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Tostan and the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs)
In 2000, the United Nations released the
Millennium Development Goals
(MDGs), eight development objectives to be achieved by 2015. They are aimed at combating global poverty, achieving universal education, reducing child mortality, and stopping the spread of disease. These ambitious goals, agreed upon by each UN member nation and 23 major development organizations, are based on a fundamental respect for human rights as defined and supported by international treaties.
Because Tostan's work is based on the recognition of human rights for all people, our work and that of our partner communities align with each of the eight objectives outlined by the UN in the MDGs. Tostan’s
Community Empowerment Program
(CEP) provides holistic community education based in human rights. Through the CEP, Tostan equips thousands of communities in Africa with the knowledge and skills to recognize and apply their human rights and responsibilities. The process empowers them to take the lead in their own development and to ensure that the rights of all community members are protected. Tostan also helps each partner community establish a
Community Management Committee
(CMC), which is comprised of 17 democratically chosen members who manage the community's development initiatives. CMCs play a crucial role in developing specific projects to improve communal well-being and to ensure that human rights are protected.
At Tostan, we believe that it is not enough to view the MDGs simply as a list of specific problems needing technical fixes. The challenges underlying each of the eight goals are deeply linked - poverty leads to health issues, lack of women's empowerment deepens that poverty, and so on. Because these problems are interrelated and interconnected, Tostan has found that they are best addressed together in a holistic manner. We believe that the most effective approach to achieving all of the MDGs is to create broad foundations of community knowledge and leadership upon which future development can be built.
We have found that through this type of approach, communities themselves can become the leaders of their own development--creating the positive changes the MDGs seek and preparing the global community for the next challenges we collectively face.
Follow the links below to see the specific ways in which Tostan’s CEP and the work of local CMCs produce results that lead to the protection of fundamental human rights and, in so doing, help to work toward the Millennium Development Goals.
MDG 2: Achieve Universal Primary Education
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