Fighting against harmful social practices
The case study of Mauritania
Executive Summary
FGM/C is a deep-rooted social norm in Mauritania. The average
prevalence rate is 72.2. The most extreme forms are low (35%). Formerly used as a rite of passage for girls into adulthood,
FGM/C are now most often performed some weeks after birth.
There are strong negative sanctions for mothers who choose not
to cut their daughters.
Since 2009, the Ministry of Social Affairs of Social Affairs,
Childhood and Family (MASEF) initiated a process of building
a national child protection system to prevent and respond to the
CP issues in a comprehensive and coordinated manner.
UNICEF Actions against FGM/C are now part of this national
initiative to protect children. Launched in 2007, they are mainly
conducted by MASEF and Tostan, in 5 of 7 regions with the highest prevalence of FGM/C, in close
partnership with UNFPA and in the context of a national coordination that brings together all key
FGM/C international and national players under the authority of the department.
UNICEF action’s includes 2 main components: the Tostan Education program for Human Rights and
the program of voluntary abandonment of FGM/C implemented by MASEF and national NGOs that
includes 4 subcomponents: i) awareness campaigns at national, provincial and department levels as well
as community empowerment interventions in some municipalities; ii) support for national coordination
of FGM/C actions, iii) training and mobilizing imams, professionals and opinion leaders, iv)
empowerment of local organisations and leaders including FGM/C actors on child rights and child
protection.
The paradigm that guides actions for FGM/C abandonment in the country is based on the results of
research conducted by Innocenti. Thus, implementation approach consists of massive and organized
dissemination of positive messages promoting the voluntary abandonment and focused on human rights.
Arguments used for combating FGM/C are built on 4 main elements: religious, health, legal and human
rights. However, according to the social norm theory, any strategy proposed/used to tackle a social norm
must take into consideration the concerned people’s expectations about themselves and about others. It
is only when interventions are oriented to change people’s expectations that the behavior considered as
inappropriate can change.
According to some Mauritanian experts, beside religion the practice of FGM/C in Mauritania is related
to the control of women sexuality. FGM/C is the shield that guarantees the preservation of virginity and
marriageability. Virginity guarantees family honor. Prestige and social recognition depend on honor.
Moreover, uncut young women are likely to remain spinster because cutting is one of the key criteria
that determine the choice of men of their future wife. Moreover, according to the Mauritanian collective
perception, mothers, as the guardian of moral values and the key family authority on FGM/C, must be
exemplary both in society and in family. Cutting their daughters is an indication that guarantees that
they have these suitable moral values.
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Consequently, it is crucial to confirm through research whether, from a practical point of view, mothers
expect that every mother will cut her daughters (mothers’ empirical expectations), whatever her reasons
may be, and whether the moral duties expected from them are really those they should completed to
meet the expectations of the society and especially of their own community.
It is obvious that these values and perception are in total opposition with those related to child/women
rights to health, to human dignity, to freedom from physical or mental violence and injury and gender
equality (see: F. Moneti’s presentation and UNICEF guidelines). However, Mauritanian mothers choose
to do so for good reasons (see G. Mackie and C. Bicchieri’s presentations). So, we are clearly in two
different worlds. Values confrontation will not end the practice. As highlighted by our colleague from
Egypt, Sahar Hegazi, we need to use weapons of persuasion and convince mothers and the entire
communities that they can ensure their girls’ happiness, preserve family honor and acquire social
recognition in a better way: cutting is an unneeded practice.
What will be the most effective way to change the practice as quickly as possible without hurting the
Mauritanian values and beliefs? Based on some key concepts and tools studied, we will try to propose
positive alternatives. We envision these lines of actions:
I)
Use some keys concepts and tools of social norms/social change theories to ensure effectiveness
of the existing FGM/C programs in the context of the national coordination?
