CONVERSION OF CUTTERS
CONVERSION OF TRADITIONAL CUTTERS
Conversion of traditional cutters is an anti-FGM strategy defined by the WHO as interventions “[that] focus on helping cutters stop the practice and instead become agents of change, spreading the anti-FGM message to communities” (WHO, 2011). The strategy aims to provide traditional cutters with alternative sources of income, thus allowing them to ‘drop their knives’.
This strategy takes the form of trainings given to traditional cutters in areas such as farming (Peyton, 2019), baking (UNFPA, World Bank, 2019), entrepreneurship (Hoover, 2015) or any other skill that can provide an income. When they are part of wider programs, the conversion of cutters helps them find a social role and ensures their integration into a new social contract, free from FGM. The strategy rests on the idea that traditional cutters are guardians of tradition and that their conversion greatly benefits the community and the abandonment of FGM.
Traditional cutters are of course at the core of the strategy which has been implemented in countries such as Sierra Leone, The Gambia, Somalia, Tanzania… most frequently by NGOs in collaboration with governmental and international organizations. The programmes vary depending on the location and the implementing partner(s).
Some evidence suggests that this strategy could be useful and efficient in the fight against FGM when associated with other complementary programs. Indeed, in communities where traditional cutters find their main income in this practice, having new opportunities in terms of labor and financial incomes can be key in the decision to practice FGM or not. Moreover, traditional cutters have influence and respectability within their communities and their status makes them particularly reluctant to end the practice. In light of this, their involvement and reconversion appears key to ensure the sustainable abandonment of FGM.
Nevertheless, the conversion of cutters as a strategy has also received it’s fair share of criticism by field officers and other experts who claim that it is not efficient. They argue that traditional cutters pick up their functions once the programs are finished, resulting in unchanged prevalence rates of FGM. (WHO, 2011; Johansen 2013)
The CoP FGM invited its members to share knowledge and best-practices around conversion of traditional cutters as a strategy to end FGM. A discussion on this theme was held between August 18 and September 18, 2020, with the support of the expert Rugiatu Neneh Turay founder and director of Amazonian Initiative Movement (AIM), a Sierra Leonean grass-roots organization who puts the traditional cutters at the centre of their action plan.
To find out more about this Strategy, you can download the thematic note here, or continue reading further articles in this section. Below you will also find a list of resources on the topic.
References
- OMS, Département de la Recherche et Santé sexuelle et reproductive, Policy Brief 11.36, Female Genital Mutilation programmes to date : what works and what doesn’t (accès ici)
- Nellie Peyton, “Seeking to save money, Sierra Leone village gives up FGM“, Thomson Reuters Foundation, août 2019 (accès ici)
- UNFPA & la Banque mondiale, Female Genital Mutilation / Cutting in Somalia, novembre 2004 (accès ici)
- Association for the Termination of Female Genital Mutilation (ATFGM), https://atfgm.org/other-services/
- Jacqueline Hoover, Guest Blog for 28TooMany, “Dropping the knife in The Gambia“, 11 décembre 2015 (Accès ici)
- Elise B. Johansen, Nafissatou J. Diop, Glenn Laverack et Els Leye, “What Works and what Doesn’t : A discussion of popular approaches for the abandonment of FGM“, Obstetrics and Gynecology International, Volume 2013 (Accès ici)
Meet Rugiatu Turay
"Our method has met little resistance in Sierra Leone" RUGIATU NENEH TURAY, DIRECTOR OF AMAZONIAN INITIATIVE MOVEMENT Rugiatu was an expert in the discussion on Conversion of traditional cutters as a strategy to end FGM. She shared her experience of...
Difficulties in working with traditional cutters
Reconversion d'exciseuses Difficulties in working with traditional cutters Identifying the traditional FGM practitioners Members shared the difficulties they have encountered when working with the people who practice FGM and engaging them in the work against the...
Conversion of cutters is not a “stand-alone strategy”
Conversion of cutters Conversion of cutters is not a “stand-alone strategy” During the discussion, there seemed to be a general consensus within the CoP FGM that the conversion of cutters is not a strategy that would work in isolation, but instead would be...
Critical voices against conversion as a strategy to end FGM
Conversion of cutters Critical voices against conversion as a strategy to end FGM Many critiques that have been raised in literature against the conversion of cutters as a strategy to end FGM. Some of the main ones are: The main motives of traditional...
Positive experiences of the strategy
Conversion of cutters Positive experiences of the strategy Our expert for this discussion, Rugiatu Turay, is the founder and director of Amazonian Initiative Movement (AIM), a Sierra Leonean grass-roots organization which puts the traditional cutters at the...
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