A non-governmental organization, Center for Social Value and Early Childhood Development (CESVED) weekend engaged journalists in Ebonyi State on the campaign against FGM in the State. Urging the media to use its reportage to disabuse the people from practicing Female Genital Mutilation.
In a two day training organized in Abakaliki with support from Amplify Change, tagged, ” Voice Out To Save The Girl Child”, CESVED noted that it is important for the media being the bedrock of information to select choice of words in reporting FGM to avoid causing crisis among the people during senistzstion and Advocacy.
According to the president of CESVED, Gift Augustine Abu, a journalist can not visit a Traditional ruler and tell him that his culture is barbaric that such would sound like an insult to the traditional ruler being a custodian of culture therefore persuasive words should be used to pass the information on the health challenges of Female genital Mutilation to the survivors.
Abu, a human rights activist, said CESVED plans to train medical practitioners, establish EndFGM club in schools, engage town criers and also organize EndFGM football Competitions for youths in Ebonyi state.
Read also: UNICEF calls for total elimination of Female Genital Mutilation (FGM/C) in South East
All these would make the people gain full knowledge about the harmful effect of FGM and stop the practice.
“We are also ensuring that this Campaign also reaches the schools, the town criers at the local levels. We are also ensuring we use football competition to also campaign and having smaller community council units to see if these people can reach them to campaign within the Southeast and South-South.
“I’m very shocked to notice that Ebonyi state Is declining, they are climbing lower in the prevalence rate, that means, her Excellency the wife of the governor, media and the stakeholders are working tirelessly towards it.
“In the schools, we form EndFGM clubs, but this project is coming to solidify it more because this time around we are not only looking at the primary schools, we are looking at both the Secondary schools and also looking at bringing the people from the communities to participate in the football competitions.
We want the Media to use their platform to carry out this Campaign using the right words to get to the people in order to achieve the 2030 proposal of ending FGM in the country.
Mr. Chika Igwe of Ebonyi Broadcasting Corporation in a presentation explained that FGM has caused more harm than good to the women across the globe.
And call on all stakeholders especially the media to add more efforts to ensure that the practice becomes a thing of the past.
He said in Africa, about 3 million girls are at risk of FGM annually at it is worrisome
