The City of Manchester has the highest population of FGM practicing communities within the North West, closely followed by Salford, Bolton and Rochdale. Wigan and Bury have lower populations of practising communities while Oldham and Trafford have a growing population of communities that practise FGM (Bury Council 2015). Between 1 January 2015 and 31 December 2016, a total of 33 Public Protection Incidents, (PPI) logs recorded by GMP were linked to FGM in Manchester with the number of logs increasing three-fold in the last year (from 8 to 25). Between 1 January and 31 December 2016, five FGM crimes were recorded in Manchester. Figures from the NHS reveal that 52 children with concerns relating to FGM were referred into services in 2017. Of this, 19 cases were confirmed as presenting FGM and 31 referrals showed no signs of FGM.

A great deal of positive work to improve awareness amongst agencies and professionals has been progressed over recent years, resulting in greater application of FGM Protection Orders, the FGM reporting duty and the complex safeguarding required by those affected by the issue. However, there is still much to do to better understand the prevalence and scale of FGM, and enhance our reach and engagement with communities, so we further appreciate the nuances and complexities associated with this harm. The issue of how to educate communities in an appropriate and sensitive manner, especially where FGM is seen as the norm, remains a challenge. Many communities do not talk about FGM even though it may be commonplace.

As part of the Sixteen days marking international activism on Elimination of Violence against Women’, Manchester City Council and its partners are hosting a one day conference on FGM. The FGM conference will provide a starting point to progress some of these challenges whilst contributing to improving collaboration, partnership working and discourse around the harm.

The aim of the event is to stimulate conversations on FGM, and in particular how we engage, reach and work in partnership to tackle harmful practices. The event will also showcase examples of best practice around community engagement, work with survivors and insight into type four. It is hoped that the conversations developed on the day will enable communities to be heard more widely within national discourse and identify new practical interventions for stakeholders, practitioners and policy makers. Specifically, the conversations emerging from the event will feed into the Cross Government Strategy Action Plan on ‘Ending Violence against Women and Girls’ providing localised insight and adding value to existing practice, collaboration and complex safeguarding.

Key lessons and themes emerging from the event will be captured and disseminated on social media, enhancing both lessons emerging and amplifying campaigns pertinent to survivors and communities. This will serve to raise awareness, educate and enhance partnership working.

The event is being offered free of charge to people directly affected by this harm and is supported by British Muslim Heritage Centre, Crown Prosecution Service, Home Office, Stockport Council, Salford Council and Nottingham City Council.