KMG Ethiopia

Last updated
KMG Ethiopia
Formation Kembata, November 1997;26 years ago (1997-11)
Founder Bogaletch Gebre & Fikirte Gebre
Type NGO
Purpose Social change
HeadquartersEthiopia
Executive Director
Bogaletch Gebre
Website www.kmgusa.org

KMG Ethiopia, also known as Kembatti Mentti Gezzima-Tope (Kembatta Women Standing Together), is an indigenous non-governmental charitable organization based in Kembata, Ethiopia, dedicated to protecting women's rights, fostering women's health and supporting the environment. Founded in 1997 by sisters Bogaletch and Fikirte Gebre, the organization has expanded across the nation.

Contents

KMG Ethiopia works to foster change through social revolution and practical assistance, rather than through legislation. 2013's Making Citizens in Africa: Ethnicity, Gender, and National Identity in Ethiopia describes the work of KMG as "groundbreaking and culturally respectful", demonstrating "that reform for women and girls must be inclusive of women and men, it must include traditional power structures, and it will be most successful when it also integrates with anti-poverty and development initiatives." [1] The organization has successfully deployed the "community conversations" technique pioneered by AIDS activist Moustapha Gueye to foster social change in a number of key areas related to the wellbeing of women and girls, including combating female genital mutilation and bridal abduction, and has assisted the Ethiopian government nationally with HIV prevention initiatives. It also works towards providing health care, including creating the Mother and Child Health Centre in Durame, and building schools. It has initiatives engineered at improving life through the environment by providing potable water, sustainable electricity and planting trees.

A 2007 article in The Lancet indicated that co-founder and executive director Bogaletch Gebre had "almost single-handedly eradicated the practice of female genital mutilation in Ethiopia". [2]

History

In November 1997, Ethiopian sisters Bogaletch and Fikirte Gebre came together to create Kembatti Mentti Gezzima-Tope with the goal of helping put an end to female genital mutilation (also commonly called female circumcision) and bridal abduction, the practice whereby women and girls are kidnapped and raped in order to force them into marriage. [3] [4] According to the National Committee on Traditional Practices of Ethiopia, such bridal abductions were the base of 69% of marriages in the country as of 2003. [5] UNICEF's Innocenti Research Center estimates that in 1999 female genital mutilation had 100% social support in the region. [6]

The sisters had been raised in a traditional Ethiopian home, themselves subjected to genital mutilation in their childhoods. [5] Bogaletch Gebre had managed to obtain an education over her father's objections and relocated to the United States, where while earning her PhD in epidemiology she started a charity geared at sending technical books to high school and university students in her native land. In the mid-1990s she returned to Ethiopia with US$5,000, which she invested in local improvements to help win the confidence of the community. She supplemented this with a €500,000 grant from the European Commission, and KMG Ethiopia was born.

Originally operating in two kebele in Ethiopia, [7] the organization began by surveying community members about practices and informing the community of the results, focusing education efforts on individuals who would then spread what they had learned to others. [6] On request of the United Nations, they turned to hosting "community conversations" encouraging people in the region to talk about these subjects. These community conversations, a concept created by AIDS activist Moustapha Gueye, are based on traditional African conventions whereby communities come together for several hours on a regular basis to reach consensus on matters of communal concern. [6] [8] Hundreds of men and women were trained to serve as facilitators at the KMG community conversations, which initially focused on AIDS education. [6] In 2004, due to its successful implementation of the community conversation strategy, KMG was chosen by the Ethiopian government to train people to lead conversations across the country as a key component of HIV prevention in Ethiopia. [6]

Supported by KMG in speaking up, women at these community conversations in the Kembata region first began pressing for women's rights issues such as the right to sit in the presence of men, equal length of education for boys and girls, and a place for women as village elders in making decisions before moving on to female genital mutilation and kidnapping. [5] A video screening of a female circumcision, a surgery locally known as "cutting off the dirt", had a particularly powerful impact. [5] [6] Both men and women in the community responded. Those who took part in conversations formed committees to work on ending the practice, including staging active interventions, with 2,000 trained facilitators across communities. [6] [9] Public celebrations of wholeness followed, with a rally on October 29, 2004 to celebrate intactness being attended by 100,000 people. [6] According to the Innocenti Research Center, as of 2008 local support for female genital mutilation had dropped to 3%.

