Community Engagement Resources

The framework and resources presented below have been developed and collected as part of an ongoing project, “Improving FGM/C Healthcare and Clinical Guidelines Through Community Engagement and Leadership.”  

The aims of this project include:

• Provide a rational for community engagement in FGM/C healthcare and policy-making
• Propose an adaptable framework for effective community engagement to improve health outcomes
• Connect service providers to resources, community-based organizations, and ongoing engagement efforts

This is just one aspect of a larger collaboration supported by a Complex Moral Problems grant (Georgetown University) and led by Ranit Mishori, MD, MHS, FAAFP (Department of Family Medicine, Georgetown University School of Medicine), Rebecca Reingold, JD (The O’Neill Institute for National and Global Health Law, Georgetown University), and Kevin T. FitzGerald, SJ, PhD, PhD (Pellegrino Center for Clinical Bioethics, Georgetown University Medical Center), that aims to help clinicians address complex medical-ethical-legal issues related to FGM/C.  

Elements of Effective Engagement

The ongoing efforts to address FGM/C and to improve refugee and immigrant health are multidisciplinary and diverse. We looked at a broad set of organizations that work with those at risk of and survivors of FGM/C, refugee and immigrant populations, as well as resources on community engagement (see “Ongoing Efforts, Organizations, and Resources”).   Recognizing the importance of multifaceted and collaborative approaches to improving health outcomes, we present our findings as a set of elements that could be found across many different contexts. Programming and community engagement tended to include a focus on communication & dialogue, work within the health sector, and forming sustainable partnerships.  Neither the elements presented, nor the list of organizations and resources listed in the next section are intended to be exhaustive.  Rather, they represent the beginnings of an adapatable framework for addressing FGM/C that can be applied in a variety of contexts, and an attempt to connect service providers to helpful resources and organizations.

Ongoing Efforts, Organizations, and Resources

Health/Clinical

• Refugee Women’s Health Clinic, Maricopa Integrated Health System
• Maya Centre – Confidential Counseling for Women
• FGM National Clinical Group (UK)
• Center for Refugee Health/Office of Community Medicine
• Somali Family Service (California, USA)

Community-based: Education, Training

• Sauti Yetu Center for African Women
• Tostan
• Integrate Bristol
• Hope Refugee Drop-in Center
• CEDOVIP (Raising Voices)
• Safe Hands for Girls
• There is No Limit Foundation

Advocacy and Support

• Daughters of Eve
• Dahlia Project
• The Orchid Project
• Forward UK
• Gender Based Violence (GBV) Prevention Network
• Raising Voices
• Stop FGM Middle East
• Equality Now
• Kepsteno Rotwo (Abandon the Knife) and Beyond FGM

Legal Services

• Tahirih Justice Center

Community Engagement Resources

• REPLACE Project (1 and 2) (EU) – Toolkit and Cyclic Framework for Social Transformation and Community Empowerment
• SASA! Approach from CEDOVIP (Raising Voices, Uganda)
• National Institute for Health and Care Excellence – Community Engagement Pathway
• Visioning Outcomes in Community Engagement (VOiCE) (UK)
• National Standards for Community Engagement (Scotland, UK)

References

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