Female Genital Mutilation, genital stitching, family structure (including child marriages), and their interrelationship have not been documented before, in academic research of the Somali region of Ethiopia, but we are now engaging in that research.  The topics we are looking at are just some of the barriers that prevent girls from accessing education. Our core focus is equitable, inclusive education, and without addressing these barriers more girls have limited opportunities for a prosperous future.

E4Change is doing this study as part of wrapping up our Erasing Stigma for Good project, which was until recently supported by USAID funding.

This innovative research project is being coordinated by Dr. Lisa Devall-Martin and Dr. Sharlene McHolm, two members of our board of directors. While looking at the impact of our project to provide education around menstrual health and providing Menstrual Hygiene Kits, our researchers have collected quantitative and qualitative data from control groups, focus groups, and surveys of girls, women, and community leaders. This work is complex, requiring documents to be translated into Somali, ethical data collection training for teams of local people, and translating the data back into English. They are now at the stage of analyzing the data.

We are very excited to have a rigorous, data-based evaluation of the impact of the first stage of our project around women and girls’ health, along with spurring meaningful change by providing suggestions for future projects that will meet needs in the communities where we work.

Menstruation Hygiene Management kits are distributed along with instruction, and are followed up with data collection.