interactive Slide Deck on Nexus Approach: developed to help conduct a nexus workshop
- Illustrative Cases: shares knowledge and expertise on the innovative and practical ways in which country offices have been implementing the nexus approach for FGM programmes.
(The French versions of the reports above along with the 2022 reports are available on the right side).
Overall, these publications provide essential tools to organize training, strengthen capacity building, and help develop programmes to address humanitarian challenges focusing on FGM. In 2023, the Joint Programme pilot-tested the toolbox in 5 countries to implement the Nexus Approach to programming and measurement. The first toolbox, released in 2022, has also been used in select country offices to strengthen their technical capacity in programme adaptation in the face of humanitarian concerns.
One can find human interest stories from some of these country offices on programme adaptation using a humanitarian-development nexus approach:
- Ethiopia - Protect and Empower: Creating a safe space using the Nexus approach in the Somali region of Ethiopia
- Burkina Faso - Using the Nexus Approach to educate and empower communities
The Joint Programme will continue implementing the Nexus Approach and strengthen programmes to eliminate FGM.