Based on the new knowledge acquired there is a critical need to move our intuitive/empirical approach
to a more scientific/effective one. This includes the following lines of action:

re-categorize some specific elements of the script (see Christina Bicchieri’s presentation) by putting
a specific attention on collecting/incorporating information on empirical and normative expectations
and on developing a set of positive arguments to change communities’ expectations and therefore
neutralize the existing sanctions against mothers and families who do not chose to cut their
daughters;

organize a participatory process of identification of the most powerful networks and individuals (see
Ryan Muldoon’s presentation) and the targeted community inter-marrying linkages and strengthen
the existing networks involved in the promotion of FGM/C by integrating the most influential
individuals and groups and setting-up a common agenda of actions;

reinforce the comprehensiveness of the package of actions and systematize the use of the nondirective approach for community empowerment
II)
Use concepts and tools of social norms/social change theories to go beyond the FGM/C national
program and try to build national consensus in favour of policies/laws, institutions and structures
that will ensure a protective environment and well-being for all Mauritanian children, in
particular the most vulnerable and excluded.
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I.
Context
Violence, exploitation, abuse, discrimination and Regional variations of FGM/C prevalence
neglect against children are frequent and multifaceted in (MICS 2007)
Mauritania and affect a significant proportion of
children.
In regard to FGM/C, data available show an average
prevalence rate of 72.2 of circumcision on young girls
and women aged 15-49 years, with extreme rates
ranging from 88% - to 98% mainly located in the
southern half of the territory, in 7 regions. The practice
of FGM is to remove from the genitals of the woman,
the clitoris and sometimes the labia minora. The most
extreme forms are low (3-5%). Formerly used as a rite
of passage for girls into adulthood, FGM/C are now
most often performed some weeks after birth.
According to the MICS IV, the age limit does not
generally exceed 2 years.
Mauritanie
72.2
Tiris Zemmour
48.5
Dakhlet Nouadhibou
40.2
Adrar
61.8
Inchiri
30.4
Tagant
96.1
Nouakchott
54.8
Trarza
26.6
Brakna
88.1
Gorgol
94.7
El Hodh El Gharbi
Assaba 97.6
98.1
El Hodh Ech Charghi
94.4
Guidimagha
97.3
Since 2009, the Mauritanian Government through the Ministry of Social Affairs of Social Affairs,
Childhood and Family (MASEF) initiated a process of building a national child protection system to
prevent and respond to the CP issues in a comprehensive and coordinated manner.
II.
Deciphering the script of FGM/C in Mauritania
According to the results of anthropological research by Pr Abdoulaye Sow 1, anthropologist researcher
and professor at the University of Nouakchott, religion and conjugal virtues are the main reasons listed
to explain the practice. According to him, beside religion the practice of FGM in Mauritania is related to
the control of women sexuality.
As the culture of shame and modesty strongly influence Mauritanian’s behaviours, the young girl, from
her childhood, is subject to a rigorous discipline to tame her feelings and natural desires and aims to
inculcate a sense of shame of her body to prevent her from engaging in sex and in particular to get
pregnant outside marriage that may dishonour her family. FGM/C are the shield against the carnal
pleasures that guarantees the preservation of virginity and marriageability.
As for the conjugal virtues, in line with the collective Mauritanian imagination, young girls cut will
grow to be a faithful wife, loyal, submissive and strong enough to withstand the pain of childbirth.
It is obvious that these values and perception are in total opposition with those related to child/women
rights to health, to human dignity, to freedom from physical or mental violence and injury and gender
equality (see: F. Moneti’s presentation and UNICEF guidelines). However, Mauritanian mothers choose
to do so for good reason (see G. Mackie and C. Bicchieri’s presentations). We are clearly in two
different worlds. The confrontation of values will not end the practice. As highlighted by our colleague
from Egypt, we need to use weapons of persuasion and convince mothers that they can ensure their
1
His research on cultural factors underpinning FGM/C is part of his technical assistance to MASEF to develop, with the financial
contribution of UNICEF together with UNIFPA, a harmonized training module for the national coordination against FGM/C.
