Tostan

Tostan is an international nongovernmental organization registered in the United States as a 501(c)(3) nonprofit and headquartered in Dakar, Senegal. Its name means “breakthrough” in Wolof. Rather than operating primarily as a service-delivery organization, Tostan works with communities to identify their own priorities, build collective knowledge, and organize locally led responses to social, economic, health, governance, and environmental challenges. The organization was founded in 1991 by Molly Melching, an American educator and human-rights advocate who had worked in Senegal and sought to create a form of non-formal education suited to rural communities. Tostan’s central methodology is the three-year Community Empowerment Program, or CEP. The program is delivered in local languages by facilitators who generally share cultural and linguistic ties with the communities they serve. It combines dialogue, participatory learning, storytelling, theater, dance, group activities, literacy, numeracy, and community action. Participants discuss human rights and democracy, define a shared vision for their community, examine health and hygiene, develop problem-solving skills, and pursue practical initiatives such as income generation, child protection, environmental management, and improved access to public services. Tostan became especially well known for its contribution to the abandonment of female genital cutting and child marriage in parts of Africa. In 1997, the CEP introduced a human-rights and women’s-health module that included information about the potential health consequences of female genital cutting. Women in the Senegalese village of Malicounda Bambara subsequently announced a collective decision to stop the practice. The organization later refined its approach after community leaders emphasized that a single village could not sustainably change a social norm when surrounding communities remained committed to it. The resulting model focused on dialogue across extended social networks and on public declarations involving groups whose families were connected through marriage, kinship, and trade. Tostan reports that nearly 9,000 African communities have since declared an end to female genital cutting, child marriage, or related harmful practices, although the organization and outside evaluators recognize that implementation and social acceptance can vary. Tostan’s work extends beyond these issues. Its stated impact areas include education, health, governance, economic empowerment, environmental sustainability, child welfare, women’s and girls’ empowerment, and early childhood development. The organization has implemented programs in numerous African languages as well as French, English, and Arabic. It has operated national offices or programs in Senegal, Guinea, The Gambia, Mauritania, Guinea-Bissau, and Mali, and has also had programs or offices in countries including Burkina Faso, Somalia, Sudan, and Djibouti at different times. The organization has developed specialized initiatives alongside the CEP. A prison program in Senegal adapted the methodology for detainees, emphasizing skills, family reconnection, preparation for reintegration, and lower recidivism risk. The Tostan Training Center in Thiès, opened to outside participants in 2015, provides training on community-led development to activists, governments, civil-society organizations, academics, and media representatives. Tostan has also pursued monitoring and evaluation partnerships, including a collaboration with the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation beginning in 2014. Tostan received the Conrad N. Hilton Humanitarian Prize in 2007. In 2017, founder Molly Melching moved from chief executive officer to creative director, and Elena Bonometti succeeded her as CEO. The organization’s continuing priorities include strengthening evidence and measurement, expanding training, developing responsible models for scaling its approach, and supporting community-led movements that advance dignity and human rights.

