Sustainability: Community Management Committees and the Empowered Communities Network

Throughout the course of the Community Empowerment Program (CEP), Tostan trains Community Management Committees (CMCs) that develop the management skills necessary to undertake and implement diverse development projects. Made up of 17 democratically selected members, the CMC serves as a model of democracy for the entire community while leading projects that implement the lessons of the CEP. Additionally, at least 9 of the 17 members usually must be female, providing opportunities for women to improve their confidence, leadership, and social standing by assuming a prominent role in their communities' development.

Tostan’s successes to date stem from the organization’s belief that development is a collaborative process. The CMCs themselves embody Tostan's vision for sustainable development: democratic, community-based organizations that consult and coordinate with partner organizations in order to meet the needs of the community and improve the well-being of all community members. With the necessary development tools and leadership skills in hand, CMCs can develop and implement specific action plans through subcommittees focused on topics of importance to the community: from environmental issues to community health topics, from education and social mobilization to income generating activities and child protection.

Since 1997, Tostan has trained thousands of CMCs in communities across Africa. These CMCs have enormous potential to lead community empowerment efforts and to help macro-level development projects gain the necessary grassroots perspective to effectively respond to the needs of the communities they aim to help. In order to leverage this potential, in 2006 Tostan created the Empowered Communities Network (ECN), whose goal is to help participating CMCs initiate and lead their own grassroots development processes by facilitating partnerships with other local and international organizations.

Over time, many CMCs register as official community based organizations (CBOs) in their respective countries, which reinforces community capacity while ensuring that funds, projects, and campaigns are managed in a transparent and professional manner. With Tostan’s collaborative approach as the cornerstone of the ECN, and with the CMCs as the vehicle for this collaboration, Tostan works to link these trained CMCs with government authorities, other development NGOs, international organizations, and other service providers in order to connect community-identified development goals with domestic and internationally funded resources.

Donor funds enable CMCs to become local activists and social entrepreneurs . They undertake projects at the grassroots level that directly improve the lives of community members. Tostan is now helping to link NGO partners, microfinance institutions, businesses and government services with ECN members that are:

To learn more about how your organization can collaborate with the ECN in Senegal, Guinea, The Gambia, Guinea-Bissau, Mauritania, Mali, Djibouti, or Somalia, please contact info@tostan.org . To learn more about how individuals can support these dynamic community-based organizations, please visit our donation page.