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daughters’ happiness in a better way: the practice of excision is unneeded. What will be the most
effective way to change the practice as quickly as possible without hurting the Mauritanian values and
beliefs? Based on some key concepts and tools studied during the course, we will try to propose
positive alternatives.
a. Elements of empirical reasons of the key decision makers within the family
Mothers have full authority to decide whether or not to circumcise their daughters. In some areas,
grandmothers may also have a key role in the decision, in particular when their married daughters or
daughters in law are too young to have a say in the family decisions. However, men have also a
responsibility in the continuity of the practice because women think that they prefer circumcised
women. Actually, this preference was confirmed by the research of Pr. Sow.
According to the mothers’ point of view, any good mother will cut her daughter due to the following
reasons:
 cutting ensures virginity on the wedding day. Virginity guarantees family honor and
illustrates the extreme value of the bride and her mother. Prestige and social recognition
depend on honor;
 uncut young women are likely to remain spinster because cutting is one of the key criteria
that determine the choice of men of their future wife;
It is unclear however whether these views are shared evenly among all the tribes and ethnic groups.
Moreover, up to now, the trigger for change among mothers who chose not to circumcise their girls is
still unknown.
Thus, it remains to confirm whether, from a practical point of view, mothers expect that every mother
will cut her daughters (mothers’ empirical expectations), whatever her reasons may be (see: C.
Bicchieri’s presentation).
b. Elements of normative expectations
According to the collective perception described by Pr. Sow, Mauritanian women, as the guardian of
moral values, must be exemplary both in society and in family. Thus, they must adopt the following
behaviors:
1) Preserve the family’s honor;
2) Ensure purity of the blood pedigree of the ethnic group by strict observance of endogamous
marriage strategies to guarantee the “bouclage consanguin”;
3) Ensure the glory of the descendants: The fate of a child is highly dependent on the moral
qualities of his mother. It is a belief deeply rooted in the Mauritanian mentality;
4) Have the conjugal virtues required: in addition to her alleged moral qualities, a cut woman is
more sexually attractive to men.
In order to be consistent in applying the key concepts of expectations, it remains to examine whether
these mothers believe that these duties are really those they should completed to meet the expectations
of the society and especially of their own community.
c. Common sanctions and incentives
The most common sanctions associated with the choice of uncutting can be summarized as follow:
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 Stigmatization, shame and rejection.
 Spinsterhood.
 Bad reputation.
The fear of shame and dishonor is one of the most powerful incentives that explain persistence of the
practice by Mauritanian mothers.
III.
UNICEF actions
UNICEF Actions against FGM/C are part of the national initiative to protect children. Launched in
2007, they are mainly conducted by MASEF and Tostan, in 5 of 7 regions with the highest prevalence of
FGM/C, in close partnership with UNFPA in the context of a national coordination that brings together
all key FGM/C players under the authority of the department.
This includes the following lines of action:
1. The Tostan Education program for Human Rights.
Started in 2007, the first phase of the Tostan program in Mauritania was closed in May 2010 and
allowed to educate and mobilise 30 core communities and 48 “adopted” communities in one of the most
affected regions. A second phase program for a new core of 30 communities and a more limited support
for the 78 initial ones is being designed.
2. The program of voluntary abandonment of FGM/C implemented by MASEF and National
NGOs in four regions with high prevalence that includes these following subcomponents:
 Awareness campaigns that mobilize since 2007 authorities, professionals and other social
actors, religious and community leaders, local NGOs, schools and media at national, provincial
and department levels- in Nouakchott, the districts capitals and moughataas of four regions with
high prevalence- as well as community empowerment interventions and support for some
targeted municipalities.
 Support for national coordination of FGM/C actions
This coordination bring together, under the leadership of MASEF, the key International agencies and
key national NGOs to make operational a national mechanism to harmonize FGM/C approaches,
methods and tools including harmonized monitoring and evaluation based on the prevalence of
circumcision among girls of 0-five years which will be available in 2011. This component also includes
studies, evaluation and research on Mauritanian FGM/C perception and practices.
 Training and mobilizing imams, professionals and opinion leaders
This component aims at disseminating the national fatwa against FGM/C for the progressive education
and involvement of imams, training and involvement of health personnel and other key opinion leaders
in all areas with high prevalence.
