A/HRC/29/20 and assistance provided for the development of a road map to strengthen the ability of the Ministry of Endowment of Yemen to encourage public leaders, including religious leaders, to oppose it. 23. The organization Equality Now offers support to the Government of Kenya to translate the Prohibition of Female Genital Mutilation Act into a language that can be understood by the public, and is supporting its translation into Kiswahili to expand its reach among the populations in areas where the practice is prevalent. It has also issued 1,000 copies of the Act to Kenyan primary school head teachers to encourage teachers to play a role in ending the practice. 24. Examples of programmes that work with young people, including on outreach programmes in schools and the wider community, were highlighted. For instance, Senegal has introduced “Tostan”, a participatory education programme that works at the village level to incorporate literacy and essential health education, including information about female genital mutilation, into the learning experiences of the entire community. Senegal has also incorporated prevention of the practice into elementary and junior high schools curricula. In Burkina Faso, the National Committee has piloted training for teachers and incorporated female genital mutilation into the natural sciences curriculum within schools. 25. In 2014, a youth summit in the Gambia brought together 100 Gambians aged 17–25 years to build their campaigning and social media skills and equip them with the legal and medical knowledge to raise awareness on the practice among young people. In Djibouti, the UNFPA-UNICEF Joint Programme assisted in mobilizing 500 young people to become engaged in the global campaign to end female genital mutilation and 30 young girls were trained to become youth peer educators for the abandonment of the practice in their respective communities. 26. The Ministry of Health of Egypt and the national council for childhood and motherhood hold regular workshops on female genital mutilation and open days in youth centres across the country to raise awareness on the harmful impact of the practice. In eastern Ethiopia, the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) in partnership with a community-based non-governmental organization, the Mother and Child Development Organization, conducted awareness-raising campaigns and weekly group discussions, referred to as “coffee ceremonies”, and mobilized youth clubs against the practice in three Somali refugee camps. 27. From 1998 to 2006, the female genital mutilation prevalence rate in the Niger was halved as a result of the work of civil society groups, in particular the Nigerien committee on traditional practices, which carried out studies, awareness-raising interventions, training, advocacy and retraining for practitioners, to stimulate behavioural change in concerned communities. It also assisted in setting up monitoring committees to track activities in remote villages. 28. In Mauritania, the UNFPA-UNICEF Joint Programme collaborated with the National Theatre and organized a sensitization tour on female genital mutilation in five high-prevalence regions of the country. A large number of other sensitization activities were also carried out in collaboration with partner non-governmental organizations. Following the tours, 76,850 people made public declarations against the practice. D. Engaging religious and community leaders 29. In Ethiopia, the Ethiopian Orthodox Church, the Evangelical Church and the Ethiopian Islamic Supreme Council officially and formally stressed that female genital mutilation is not a religious requirement, and originates in practices that precede religion. They also pledged to integrate relevant messages into their religious teachings. 9