As of 2013, according to a New York Times profile, 85% of area residents were engaged in KMG's community conversations on multiple topics. [6] Those who attend are encouraged to spread what they have learned to those who do not, with the intention of fostering social revolution on the individual level.

In addition to fostering conversation, KMG Ethiopia has taken an active role in pressing police to prosecute crimes such as bridal abduction. [5] The practice has been illegal in Ethiopia since 2005, but in 2010 The Independent wrote that legal authorities outside the capital were loose in their application of law, with the first person to challenge her bridal abduction—a 13-year-old who could not prove she had been a virgin at the time of her kidnapping—being accused by her own defense attorney of inciting the rape. KMG has fostered support among women and men for victims, including persuading some to proactively intervene to prevent the act. According to The Independent, as of 2010 the rate of bridal abductions in the region had diminished by 90%. [5]

KMG Ethiopia also offers other services, including health care and school construction, as well as creating sports programs and tournaments for girls. [6] [10] It works for maternal care and family planning, founding the Mother and Child Health Centre in Durame. [11] Beyond directly supporting women's rights and health issues, it is also an environmental activism organization, planting over eight million trees and working to provide potable water and sustainable electricity.

To support its work, KMG collects an honorarium at community conversations and also raises money internationally, including from international charitable efforts like Comic Relief. [5] [6]

As of 2013, KMG's activities had spread from its initial two kebele to 26 districts in the Southern Nations, Nationalities, and Peoples' Region and the Oromia Region. [7]

Honors

Cofounder and executive director Bogaletch Gebre was awarded the 2005 North-South Prize and in 2007 the Jonathan Mann Award for Global Health and Human Rights. [12] For her contributions to the development of Africa, Bogaletch Gebre was awarded the King Baudouin International Development Prize in May 2013, which she accepted on behalf of her colleagues at KMG Ethiopia. [4] [6] [8] [13]

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Female genital mutilation</span> Ritual cutting or removal of some or all of the vulva

Female genital mutilation (FGM) is the ritual cutting or removal of some or all of the vulva. The practice is found in some countries of Africa, Asia and the Middle East, and within their respective diasporas. As of 2023, UNICEF estimates that "at least 200 million girls... in 31 countries"—including Indonesia, Iraq, Yemen, and 27 African countries including Egypt—had been subjected to one or more types of female genital mutilation.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Genital modification and mutilation</span> Permanent or temporary changes to human sex organs

Genital modifications are forms of body modifications applied to the human sexual organs, such as piercings, circumcision, or labiaplasty.

Infibulation is the ritual removal of the external female genitalia and the suturing of the vulva, a practice found mainly in northeastern Africa, particularly in Djibouti, Eritrea, Ethiopia, Somalia, and Sudan. The World Health Organization refers to the procedure as Type III female genital mutilation. Infibulation can also refer to placing a clasp through the foreskin in men.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Efua Dorkenoo</span>

Efua Dorkenoo, OBE, affectionately known as "Mama Efua", was a Ghanaian-British campaigner against female genital mutilation (FGM) who pioneered the global movement to end the practice and worked internationally for more than 30 years to see the campaign "move from a problem lacking in recognition to a key issue for governments around the world."