 Empowerment of local organisations and leaders including FGM/C actors on child rights
and child protection
This component includes training and increasing involvement of local associations and FGM/C actors in
the CP national efforts. In view of their crucial role at grassroots level, these local stakeholders will
contribute to the protection responses by identifying, addressing directly community protection issues
and referring the most difficult cases of children and families at risk or victims.
IV.

Main achievements
FGM/C is no longer a taboo in the country and a growing proportion in the population tends to be in
favour to its abandonment.
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
Political authorities are increasingly committed to combating FGM/C. This also concerns the
Parliament, which has public express his commitment to enact legislation to criminalize FGM/C,
this year.
 The Fatwa recently issued by 33 among the most influential imams against FGM/C and their public
stand for abandonment.
 At the end of 2009, the programmes conducted by MASEF and Tostan educated more than 3,000
local and religious leaders on human rights and/or FGM/C and other harmful practices. These
leaders relayed the messages further to 172,072 women and men with 65% of those reached incline
to abandon the practice.
 Representatives of 300 cooperatives of women accompanied Example of national harmonized
by a national NGO, Union Rharma and from 78 communities tools:
supported by Tostan publicly committed, respectively in
February and May, 2010 to abandon female circumcision and
early marriages.
 An operational coordination ensures better harmonization and
monitoring of FGM/C actions at national level. A national
logo, slogan and harmonized communication tools were
developed and are used by all stakeholders.
V.
Strategy
The paradigm that guides actions for FGM/C abandonment in the country is based on the results of
research conducted by Innocenti. Thus, as promoted by Innocenti, implementation approach consists of
massive and organized dissemination of positive messages promoting the voluntary abandonment and
focused on human rights.
Thus, in Mauritania, the messages built on health, religious, legal and human rights arguments are
designed to create an environment conducive to the voluntary abandonment based on gradual
disappearance of the practice due to lack of members. This approach aims primarily to bolster the
position of non-members by promoting the gradual increase of number and their power, which would be
accompanied by an increase in their inclination / common interest to fight against marginalization by
their active involvement in actions to a steady increase their number. The 2 public declarations recently
organized by Union Rharma and Tostan are part of this process.
As for MASEF, its approach is focusing directly on the promotion of behaviour change in relation to the
practice of FGM. To this end, actions continue to link public campaigns and community empowerment.
With reference to the theory of Social Convention for collective change, MASEF uses a non-coercive
approach to raise awareness of the damages caused by the practice and bring the decision to abandon as
a collective decision. MASEF will also encourage public and explicit declaration of abandonment in
order to promote the creation of a social and political environment that protects children.
VI.
Analysis of the strategy used for fighting against excision in Mauritania
Arguments (religious, health, legal and human rights) used in Mauritania for combating FGM/C do not
deeply differ from those reported in some experiments underway in the region or the UNICEF or
UNFPA guidelines in the area. It is also not known yet how effective they are on the abandonment of
excision but we know that they are likely to increase predisposition in favor of abandonment.
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However, the most important argument used to combat FGM/C in Mauritania is related to religion. It is
based on the assumption that FGM/C is practiced because people believe that it is largely a
recommendation or even a requirement of Islam. This fundamental motive gives rise to other sociocultural reasons that mixing ethnicities and interpretations of religious precepts at various degrees. Thus,
the involvement of Imams and the Mauritanian fatwa against FGM/C are key factors for combating this
practice in this country.
Prevalence of FGM/C varies from one ethnic group to another2. The most observant is the Soninke
ethnic group (more than 90%) and the least is the Wolof (28%). Can we assume that certain
ethnicities are more religious than others? This explanation seems a bit pushy especially since
everyone knows that the entire Mauritanian population is very religious and respectful of Islam
recommendations. According to R. Muldoon, it is possible that different ethnicities have different
interpretations of the requirements of Islam, what might imply different expectations vis-à-vis the
practice of FGM/C.
It is also widely accepted that health preservation is a key argument because Islam does not recommend
any practices having adverse effects on health. This inconsistency (see Hugo Mercier’s presentation)
between the justification of the practice as an Islam's recommendation and the obligation to respect
human health, according to the Koran, was the clincher that helped secure the agreement of imams to
tackle the practice. According to Gerry Mackie, the same inconsistency in the religious discourse in
China contributed to ending the practice of foot binding.
