As a result of the work of the supraregional project and the sector project Ending Female Genital Mutilation, and based on years of experience in a variety of cultural contexts, GIZ has developed numerous competencies and accumulated extensive know-how about ending female genital mutilation (FGM).

We advise and strengthen competencies
GIZ supports the German Federal Ministry for Economic Cooperation and Development (BMZ) in integrating the topic of female genital mutilation into development policy dialogue with partner countries. GIZ's broad experience is also in demand with national, regional and international organisations seeking to develop methods and approaches to end female genital mutilation.

We support partner governments in creating the necessary framework conditions for ending FGM. Among these are advisory services on the drafting of legislation and national plans of action against FGM and the integration of measures to stop FGM into sectoral policies.

We make our experience available to German development cooperation projects and programmes and support them in mainstreaming measures to end female genital mutilation in their own work. Particular success has been registered in the areas of good governance, health and education. We actively integrate local partner organisations and are committed to capacity development: we enhance the competencies of people in partner countries to ensure that they can carry out the necessary tasks on their own in the long term.

We disseminate successful approaches
We identify successful approaches for ending female genital mutilation together with our partners on site. In this way, innovative and culturally appropriate strategies can be created for changing people's modes of behaviour. We continue to develop these strategies methodologically, to introduce them into professional discussion in the field, and to make them available to other interested organisations.

We support networking
We network with bilateral and multilateral organisations, both public and private, so that we can learn from the experience of others and increase the impact of our own work. It was at the initiative of GIZ that INTEGRA, a network of German organisations involved in the effort to end FGM, was formed in the year 2000. Through our participation in the Donors Working Group on FGM/C we support the harmonisation of donor activities to end FGM on the international level. In partner countries, too, GIZ organises dialogues that provide on-site partner organisations with a platform for an exchange of experience.

• Project flyer
  Ending female genital mutilation
  de-fgm-flyer.pdf, 0.20 MB (German)
  en-fgm-flyer.pdf, 0.19 MB (English)
  fr-fgm-flyer.pdf, 0.18 MB (French)

• Federal Ministry for Economic Cooperation and Development
  www.bmz.de/en
• INTEGRA Deutsches Netzwerk zur Überwindung weiblicher Genitalverstümmelung
  www.netzwerk-integra.de
• The Donors Working Group on FGM/C
  www.fgm-cdonor.org