Remarque
Full research report of the project "Men Speak out" (JUST/2013/DAP/AG/5643), co-funded by the DAPHNE Programme of the European Union. «Men Speak Out» is a 27-month partnership (January2015 - March 2017) between GAMS Belgium, FORWARD UK, HIMILO foundation in the Netherlands and the Institute of Tropical Medicine, Antwerp in Belgium, which responds to Daphne III priority on harmful traditional practices. The aim of this project was to engage men in the process of ending FGM and, on a larger scale, to end violence against women and promote gender equality through a human rights' approach.
In the context of the "Men Speak Out" project a mixed methods study was conducted in Belgium, the UK and the Netherlands to increase knowledge of men's role in the perpetuation of the FGM practice. Four key problems were addressed in this research: (1) Men's understanding of FGM, its health risks and human rights violations, (2) Communication between women and men about the practice of FGM, (3) Men's opinions of FGM, (4) Male involvement in the decision making process to end the practice. For the qualitative research 60 in-depth interviews (IDI) and 9 Focus Group Discussions (FGD) were conducted across Belgium, the Netherlands and the UK (20 IDI and 3 FGD per country). In each country 16 male and 4 female participants were interviewed; 2 FGDs were conducted with men, one with women. Using snowball sampling techniques, the research participants were purposively selected among African migrant communities with a high prevalence of FGM. The objective of the quantitative study was to estimate the proportion of men who are in favour of the continuation of FGM in Europe as compared to their country of origin. The aim was therefore to find out whether migration and residence in Europe affects men's attitudes towards FGM.