The Anti FGM Board has launched Anti FGM Steering Committees in the 22 hot spot counties for effective coordination and reporting of Anti FGM programs in the country. The committees are part of the wider Gender Sector Working Group that coordinates gender programs in the counties.

The first launch of the Committees took place in Narok County and was presided over by the Chairperson Ms. Agnes Pareyio. The Committees incorporates relevant players in the Anti-FGM campaign drawn from state and non-state actors.

Speaking at the launch, Ms. Pareyio was glad about the formation of the committees noting that coordination between the national and county level had been the missing link in the coordination of programs between the national and county level.

The chairperson stated that the work of the committees was cut out for them in leading anti-FGM programs to end the vice by 2022. She informed them that the membership of the committees was all-inclusive as it included representation from the duty bearers as well as all key stakeholders within the counties.

“The Board will conduct its duty of creating awareness and advocacy. But the police who do the arrests and write statements, the prosecutors and the judges who write judgments, the medical officers who write medical reports are key for us to succeed,” stated Ms. Pareyio.

“The law must meet its purpose as envisaged in the Act. We need the input of everybody to succeed in this in the campaign,” she added.

Board CEO Ms. Bernadette Loloju observed that it is time to work together since it has taken time to end the vice as everyone involved in the campaign was undertaking their programs separately.

“The Government, the NGOs, and the counties have been executing their duties separately. I am upbeat the target will be met if we all work together. If everyone decides to end it, particularly the mothers, the vice will end from today,” stated Ms. Loloju.

The committees were rolled out in all the 22 hot spot counties drawing representation from diverse actors. The committees are to be chaired by the County Commissioner and the County Executive Committee Members in charge of Gender in the County Governments.

They are supposed to file quarterly reports to the Board through a uniform template detailing the milestones achieved towards ending FGM in the respective counties. The reports are to feed into the bi-annual; report to the President on the achievements towards ending FGM in the country as per the Presidential Directive.

The hotspot counties are Migori (Kuria), Kisii, Nyamira, Kajiado, Narok, Elgeyo Marakwet, West Pokot, Samburu, Baringo, Bomet, Meru, Tharaka Nithi, Embu, Laikipia, Garissa, Wajir, Mandera, Tana River, Isiolo, Marsabit, Bungoma (Mt. Elgon) and Taita Taveta County.