In this sense the religious argument in Mauritania is in line with that of human rights because it puts
forward the need to respect the women and children right to health. These two key arguments (medical
and religious) remain crucial in Mauritania and justify for a certain proportion of the populationincluding some influent religious leaders- the usefulness of law to prohibit and criminalize FGM/C. It is
important to note that compliance with legal norms (see Antanas Mockus’ presentation) is very low in
Mauritania. The country ratified the most key human rights conventions related to children and women
and made great efforts to harmonize its legislation, but implementation remains insignificant.
The human rights argument is the least accepted and it justifies all on-going work at community level
regarding promotion of women and children rights. It is considered as an exogenous value but whose
validity is more or less established.
But, up to now, we do not know the precise influence of each of the arguments in relation to others. The
dominance of the religious and health arguments is assumed but not proven.
Education certainly plays a role but it is not radically critical given that the data showed that all those
who know the harm of cutting do not necessarily abandon it. Research on social norms, in particular on
MGFC, has already explained this. We assume that it is also valid for Mauritania. I think it could be
useful to confirm this assumption. It has also been shown that the prevalence of FGM/C is higher in the
country side than in the urban areas. The exact reasons for this are not explained either. Modernism
seems a reason very general. According to G. Mackie, modernization is insufficient to end the practice,
as well as the exclusive use of the religious argument.
We do not know the exact inclination to abandonment or the exact prevalence itself compared to the
most recent data available (2007) due to the limit of the indicator currently used (prevalence of cutting
2
There are 4 important ethnic groups in Mauritania.
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on 15-49 years women is a non-sensitive measure of trends in the short and medium term). This justifies
the government's choice for another indicator of prevalence of circumcision on girls 0-5 years. It is
important to also note that massive and organized actions for the abandonment of FGM/C are very
recent. They started in 2007.
So many questions and many others that UNICEF together with UNFPA are currently trying to support
the Government to address through an evaluation of the first three years of the program implementation,
an anthropo-sociological study of the key factors explaining MGFC in Mauritania and the choice of a
more sensitive national indicator to report on changes in this norm.
VII.
How can we use the keys concepts and tools of social norms/social change theories to go
further and ensure effectiveness of the existing FGM/C programs in the context of the
national coordination?
Based on the new knowledge acquired there is a critical need to move our intuitive/empirical approach
to a more scientific/effective one. This includes the following lines of action:
 re-categorize the script (see Christina Bicchieri’s presentation) by putting a specific attention
on collecting/incorporating information on empirical and normative expectations and on
developing a set of positive arguments to change communities’ expectations and therefore
neutralize the existing sanctions against mothers and families who do not chose to cut their
daughters;
 organize a participatory process of identification of the most powerful networks and
individuals (see Ryan Muldoon’s presentation) and the targeted community inter-marrying
linkages and strengthen the existing networks involved in the promotion of FGM/C by
integrating the most influential individuals and groups and setting-up a common agenda of
actions;
 reinforce the comprehensiveness of the package of actions and systematize the use of the
non-directive approach for community empowerment.

Support the Mauritanian Government to re-categorize the script of honor in Mauritania and recentralize arguments against FGM/C on the empirical and normative expectations
2 important prerequisites have to be completed to achieve this:
a. Take advantage of the national anthropo-sociological study which is being carried out to
confirm/gather accurate information from mothers, men and community representatives’
expectations for each ethnic group
b. Finalize the key cultural arguments (in development) that will address each of these
expectations in order to neutralize the sanctions without a frontal attack on the values that
support these expectations. Examples of counter-arguments proposed by Pr. Sow: (i): “girls
may be protected from dishonor by means that are not harmful: Many societies that place
also a high value on honor do not cut their girls but manage to protect them by using, for
instance, sex education”. The Wolof ethnic group place high value on honor but do not cut
their girls to preserve it.

