Working with Leaders to End Violence Against Women in West Africa

In Liberia and Nigeria, traditional leaders are the key to shifting social norms and driving the critical change needed to end violence against women and girls.

“We [traditional practitioners] used to teach girls how to behave in the presence of older people, plaiting hair and being modest,” explains Kema Dahn, a community leader and former practitioner of female genital mutilation (FGM) in Nimba County in north-eastern Liberia. “But we are no longer practicing FGM because we realized that it is not necessary. We are now focusing on agriculture and business.”

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Working with Leaders to End Violence Against Women in West Africa