According to the European Commission, an EU and UNICEF project has helped thousands of families, communities and countries to change attitudes and end harmful traditional practices like female genital mutilation/cutting (FGM/C) in Africa. The project helped to raise awareness of the dangers of female genital mutilation/cutting, by encouraging large-scale community discussions and national debate on issues of human rights.

Across five African countries, a EU/UNICEF project has implemented a common approach based on a comprehensive understanding of how to change social norms to bring about an end to harmful practices, such as female genital mutilation. As a result of education and awareness raising, girls in thousands of communities in Egypt, Eritrea, Ethiopia, Senegal and Sudan are no longer subjected to this practice.

The project, implemented by UNICEF, received a total of €3.9 million in EU funding over the period 2008-2012. According to the report on this project results, in Senegal, over 5,300 communities have abandoned the practice, bringing the country close to becoming the first in the world to declare total abandonment, expected by 2015. In Egypt, where 91% of women are affected by the practice, the number of families signing up to the abandonment of the practice increased substantially from 3,000 in 2007 to 17,772 in 2011. In Ethiopia, despite high prevalence rates, the practice is similarly declining (between 2000 and 2005 rates dropped from 80 to 74%).

By encouraging large-scale community discussions and national debate on issues of human rights, the project helped to raise awareness of the dangers of female genital mutilation/cutting, as well as collective decision-making through extended social networks about gender norms. This method resulted in communities coming together for district-wide public declarations of the abandonment of these practices.