Glossary of Key Terms

 

 

Aawde: a Fulani word meaning “to plant the seed.” The Aawde is the second and final component in Tostan’s educational program. It follows the first awareness-raising component, the Kobi, and focuses on literacy and economic empowerment. The themes of the Aawde are: pre-literacy, literacy, and writing; basic math; and small-project management.

 

Child marriage: the marriage of girls under the age of 18, which is usually forced. Article 16 of the 1948 Universal Declaration of Human Rights states that marriage “shall be entered only with the free and full consent of the intending spouses.” Minors cannot give their consent, however, since they do not meet the legal standards for informed decision-making. Child marriage both violates human rights and hinders development. Young girls who marry as children must usually leave school and are therefore unable to reach their full economic, social, and intellectual potential. There are also many physical and emotional health risks linked to early sexual activity and child-bearing. Please visit our Child/Forced Marriage Resource Page for more information.

 

Community Empowerment Program (CEP): Tostan’s 30-month educational program, conducted in African national languages. The CEP gives participants knowledge, skills, and experience in: democracy, human rights and responsibilities, problem solving, hygiene, health, literacy, math, and project management. The goal of the program is to enable participants to lead the development of their own communities.

 

Community Management Committee (CMC): the 17-member, democratically elected group that coordinates activities in and out of the Tostan classroom. Tostan trains these committees in awareness-raising, social-mobilization, and project-management techniques. The CMC organizes public events to share information on topics such as the importance of registering births or vaccination with the community at large and with surrounding villages. The CMC remains active and engaged in community development efforts even after Tostan’s educational program has ended.

 

Daara: a Muslim boarding school where students (talibés) come to study the Koran under a Koranic teacher (marabout).

 

Empowered Communities Network (ECN): This project fosters partnerships between successful Community Management Committees (CMCs) that have completed the program and African and international NGOs, donors, and other service providers to work together on grassroots development projects. The goal is to support long-term, community-led development after the formal end of the Tostan educational program.

 

Female genital cutting (FGC): Sometimes referred to as “female genital mutilation" (FGM) or “female circumcision,” it is “a range of practices involving the complete or partial removal or alteration of the external genitalia." The procedure is often performed with “unsterilized, makeshift, or rudimentary tools.” Please see our FGC Resource Page for more information.

 

Kobi: a Mandinka word meaning “to prepare the field for planting.” The Kobi is the first part of the Tostan Community Empowerment Program, consisting of awareness-raising through dialogue, exchange, consensus building, and action. It focuses on democracy, human rights and responsibilities, problem solving, hygiene, and health. It is followed by the Aawde, the second and final component focusing on literacy and economic empowerment.

 

Marabout (MAHR-a-boo): a teacher in a Koranic school (daara)

 

Organized diffusion: the process that Tostan uses to spread information beyond the walls of the classroom and into families, communities, and regions. All Tostan participants “adopt” a friend, neighbor, or family member with whom they share program topics, and participants as a group work together to share information with their village. The Tostan site village itself then “adopts” surrounding communities. This diffusion of knowledge and action has brought about regional and national agreement about the need to respect human rights and has led to the collective abandonment of harmful practices.

 

Public declarations: Events through which communities come together with their extended social networks to demonstrate their commitment to abandoning harmful practices, present a unified vision for positive change, and celebrate the positive aspects of their cultures and traditions. These declarations follow months, sometimes years of careful social mobilization activities and consensus building by local community members. Tostan helps to facilitate and organize the events, which often center on the decision to abandon female genital cutting (FGC) and/or child/forced marriage, but which may address a wide range of issues related to the well-being of the participating communities. In Tostan's model, these are more than "ceremonies"; rather, they are defined by the presence of the extended social networks of the hosting villages and the direct participation of a wide range of social groups including women and men, local traditional and religious leaders, local elected officials, youth, and many other groups. This ensures that all stakeholders--often thousands are in attendance at these declarations--actively support and participate in the process and increases the sustainability of the decisions being made. While these events alone are not sufficient for change, as a part of a larger process of organized diffusion they are a critical moment where a new choice is made socially acceptable for the first time.

 

Talibé (TAL-ee-bay): a student of the Koran ranging from as young as five years old to older adolescence. In Senegal, these boys usually live away from home at the Koranic school (daara) they attend. Because most parents cannot afford to pay for tuition or room and board, many Koranic teachers (marabouts) send talibés into the streets to beg for money and food all day. In the streets the children are exposed to crime, neglect, abuse, illness, as well as to frequently deadly traffic accidents. The time spent begging also reduces the time students have to learn the Koran or other subjects. It is not known exactly how many talibés roam the streets of Senegal, but estimates range from 100,000–300,000 boys.

 

Tostan: a word meaning "breakthrough" in the language of the Wolof people of Senegal and The Gambia. It has several meanings in the "deep Wolof" of rural communities, including "to break through" or "to share or spread."  The word is sometimes used to imply the "breakthrough" that happens during the hatching of an egg, and the spreading of life from generation to generation. World-renowned African scholar Chiekh Anta Diop suggested the word tostan to Molly Melching as a name for her organization in the 1980s.