Female Circumcision Practices: Perception on Methods used to Disseminate Anti-Fc Messages

Abstract

This paper looks at the Gogo’s perception of methods used to disseminate anti-female
circumcision messages in the Gogo community during campaigns to eradicate female
circumcision. The paper was impelled by the fact that efforts to eliminate female circumcision
(FC) practices among the Gogo community have not been very successful. The paper uses the
Social Constructionist Theory to unveil what happens when anti-female circumcision
intervention methods encounter the lived experience of the Gogo in terms of uptake of
intervention messages. The paper is based on data generated during a PhD research which
was done in Mpwapwa District using a qualitative design in 2014. The paper argues that the
uptake of anti-FC campaigns is low because the methods used to campaign against female
circumcision take little, if any, account of the local knowledge context in which female
circumcision occurs. The paper underscores that the inclusion of the local discourse in crafting
the anti-FC intervention methods is very important if the uptake is to be improved. The paper
recommends that for anti-FC messages to have the desired impact, the designing of the
methods to disseminate anti-FC messages need to take into account the local knowledge which
guides the Gogo life.