Reinforce/build common knowledge on social norms and common agreement/agenda on the way
to adapt theories, concepts and tools in the Mauritania context
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Better structure/organize the diffusion of positive messages in favor of abandonment to
reach this critical mass intended to bring the process to its tipping point:
 Share the new knowledge acquired on social norms/social change with UNFPA and the national
coordination on FGM/C including MASEF in order to incorporate into the national FGM/C roadmap the
key findings about empirical and normative expectations and to systematize the use of a non-directive
approach based on positive arguments;
 Ask for cooperation of Tostan to expand and reinforce the existing group of national trainers of
trainers’s skills on social norms, human rights approach, positive and non-directive approach and
arguments to promote voluntary abandonment;
 In partnership with the key agencies working on FGM/C, develop and implement, at all geographic
levels, in the 7 areas with high prevalence, a training program to increase the size of the core group of
community leaders skilled and committed to disseminate positive messages particularly those related to
expectations;
 Develop sound communication material (including powerful and innovative symbols and slogan: see the
Saleema campain and A. Mockus’ presentations) and organize massive multimedia campaigns to
disseminate/broadcast, at all levels, information based on positive arguments and data on the proportion
of the population who do not cut their girls as well as on those who do not support the practice, but feel
compelled to continue because of the fear of social sanctions;
 Minimize use of incentives (see Erte Xiao’s presentation) and find innovative manners to do it when it is
necessary in order to stimulate self-commitment and determination about changing behaviors and norms
that are divergent with human rights values and principles;
 Along with UNFPA and GTZ, implement a large program of sensitization of Imams (at least 500, from
September-December 2010) on the National Fatwa in the 7 regions with high prevalence;
 Taking for example the presentations of Sylvio Waisbord and Sahar Hegazi, support the national
coordination to develop and implement a set of relevant indicators to monitor progress on targeted
communities’ expectations changes at national and provincial levels.

Organize participatory processes at sub-national and local levels to identify the most powerful
networks and individuals and the targeted communities inter-marrying linkages
 Use the core group of facilitators trained and the existing FGM/C/VGB structures at
provincial, departmental and municipal level in place to organize focus-groups bringing
together representatives of all segments of the targeted population.
Up to now, the existing core groups of facilitators used to sensitize targeted communities about FGM/C
were chosen based on the criteria of their administrative or technical authority or their position of
leaders of local NGOs or CBOs. We just assumed that they have the power to convince people as
Mauritanians are very respectful about hierarchy. But, as R. Muldoon pointed out, we have to take also
into consideration the degree of trustful of the targeted communities vis-à-vis these “leaders”. This is
why we are planning to carry out participatory research using the technique of focus-groups to identify
the most trustful/natural leaders to reinforce these core-groups of facilitators credibility in promoting
changing in people’s expectations.
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The purpose of these focus-groups is to organize participatory discussions (using appropriate tools like
community participatory mapping exercises) to identify: 1) the most powerful/trustful leaders and
groups; 2) the community inter-marrying networks. Information collected could be confirmed with those
from previous studies and research, when available. Due to budgetary constraints, it would be quite
unrealistic to plan surveys at all geographic levels to gather these information. However, it will be
important to carefully think about the methodology and instruments that will be used to do so.
The national group of trainers for trainers could be the implementing structure of these initiatives with
the technical support of an expert on participatory approach.

Reinforce the comprehensiveness of the package of actions and systematize the use of nondirective approach for community empowerment
At present, although the implementation of holistic community empowerment programs is a
recommendation of the National Coordination, this is taken into account systematically and
comprehensively only by Tostan and GTZ. All other programs are specifically focused their action on
promoting the abandonment of excision without addressing all the issues of children rights and wellbeing. The lack of financial resources largely explains this limit.
