On April 29, 2017 the CHANGE Agents in Berlin got together for their fourth exchange meeting. This time, Sister Fa (Fatou Diatta), urban Soul and HipHop singer and activist against FGM in Senegal, invited them for delicious Sengalese food at her house. Together they shared experiences of their behaviour change activities and talked about the planning of future events.
Isatou Barry, CHANGE Agent from Gambia, talked about her first behaviour change activity and reported that many participants, especially the men, had been very grateful for receiving important information about the consequences of FGM. At the end, some emphasized that they (now) rejected the practice of FGM and that they would share the information about the harmful practice amongst their family and friends. Evariste Franz Kapnang Tchaptchet, CHANGE Agent from Cameroon, could not attend the exchange meeting as his first behaviour change activity, a discussion meeting with a few women and many men, took place simultaneously.
Their sharing of experiences is very valuable for the CHANGE Agents as it helps them in organizing their activities within the communities effectively and in finding the best approach to address the taboo-topic of FGM. By increasing the knowledge of FGM and its effects and by initiating open discussions within the communities the CHANGE Agents aim at inducing change in attitude and behaviour towards the total abandonment of FGM.