| |
Contributions from
the Column
Focus
Combating HIV/AIDS – the German input
US study warns of dramatic rise in the HIV infection rate
People living with HIV as target group counsellors in Argentina
Empowerment of girls in Africa
Russia's underrated epidemic
Big sales, little education
The Global Fund to Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria
Work on the development of vaccines
02/2003
|
|
Dialogue of the generations
Empowerment of girls in Africa
Anna von Rönne
In a project in Guinea (West Africa), the GTZ is promoting an intergenerational dialogue between young girls and older women aimed at fostering mutual understanding of each other's problems and thus also establishing a new relationship to sexuality and the diseases connected with it.
The disastrous impacts of the AIDS pandemic on the female population of sub-Saharan Africa (UNAIDS 2002) underline the critical position women and girls have in the development of their countries. Poverty, poor education and a lack of self-determination on their own sexuality are fatal determining factors for the future of young women in Africa. The still prevalent practice of female genital mutilation (FGM) in many African countries proves that globalisation and the modern age have changed little in their traditional values.
That FGM also increases the risk of HIV infection is obvious. The World Health Organisation (WHO) and the International Federation of Gynaecologists and Obstetricians have pointed that out. It is also evident that overcoming both phenomena requires a change in social values and norms. The lack of equality between men and women, poor education, poverty and the ensuing dependence of women contribute to the fact that they cannot talk about sexuality and thus must often let decisions involving their own bodies be taken out of their hands. The fight against FGM is therefore tied very closely to that against the HIV/AIDS pandemic.
In Conakry, the capital of Guinea, in September 2002, an intergenerational dialogue, called in the country's official French language 'Dialogue des Générations: Filles et femmes parlent de l’excision', was launched whose focus was on achieving understanding between young and older women on women-specific values and traditions, and also on current problems. The GTZ sectoral project 'Promotion of Initiatives to Eradicate Female Genital Mutilation' supports two local organisations in arranging this discussion process. Based on experiences with intergenerational dialogue in other countries, Guinea was suitable as the location for a similar project for several reasons.
The required grassroots initiatives to eradicate female genital mutilation have worked there for some time to get an open and respectful discussion process underway with various population groups on this tradition, its origins and its present significance. The reaction of the people to this dialogue approach - compared to similar interventions in which they were accustomed to being lectured and preached to - is distinctly positive.
The intergenerational dialogue began with a four-day workshop. Part of the methods is to bring young women who soon will be mothers together with women of the age group that have already gone through this life phase: the generation of the grandparents. In this case, the age limits were 20 and 50 respectively. The 20 participants were representative of the majority in their age groups. All the older women were illiterates and had hardly any French. All the girls had had a primary school education, and some were attending secondary school while others were training to be hairdressers or tailors.
The workshop's form and methods were designed to give the experiences of both generations an equal hearing. Discussions were in the local Soussou language, and written teaching materials were done without altogether. The event room was decorated with local fabrics and equipped with straw mats. Local music instruments such as balaphones, drums and koras were laid out ready to accompany songs and dances.
During the first two days the methods varied between discussions in small groups, 'four eyes and four ears' dialogues between a young and an older woman, role plays, and general discussions. The older women also often brought proverbs, songs and dances into the dialogue. The theme throughout was generation-specific skills, interests and problems. But the discussions also covered typical fields of conflict between the age groups, power domains, and areas in which each generation was powerless.
In each side's respective portrayal of traditional and modern ways of life, the older women gave graphic reports of their initiation tests and the stages of a traditional wedding. By contrast, the young women emphasised the importance of a school education for girls. They condemned female genital mutilation, saying that in its present form it had lost every educational function and had been reduced to a harmful medical intervention, which they demonstrated realistically in the form of scissors, disinfectant and bandaging.
The white sheet – for the wedding night in the traditional way of life – and a packet of condoms, which the young women held aloft during their presentation, led to the first controversial debate on the value of sexual abstinence and virginity.
Passionate discussions were triggered by all questions of sexual and reproductive self-determination. The young women argued for a marriage of love and family planning in order to ensure a limited number of children and give their daughters in particular a school education to secure their future independence. The older women declared that for them their children were a gift of God and also the basis for their security in old age. They spoke of their willingness to put up with things as a wife and mother, and said reproachfully that the young women's demand for more self-determination also contributed to an increase in family conflicts and divorce.
On the third day all participants undertook an intergenerational dialogue in their own city districts or among their families. Based on these initial experiences, the fourth and last day of the workshop was devoted to all developing recommendations for communication behaviour, possible subjects and appropriate discussion partners for generational dialogue.
The talks are continuing. The young and elder participants are getting underway dialogue between other women of both generations in their city districts. But these talks are not only peaceful and almost always lively. The older generation often finds it difficult to listen to the younger one and cope with their very different points of view.
The main aim of the intergenerational dialogue is to create space for talks in which young and older people can input their knowledge, experiences and hopes in order to listen to each other and outline common perspectives for the future. For women in Africa this is an urgent matter. The cultural breach between young and older women, which is also reflected in their contradictory images of what women should be, results in a lack of communication between them and inner distance. This weakens further the already fragile position of women.
It was clear that both groups suffer in daily life from not being 'heard' by the other generation. These attitudes changed markedly during the course of the workshop. In their assessments of the event at the end of each day, the young and older women thanked each other for above all the experience of having been listened to and accepted by the other generation. Each side's respect for the other also grew. "I had no idea of the serious problems faced by the young women of today," said an older woman at the end of the second day. The young women were also impressed. One asked her elders: "How did you ever manage to go through such a hard life and yet stay so brave and beautiful?"
The workshop in Guinea was an attempt to counter mistrust and a growing lack of communication between the generations by means of curiosity, interest, creativity and optimism. The most important result is the finding that young and older women can in dialogue learn from and strengthen each other. The results so far raise hopes for the future. The new readiness to talk openly about sexual issues also creates an opportunity to call for the change in behaviour patterns, especially among men, that is needed to combat the AIDS pandemic.
Literature
D. Cooperrider, D. Whitney (1999): When stories have wings, in: S. McNamee, K. Gergen (Eds.): Relational Responsibility. Thousand Oaks, Sage.
S. Lewis (2002): Luncheon speech on "Next Wave of HIV/AIDS“ at the Centre for Strategic and International Studies, Washington DC. gtz-health-net, 17.10.2002.
E. Orinda, M. Kichira, J. Rollin (2001): Intergenerational Dialogue, a workshop report. Eschborn, GTZ, subject area youth.
A. von Rönne, J. Manguet, F. Bah, M. Tolno (2002): Dialogue des Générations: Filles et femmes parlent de l’excision. Rapport d’atelier. Eschborn, GTZ, Sectoral project to eradicate female genital mutilation.
Having studied psychology, Anna von Rönne trained as a systemic family therapist. She has lived in Africa since 1995 and works as, among other things, an appraiser for the GTZ. < anna.von.roenne@gmx.de
The sectoral project 'Promotion of Initiatives to Eradicate Female Genital Mutilation' has been active in West and East Africa on behalf of the BMZ since 1999.
Internet: www.gtz.de/fgm and www.gtz.de/violence-against-women
|