Khalid Misri Adem is an Ethiopian who was both the first person prosecuted and first person convicted for female genital mutilation (FGM) in the United States, stemming from charges that he had personally excised his 2-year-old daughter's clitoris with a pair of scissors.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Women in Ethiopia</span> Overview of the status of women in Ethiopia

There have been several studies concerning women in Ethiopia. Historically, elite women in Ethiopia have been visible as administrators and warriors. This never translated into any benefit to improve the rights of women, but it had meant that women could inherit and own property and act as advisors on important communal matters. As late as the first part of the 20th century, Queen Menen, consort of Emperor Iyasu IV, had a decisive role in running the Ethiopian Empire. Workit and Mestayit regents to their minor sons have been held responsible for their provinces. They owed their rights to landed property because of a special type of land tenure that expected tenants to serve as militia to overlords, irrespective of gender. In 1896, Empress Tayetu Betul, wife of Emperor Menelik II, actively advised the government and participated in defending the country from Italian invasion. Prominent and other landowning women fought against the second invasion in 1935–41. With the assistance of European advisors, women in the ensuing period were kept out of the army and politics, even as advisors. Instead, they were restricted to family and household work of raising children and cooking. With a steady increase in female representation in education, they have started to undertake nursing, teaching, and other similarly supportive roles. Over the 2018–2019 period, their gradual participation in state politics has been increasing at a steady pace.

Khitan or Khatna is the Arabic term for circumcision, and the Islamic term for the practice of religious male circumcision in Islamic culture. Male circumcision is widespread in the Muslim world, and accepted as an established practice by all Islamic schools of jurisprudence. It is considered a sign of belonging to the wider Muslim community (Ummah).

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Religious views on female genital mutilation</span> Female genital mutilation

There is a widespread view among practitioners of female genital mutilation (FGM) that it is a religious requirement, although prevalence rates often vary according to geography and ethnic group. There is an ongoing debate about the extent to which the practice's continuation is influenced by custom, social pressure, lack of health-care information, and the position of women in society. The procedures confer no health benefits and can lead to serious health problems.

Nawal M. Nour is an Obstetrician/Gynecologist who directs the Ambulatory Obstetrics Practice at the Brigham and Women's Hospital. Her research and practice focus on providing the right care to women who have undergone female genital mutilation/cutting (FGM/C), also called female circumcision, and she founded the first and only hospital center in the U.S. that focuses on the medical needs of African women who have undergone FGM/C. In 2017, she was listed in Forbes among 40 Women To Watch.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Bogaletch Gebre</span> Ethiopian scientist and activist (died 2019)

Bogaletch "Boge"Gebre was an Ethiopian scientist and activist. In 2010, The Independent characterized her as "the woman who began the rebellion of Ethiopian women." Along with her sister Fikirte Gebre, Gebre founded KMG Ethiopia, formerly called Kembatti Mentti Gezzima-Tope. The charity works to serve women in many areas, including preventing female genital mutilation and bridal abductions, the practice of kidnapping and raping young women to force them into marriage. According to the National Committee on Traditional Practices of Ethiopia, such practices were the basis of 69% of marriages in the country as of 2003.

Research Action and Information Network for the Bodily Integrity of Women is an international non-governmental organisation working to eliminate female circumcision and female genital mutilation.

Nahid Toubia is a Sudanese surgeon and women's health rights activist, specializing in research into female genital mutilation.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Comfort Momoh</span> British midwife who specializes in the study of female genital mutilation

Comfort Iyabo Amah Momoh, is a British midwife who specializes in the treatment of female genital mutilation (FGM). Born in Nigeria, Momoh is a member of the British FGM national clinical group, established in 2007 to train health professionals in how to deal with the practice. Until 2017 she served as a public-health specialist at Guy's and St Thomas' NHS Foundation Trust in London. She is the editor of Female Genital Mutilation (2005).

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Prevalence of female genital mutilation</span>

Female genital mutilation (FGM), also known as female genital cutting (FGC), female genital mutilation/cutting (FGM/C) and female circumcision, is practiced in 30 countries in western, eastern, and north-eastern Africa, in parts of the Middle East and Asia, and within some immigrant communities in Europe, North America and Australia. The WHO defines the practice as "all procedures that involve partial or total removal of the external female genitalia, or other injury to the female genital organs for non-medical reasons."

