Founder of the Grandmother Project says grandmothers bring their expertise to the whole lifecycle - pregnancy, birth, youth, adolescence and beyond
LONDON (TrustLaw) - For nearly 10 years, Judi Aubel has travelled the world to bring her grandmother-inclusive approach to communities in West Africa, Latin America and Asia and help eradicate harmful cultural practices such as child marriage and female genital mutilation (FGM).
Aubel founded the Grandmother Project in 2005. It works in collaboration with non-governmental organisations to shape community health programmes that include elderly women in discussions and initiatives aimed at increasing children and women's well-being.
Drawing on her anthropology studies, Aubel developed this approach after noticing that grandmothers played a central role in raising children and in making decisions related to the health and education of women and girls in rural communities in developing countries.
Aubel – the recipient of the Trust Women Hero Award at the Trust Women conference in London in December last year – spoke to TrustLaw about the scope and goal of her organisation.
What is the Grandmother-inclusive project?
We use the term ‘grandmother-inclusive’… (Which means) putting the focus on the need to explicitly involve grandmothers in all the programmes and activities related to their domain of expertise. It relates to the whole lifecycle, whether it’s pregnancy or delivery or with young children or adolescents – grandmothers in non-western societies continue to play an important role.
What in your opinion is innovative about your way of approaching communities?
Culture, tradition are about preserving certain things and I think what’s different in how we’re going about this is that we’re trying to view culture as a resource – especially in terms of cultural actors – to develop an approach that engages rather than excludes them. I think the rationale that many have had in the past and up until now for not including grandmothers is the assumption that they are stuck in tradition and they won't change.
How do you eradicate entrenched harmful practices?
Let’s take early marriage and FGM – two practices that are very culturally entrenched – grandmothers play a significant role in maintaining both of these traditions. If you don’t involve them it creates resentment on the grandmothers’ part … it makes them less receptive to what you’re trying to promote and also contributes to widening the gap between the generations.
What did you find by working closely with communities?
We’ve had very positive results by building on the role, acknowledging and praising grandmothers for their positive role and commitment to women and children and then at the same time challenging them to change certain of their practices.
What role do men play in changing attitudes and cultural practices?
It is often said that men are the root of the problem – in the case of FGM for example – but I don’t think that’s accurate, not from our work. In fact, I think the whole phenomenon of FGM ... is managed and controlled primarily by women of different ages. Men do not really know or see what’s going on. Men understand the importance of taking into account the opinions and voices of their women.
What is the Grandmother Project focusing on at present?
Now, we’re ... involved in girls’ holistic development – promoting girls’ development and education – fighting early marriage, teen pregnancy, getting girls to stay in school and tackling FGM where that exists…. (We are) working with schools to integrate positive cultural values into the school and strengthen the link between communities and schools.
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