Awards & Recognition

2010: The Skoll Foundation, supporting social entrepreneurs who address the world’s most pressing economic and social issues, selected Tostan as a recipient of the 2010 Skoll Award for Social Entrepreneurship. The award was presented in recognition of Molly Melching and Tostan's innovative efforts in utilizing human rights education as a framework for community development in rural Africa. As part of the award, Tostan will receive a three-year $765,000 grant that will be used to further support community development efforts and extend the Tostan program to new communities in East and West Africa. Molly Melching was presented with the award at the Skoll World Forum, Oxford University on April 15, 2010. 

2009 :  The International Center for Research on Women (ICRW) has recognized the Tostan model as one of the eight most creative and catalytic innovations to promote women’s empowerment and gender equality over the last century.  In its report, Innovation for Women’s Empowerment and Gender Equality , the ICRW analyzes eight ground-breaking strategies for change, and from those strategies, sets forth seven core elements instrumental to sustaining empowerment.

The report highlights Tostan’s community-led movement for the abandonment of female genital cutting (FGC) as one of three "radical, effective approaches to change trenchant social norms."  Innovative thinking, according to the report, is a key to successfully reshaping gender norms:

[T]he innovation and diffusion processes were effectively shaped to overcome the social backlash against norm change.  Mobilizing the support of influential males in the innovation system was a powerful, commonly employed strategy that enabled more dramatic results in women's empowerment.

The report notes that Tostan’s innovative approach has helped to shift social norms away from FGC as a prerequisite for marriage in an ever-widening number of communities in Senegal.  It also hails Tostan’s success in improving women’s bodily integrity, increasing women’s knowledge, skills and social participation, and changing the role of women in the family and community.

 

Read more about Tostan and the ICRW report .

 
Read the full report . 

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2009 :  Tostan is highlighted in the Center for Global Development's   Start with a Girl: A New Agenda for Global Health , a report chronicling the health challenges facing adolescent girls in the developing world and what can be done to overcome those challenges.  The report praises Tostan for its innovative programs in the effort to eliminate female genital cutting (FGC):     

Tostan, which deploys community-based approaches to reducing harmful traditional practices, is widely recognized because the work has been evaluated and expanded across several countries.  In Senegal, Somalia, and elsewhere in the region, Tostan uses education and organizing to mobilize communities to make public declarations to cease FGC and child marriage, with demonstrated effect….The program has had a significant effect on community attitudes toward FGC, leading to a dramatic decrease in the number of parents who intend to have their daughters cut.

In her keynote speech at the event launching the report, Ambassador-at-Large for Global Women's Issues Melanne Verveer specifically referenced Tostan's success in empowering women to lead their own development, which has resulted in more than 4,000 communities declaring their abandonment of the harmful practices of FGC and child/forced marriage .

Read more about Tostan and Start with a Girl .

Read the full report .

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2009 :  Tostan is featured in a full chapter of Half the Sky: Turning Oppression into Opportunity for Women Worldwide .  Written by Pulitzer Prize winners Nicholas D. Kristof and Sheryl WuDunn, this challenging and inspiring work highlights the struggles and triumphs of women in the developing world.  Chapter 13 features Tostan’s success in empowering communities to lead positive social transformation, specifically the wide-scale public abandonment of female genital cutting by thousands of communities in West Africa.

Read more about Tostan and Half the Sky .

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2009 :  Tostan receives a 4-star ratin g from Ch arity Navigator, a non-profit organization that evaluates the financial health of charities to enable donors to make wise and informed donations.  A 4-star rating, the highest rating possible, is given to an organization that "exceeds industry standards and outperforms most charities in its Cause."

Read more about Tostan’s 4-star rating .

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2008 :   Molly Melching is awarded the Rising Voice of Woman Award presented by International Women Associates .  Established to honor eight members who died together in a traffic accident returning from an IWA event, the award recognizes "work done by women around the world to benefit society and inspire constructive action."  IWA is an educational organization of women from around the world that, among other things, advocates for global understanding and universal human rights.

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2007 :  Molly Melching and the Women of Senegal chosen as OneWorld's Person of 2007 .  Upon receiving the honor, Molly proclaimed it an award for everyone involved with Tostan.  "We are honored by this recognition, and truly touched that so many of our friends and supporters across the globe voted for us," she stated.  "This prize helps to showcase the amazing accomplishments of the thousands of women in Senegal working for human rights in their communities.  This honor will also help propel their efforts even further as their movement spreads to an international level."  A U.S.-based non-profit, OneWorld.net is dedicated to promoting civil society connections.

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2007 :  Tostan receives the Conrad N. Hilton Humanitarian Prize .  On August 13, 2007, the Conrad N. Hilton Foundation recognized Tostan for its "extraordinary contributions toward alleviating human suffering."  This prestigious award carries a prize of $1.5 million dollars.  Tostan has announced it will use these funds to support community development efforts, extend its program to new communities in Africa , and strengthen the Tostan organization itself.     

2003 :  The World Health Organization , at its Second Regional Reproductive Task Force meeting, chooses Tostan’s Community Empowerment Program as a best practice model, calling for further replication of the model in other African nations.

1995 :  UNESCO recognizes Tostan as one of the most innovative education programs in the world and publishes a brochure on Tostan’s evolution and results.