Similarly, it is not clear that the approach non-directive and non-judgmental is well addressed and
systematically implemented by all partners. Given the convincing results produced by Tostan and the
power of social mobilization associated with this approach, we believe it is important to support the
Ministry to strengthen its generalization. Now that the financial constraint was loosened a bit, we think
to ask technical support from Tostan to strengthen the tools and interventions of the members of the
coordination on 4 points (see Molly Melching’s presentation):
1. Empowering education for the people most affected by the practice;
2. The method, techniques and tools for identification inter-marrying links;
3. Organized diffusion of information by the participants themselves with special focus on the
practice of adoption of bordering communities;
4. Public declaration by interconnected group to mark a change in expectations.
VIII. How can we use concepts and tools of social norms/social change theories to go beyond
the FGM/C national program and try to build national consensus in favour of
policies/laws, institutions and structures that will ensure a protective environment and
well being for all Mauritanian children, in particular the most vulnerable and
excluded.
In line with UNICEF efforts to set foundations of a protective environment for children in Mauritania,
MASEF was assisted with the financial contribution of UNICEF including the UAE’s, to develop and
validate the national strategy for child protection (NSPC) in order to establish Child Protection
Structures (CPS) from community to policy levels at all geographic levels.
At present, 6 CPS were established and are being made operational with UNICEF support in Nouakchott
(the capital). This includes:
(i)
a inters-sectoral National Council for Childhood which is being revitalized at policy level under
the Prime Minister's authority and the joint technical leadership of MASEF, the Ministry of
Health and the Ministry of Justice;
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(ii)
a central child protection table bringing together provincial basic public services, international
and national child protection NGOs under the highest authority of the province, the Wali and the
technical support of the provincial coordination of MASEF;
4 community child protection systems (CCPS) that were respectively established in 4 out of 9
municipalities of Nouakchott, under the authority of the mayor and accompanied in its operation
by the provincial coordination of MASEF. These CCPS bring together the basic municipal
services, representatives of municipal NGOs and community based organizations (CBOs)
networks, key-religious and community leaders.
(iii)
In this context, we think this CP process will be an excellent opportunity to sensitize the key CP
stakeholders at all levels of responsibility on concepts and tools of social norm/social theories in the
prospect to build national consensus and a common agenda to change stakeholders behaviors and
practices in favour of child rights fulfillment and child well being.
We will particularly stress on the following actions:
 Brief the forum of international partners supporting the process of building CP systems and the high
decision-making authorities on the key concepts and tools of social norm/social theories and their
usefulness to address more effectively complex social issues based on unsuitable behaviors and to
reach excluded populations;
 Collect information about family, community and even about the entire society behaviours regarding
children with a special focus to the expectations related to child abuse, exploitation, discrimination
and exclusion in order to develop positive arguments to change these expectations at all levels;
 Intensively advocate and provide support for law enforcement with a specific focus on setting-up
mechanisms that take into account family and community expectations to ensure better
implementation/respect of laws related to children rights as well as awareness of the entire
population about these laws;
 Advocate at all levels for collective responsibility and moral obligation vis-à-vis children well-being
and specifically at policy level on the need for adequate budget and inter-sectoral cooperation to
ensure integrated and comprehensive programs for the most vulnerable;
 Use social networks concepts and tools, at provincial and community levels to identify the most
trustful groups and individuals, including religious leaders, to be incorporated into the child
protections structures in place to reinforce their credibility and efficiency;
 Use the community led/generated change approach to ensure comprehensive package of
interventions for the most vulnerable children including empowering education in particular for the
most vulnerable families, organized diffusion of information by the community members themselves
on child rights and child protection and community based deliberation and pledge to protect the
most vulnerable children;
 At all levels, minimize use of incentives and find innovative manners to do it when it is necessary in
order to stimulate self-commitment and self determination to protect vulnerable children.
IX.
Constraints and challenges
 Serious budgetary constraint at national level in particular to support the national NGOs efforts to
complete the package of interventions related to the Community-led development initiatives;
 Need for some practical guidelines or manual and technical assistance to help us relay on a soundly
manner the key concepts and tools learned on social norms/social change;
 The Mauritanian Government very long process of decision making and its tendency to centralize
which could slow all along the progress of actions;
Guirlene Frederic
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 Lack of capacity of MASEF in particular at provincial levels to ensure consistent implementation
and continuous monitoring of interventions;
 Lack of involvement of some authorities in the provinces;
 Resistance of the Imams in some regions to join the movement to promote the voluntary
abandonment of FGM/C.
Guirlene Frederic
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