Today, on International Day of Zero Tolerance for Female Genital Mutilation/Cutting, Sahiyo is proud to release our program impact report, Bhaiyo: A Male Ally Initiative to Support Ending Female Genital Cutting. The report spans the duration of our Bhaiyo program, from its creation in February 2021 through December 2022, and covers our challenges, lessons learned, and future paths for growth.
Bhaiyo, meaning ‘male friends’ or ‘brothers’ in Bohra Gujarati, was launched to create a space where male allies can collaborate, spark dialogue, and spread information about the harms of female genital cutting (FGC). In particular, Bhaiyo participants work by engaging communities at the grassroots level to address and build awareness of the harmful nature of this practice and its consequences on their loved ones and the community in general.
Since the program’s launch:
- 15 men joined the Bhaiyo program
- 13,247 people engaged with our public awareness campaigns
- 36 people participated in our public awareness campaigns
- 176 people attended Bhaiyo male-engagement webinars
- 28 blog posts written to uplift the voices of male activists
- 81.3% of members have joined additional programming efforts after joining Bhaiyo
February 6th is a day for activists, advocates, and stakeholders to come together, raise awareness, and advocate for the end of FGC. Today, and for the rest of the month of February, we’re uplifting the work of Bhaiyo because we’re proud of the program’s accomplishments. We hope you’ll take the time to learn more about how we’ve been engaging men in the work to support survivors and prevent FGC for future generations.
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“Bhaiyo allows men to have open and honest conversations about a topic they may or may not know but should be important to them. As brothers, it’s our collective responsibility to leave the world safer than we found it for those that we love. Bhaiyo aims to raise awareness to help advocates and survivors working to end FGC today.” ~ Murtaza Kapasi |
We also have an upcoming Bhaiyo event that is open to the public!
Date: Thursday, February 23rd
Time: 9:00 am EST (New York) / 7:30 pm IST (India)
Who: Current Bhaiyo members & Prospective Bhaiyo members (anyone interested in supporting male engagement on the topic of ending FGC)
Register: bit.ly/BhaiyoCommMeeting
To join our Bhaiyo program, please fill out this application form.