Tostan was established in 1991 by Molly Melching, an American educator and human-rights advocate who had developed an interest in Senegal and in forms of education that could be adapted to rural communities. The organization initially focused on holistic, non-formal education rather than on a single health or social issue. Its work was shaped by consultation with local communities and Senegalese cultural specialists, who helped create teaching methods that incorporated local languages, dialogue, storytelling, theater, music, dance, and other familiar forms of expression. The resulting Community Empowerment Program became Tostan’s principal vehicle. It was first implemented in 44 Senegalese communities and expanded to approximately 350 communities by 1994. Early curriculum modules addressed problem solving, health and hygiene, child mortality prevention, financial management, leadership, group dynamics, and the evaluation of income-generating projects. In 1997, Tostan added a module on human rights and women’s health, including discussion of the possible health consequences of female genital cutting. The organization had initially been cautious about directly addressing the practice because it feared that an externally imposed position could damage trust. Field staff and community experience eventually led to its inclusion. The module contributed to a public decision by women in Malicounda Bambara, in western Senegal, to abandon female genital cutting. Their 1997 declaration attracted broad attention but also generated resistance from neighboring communities, which had not participated in the decision and were concerned about social and marriage-related consequences. Tostan subsequently learned that durable change required engagement beyond an individual village. Senegalese religious leader Demba Diawara helped communicate with surrounding communities, and in February 1998 thirteen neighboring villages joined the commitment. This experience became central to Tostan’s theory of change: social practices linked to marriageability and group identity are more likely to change when interconnected communities deliberate and act together. Tostan expanded outside Senegal in 1997 through a six-year partnership with Burkina Faso-based Mwangaza Action. The partnership supported community declarations against female genital cutting in 23 Burkinabe communities. In 2002, Tostan introduced its Prison Project at a facility in Thiès, Senegal. The adapted program sought to help detainees develop income-generating skills, rebuild family relationships, prepare for release, and reintegrate into society. During the 2000s, Tostan established national offices or expanded operations in Guinea in 2003, The Gambia in 2006, Mauritania in 2007, Guinea-Bissau in 2008, and Mali in 2009. It also undertook work in Somalia, Sudan, and Djibouti, although those offices were later closed. The organization’s programs increasingly addressed interconnected issues including child protection, literacy, public health, governance, women’s and girls’ empowerment, economic opportunity, environmental sustainability, and early childhood development. Tostan’s community-led approach is influenced by the Senegalese scholar Cheikh Anta Diop’s emphasis on development as an educational process that should draw on existing knowledge and traditions. Sessions are conducted in local languages, often by facilitators from the same ethnic or linguistic community. The organization aims to create nonjudgmental settings in which participants can examine social norms, rights, and responsibilities without feeling that outsiders are condemning their culture. Participants are encouraged to identify community assets, reach consensus, establish priorities, and organize action. The CEP evolved into a three-year curriculum with two broad phases. Kobi, a Mandinka term associated with preparing or tilling the soil, focuses on democracy, human rights, health, hygiene, and problem solving. Aawde, a Pulaar term associated with planting a seed, develops local-language literacy, numeracy, and small-enterprise skills. The program is intended for adults and adolescents and repeatedly connects learning to community-defined goals. Tostan’s work gained international recognition as communities across West and East Africa publicly committed to abandoning female genital cutting, child marriage, and forced marriage. The organization reports that nearly 9,000 communities have made such commitments, while external assessments have found that most members of communities making declarations respect them, even though resistance and incomplete adherence can remain. Senegal’s government has drawn on elements of Tostan’s approach in its own efforts to end female genital cutting. From 2013 to 2016, the Generational Change in 3 Years Project implemented the CEP in 150 communities across Guinea, Guinea-Bissau, Mali, and Mauritania. It reached more than 9,000 direct participants and was associated with declarations by more than 350 communities concerning female genital cutting, child marriage, and human rights. In 2017, Tostan began the Breakthrough Generation Project, working with another 150 communities in Guinea, Guinea-Bissau, Mali, and The Gambia. Beginning in 2014, Tostan worked with the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation to strengthen monitoring and evaluation. The resulting framework measures outcomes across health, governance, economic empowerment, the environment, and education. In 2015, the organization opened the Tostan Training Center in Thiès, making its methodology available to external practitioners through a ten-day course delivered in English and French. In 2017, Melching transitioned from CEO to Creative Director and Elena Bonometti became CEO. Tostan’s subsequent organizational priorities included developing approaches for responsible scale, strengthening internal systems, expanding training, improving outcome measurement, and conducting research with national and international partners. Its current identity remains that of a community-led development organization whose principal organizational asset is a participatory education methodology rather than a commercial product.

• 2015

  Tostan Training Center opens

  [1]Tostanen.wikipedia.org

  The Thiès center begins training external participants in Tostan’s community-led development approach.

• 2007

  Conrad N. Hilton Humanitarian Prize

  [1]Tostanen.wikipedia.org

  Tostan receives the humanitarian award for its contribution to alleviating human suffering.

