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Sabiny’s alternative curriculum to end FGM takes shape
Ms Jesca Mary Kusuro, a member of the Sabiny Cultural Institution, speaks during a multi-sector meeting in Kampala on Friday. PHOTO/SYLIVIA KATUSHABE
What you need to know:
- Ms Jesca Mary Kusuro, the member of the Sabiny Cultural Institution and the brain behind the alternative curriculum, said the latter is aimed at initiating Sabiny women and girls into adulthood as opposed to FGM.
The Sabiny Cultural Institution and development partners are in final stages of developing the alternative curriculum known as Alternative Rite Of Passage to replace the practice of female genital mutilation (FGM).
Ms Jesca Mary Kusuro, the member of the Sabiny Cultural Institution and the brain behind the alternative curriculum, said the latter is aimed at initiating Sabiny women and girls into adulthood as opposed to FGM.
Ms Kusuro explained that even after the government criminalised FGM, some people still practice it.
“As a cultural institution, we saw that this practice was outdated and also doing harm to the girls and it was criminalised by government; there are better things that the girls are growing into because we are no longer mentoring Sabiny girls for Sabiny men only, we are mentoring them to live in the greater world globally,” she said.
Ms Kusuro was speaking during a multi-sector meeting in Kampala on Friday supported by Action Aid Uganda in partnership with the United Nations Population Fund.
She elaborated that in the developed curriculum, the girls will be taken through the Sabiny tribal history, cultural and social norms, family management and women’s roles in marriage.
The others are reproductive health, institution of marriage, entrepreneurship skills and women empowerment.
Ms Kusuro noted that after the two-week training, the girls will get certificates.
However, she noted that it requires about Shs10b to implement the entire curriculum and about Shs3b to roll out the pilot study in Sebei next year.
Mr Samuel Ngirio, speaker of Sabiny cultural institution, said the institution has put in place different ways to get funds to implement the alternative rite to passage.
“As cultural leaders we agreed that every clan makes an annual subscription of Shs1 million, all our political leaders like MPs make a monthly subscription of Shs300, 000 and with that we shall be able to we build capacity within the cultural institution,” Mr Ngirio said. Mr Rogers Golooba, a senior probation officer at the Ministry of Gender, Labour and Social Development, urged the cultural leaders to legalise their institution if they are to benefit from the government funding.
“This is one of the roles of the cultural institution, to guide but also transform negative norms to see that communities adopt the positive ones,” he said.
