Evaluation of the Sudan Free of Female Genital Cutting Programme

Muslim woman carrying food on her head in a Nubian village

Photo by hadynyah/Getty Images

Background

Sudan has one of the fastest changing societies in Africa. A report by ICM stated that over 50% of the population is under 30, young households no longer live within the extended households, there are more than 102 higher education institutes across the country and internet connectivity is widespread. There is now wide sharing of information and knowledge, between generations and across the country. Yet despite this, there has been little reduction in female genital mutilation/cutting (FGM/C) this century.

Against this backdrop, the Sudan Free of Female Genital Cutting programme (SFFGC) operates alongside other major interventions to end FGM/C. In 2016, Sudan adopted new, national legislation on ending FGM/C and updated the national strategy to combat this. The £12 million, UK-funded SFFGC programme hopes to increase the chance of girls and women in Sudan being able to fulfil their rights to personal, social and health-related wellbeing.

RAND Europe is part of a consortium tasked with evaluating SFFGC for the UK Department for International Development (DFID). The evaluation has a combination of an impact and theory-of-change based approaches.

Goals

The evaluation aims to inform the refinement of SFFGC’s approach and to inform the shape of future programming on FGM/C and related programme initiatives. More specifically, the evaluation aims to:

  • assess the relevance, effectiveness, efficiency, impact and sustainability of the approach adopted by the Sudan Free of Female Genital Cutting programme;
  • identify the intended and unintended outcomes of the intervention for individuals, communities, implementing partners and Government; and
  • provide recommendations, identify lessons learned, capture good practices and generate knowledge.