• 2002

  Prison Project begins

  [1]Tostanen.wikipedia.org

  Tostan adapts its community education model for detainees at a Senegalese prison in Thiès.

• 1998

  Neighboring Senegalese villages join abandonment declaration

  [1]Tostanen.wikipedia.org

  Thirteen communities join Malicounda Bambara in publicly rejecting female genital cutting.

• 1997

  Human-rights and women’s-health module is added

  [1]Tostanen.wikipedia.org

  Tostan introduces content on human rights, women’s health, and the potential health effects of female genital cutting.

• 1997

  Program expands to Burkina Faso

  [1]Tostanen.wikipedia.org

  Tostan begins a six-year partnership with Mwangaza Action to implement its methodology in Burkina Faso.

• 1994

  Community Empowerment Program expands in Senegal

  [1]Tostanen.wikipedia.org

  The program grows from its initial 44 communities to roughly 350 Senegalese communities.

• 1991

  Tostan is founded

  [1]Tostanen.wikipedia.org

  Molly Melching establishes Tostan in Senegal to provide holistic, non-formal education for rural communities.

A community-led development organization that uses participatory, human-rights-based education to support locally defined change and collective abandonment of harmful social practices.

• Non-formal human-rights education · 1991

  Community Empowerment Program

  Tostan’s core three-year program helps adults and adolescents explore human rights, democracy, health, hygiene, problem solving, literacy, numeracy, and economic opportunity. Facilitators use local languages and participatory methods such as dialogue, group work, theater, storytelling, and action research. Communities define a shared vision, identify priorities, and organize projects that may address harmful practices, child welfare, public services, environmental issues, or livelihoods.

• Correctional and reintegration program · 2002

  Prison Project

  Introduced in a Senegalese prison in Thiès, the Prison Project adapts elements of the Community Empowerment Program for detainees. Its objectives include building useful skills, supporting income generation, restoring contact with families, preparing participants for release, and improving reintegration into society.

• Professional training · 2015

  Tostan Training Center

  Located in Thiès, the Tostan Training Center offers intensive instruction in Tostan’s community-led development model. Its audience includes community activists, nonprofit and government representatives, academics, and media professionals. Training has been offered in English and French.

• 2017Breakthrough Generation Project

  Guinea · Guinea-Bissau · Mali · The Gambia

  This three-year initiative extended Tostan’s community-led model to 150 communities, with an emphasis on women’s and girls’ empowerment and the abandonment of harmful traditional practices.

  Source
• 2013Generational Change in 3 Years Project

  Guinea · Guinea-Bissau · Mali · Mauritania

  Tostan implemented its community education model in 150 communities over three years, directly reaching more than 9,000 people and supporting wider declarations concerning female genital cutting, child marriage, and human rights.

  Outcome. More than 350 communities declared commitments to abandon female genital cutting, child marriage, and other harmful practices or to support human rights.

  Source

• 2017

  Founder changes executive roleStrategy

  Background

  Tostan sought to strengthen its structures, measurement systems, research relationships, and ability to scale training and community programs.

  Action taken

  Molly Melching moved from chief executive officer to Creative Director, while Elena Bonometti became CEO.

  Aftermath

  The leadership transition placed day-to-day executive responsibility with Bonometti while retaining Melching’s creative and programmatic influence.

  Source

• 1997

  Add female-genital-cutting content to the curriculumStrategy

  Background

  Tostan had been cautious about directly addressing female genital cutting because it was a sensitive subject and could undermine community trust. Field staff argued that the issue should be addressed through the human-rights and women’s-health curriculum.

  Action taken

  The organization added information about human rights, women’s health, and possible health effects associated with female genital cutting.

  Aftermath

  The curriculum contributed to a public abandonment declaration in Malicounda Bambara and helped shape Tostan’s later network-based approach to changing social norms.

  Source

1. 1Tostanen.wikipedia.org
2. 2Tostan official websitetostan.org