Female genital mutilation in the United Kingdom is the ritual removal of some or all of the external female genitalia of women and girls living in the UK. According to Equality Now and City University London, an estimated 103,000 women and girls aged 15–49 were thought to be living with female genital mutilation (FGM) in England and Wales as of 2011.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Female genital mutilation in the United States</span> Occurrence and regulation of FGM in the US

Female genital mutilation (FGM), also known as female circumcision or female genital cutting, includes any procedure involving the removal or injury of part or all of external female genitalia for non-medical reasons. While the practice is most common in Africa, Asia, and the Middle East, FGM is also widespread in immigrant communities and metropolitan areas in the United States, and was performed by doctors regularly until the 1980s.

Female genital mutilation in Sierra Leone is the common practice of removing all or part of the female's genitalia for cultural and religious initiation purposes, or as a custom to prepare them for marriage. Sierra Leone is one of 28 countries in Africa where female genital mutilation (FGM) is known to be practiced and one of few that has not banned it. It is widespread in part due to it being an initiation rite into the "Bondo," though initiation rite-related FGM was criminalised in 2019. The type most commonly practised in Sierra Leone is Type IIb, removal of part or all of the clitoris and the labia minora. As of 2013, it had a prevalence of 89.6%.

Female genital mutilation (FGM), also known as Female circumcision or Female Genital Cutting (FGC) in Nigeria accounts for the most female genital cutting/mutilation (FGM/C) cases worldwide. The practice is customarily a family tradition that the young female of the age 0-15 would experience. It is a procedure that involves partial or completely removing the external females genitalia or other injury to the female genital organs whenever for non-medical reasons.

Female genital mutilation (FGM) is practised in India by some Islamic groups. The procedure is generally performed when a girl is seven years old and involves the total or partial removal of the clitoral hood. Consequences of FGM may range from discomfort to sepsis.

In 2017 in Ethiopia, 40% of girls are married off before 18 years old. 14% are married before they turn 15. Ethiopia is the 16th highest nation in the world for child marriage.

References

  1. ↑ Smith, Lahra (20 May 2013). Making Citizens in Africa: Ethnicity, Gender, and National Identity in Ethiopia. Cambridge University Press. p. 182. ISBN   978-1-107-03531-7.
  2. ↑ Shetty, Priya (June 23, 2007). "Bogaletch Gebre: ending female genital mutilation in Ethiopia". The Lancet. 369 (9579): 2071. doi: 10.1016/S0140-6736(07)60964-7 . PMID   17586290. S2CID   37150616 . Retrieved August 17, 2014.
  3. ↑ "About Us". KMG Ethiopia. Archived from the original on 17 August 2014. Retrieved 17 August 2014.
  4. 1 2 Gebre, Bogaletch (July 1, 2013). "The End of His-story". Huffington Post. Retrieved August 17, 2014.
  5. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 Hari, Johann (March 16, 2010). "Kidnapped, Raped, Married: The Extraordinary Rebellion of Ethiopia's Abducted Wives". The Independent. Retrieved 17 August 2014.
  6. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 Rosenberg, Tina (July 17, 2013). "Talking Female Circumcision Out of Existence". The New York Times. Retrieved August 17, 2014.
  7. 1 2 "Interview with Dr. Bogaletch Gebre on Female Genital Mutilation in Ethiopia". European Union External Action. 2013. Retrieved August 17, 2014.
  8. 1 2 "Standing up for women". The Economist. May 23, 2013. Retrieved 17 August 2014.
  9. ↑ "KMG Ethiopia". Ethiopiad. Archived from the original on August 19, 2014. Retrieved August 17, 2014.
  10. ↑ "kmg ethiopia". womenwin.org. Retrieved August 17, 2014.
  11. ↑ NoteworthyNewsChannel. Shining World Leadership Segment - KMG Ethiopia. Accessed August 17, 2014.
  12. ↑ "Fulbright Alumna Awarded King Baudouin Prize in Belgium". Bureau of Educational and Cultural Affairs. United States Department of State. Archived from the original on August 19, 2014. Retrieved August 17, 2014.
  13. ↑ "Bogalatech Gebre (Ethiopia)" (PDF). eeas.europa.eu. Archived from the original (PDF) on 28 January 2015. Retrieved 17 August 2014.
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