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Tostan’s Special Projects
Tostan strives to find new ways to empower communities and to adapt its strategies to meet the needs of marginalized groups. This has lead to the development of a number of special projects, which Tostan has used in conjunction with its
Community Empowerment Program (CEP) to help bring social change to address specific problems faced by African communities. Click on the links below to learn more about each of our special projects.
Jokko Initiative
Tostan’s Jokko Initiative harnesses the potential of mobile technology to bring meaningful change to African communities. Now integrated with the literacy modules of the CEP, the Jokko Initiative helps participants build their reading and writing skills through the use of text messages. Learning to send and receive texts both builds general literacy and greatly improves the scope of social mobilization within and among communities, leading to far-reaching benefits.
With the help of the organization
Respect for Change, three Tostan communities have directed films on their decision to abandon female genital cutting (FGC). The films are respectful and locally relevant, celebrating the positive customs and traditions of the community and its surrounding network. The films are shown to other communities in the area, building dialogue around the issue through the use of local stories and perspectives. The films exemplify Tostan's approach to social change have become a powerful tool in helping to spread the movement to abandon FGC. Click here to learn about the first of these films, produced by the Senegalese community of Diégoune.
Microcredit
Tostan works to incorporate proven strategies for economic empowerment into the context of its community-led development initiatives. Based on the Grameen Bank model from Bangladesh, Tostan’s microcredit programs offer small loans for entrepreneurial activities in its communities. These loans are managed by the
Community Management Committies (CMCs) and can be used either for community-wide initiatives or individual business projects. Learn how Tostan incorporates economic empowerment into its holistic approach to community development.
In Senegal, prisoners tend to face factors including severe poverty, lack of rehabilitation activities while incarcerated, and ostracization from family members and community upon release. These factors often combine in such a way that prisoners and former prisoners feel little agency, making integration back into society difficult and frequently leading to a cycle of repeat offenses. Tostan works in four of Senegal's prisons, empowering prisoners through human rights-based education and building income-generating skills in order to enable them to rejoin their communities with dignity and with better prospects for the future.
Solar Power!
In partnership with the
Barefoot College in India, Tostan helps to provide the opportunity for women in African communities to be trained for six months as solar engineers. After receiving their training, they return to their communities to install and maintain low-cost and sustainable solar units. The program creates a source of income for the women, who can then train other women in the community to become solar engineers while also providing an affordable and sustainable source of electricity for their communities.
Yarum Jen Aquaculture Project
Many African communities face challenges relating to overfishing, lack of protein-rich dietary options, and inability to compete with other food markets. To address these issues within the context of the CEP, Tostan has begun a partnership with Yarum Jën, through which participating communities learn to manage a communal fish farm. The program reinforces the CEP’s lessons on project management, problem-solving, democratic decision-making, and the importance of environmental protection while providing a sustainable source of nutrition and income. Learn more about this exciting new partnership.
Tostan’s Child Protection project applies the community-based model of the CEP to address a pressing issue of children’s rights. Tostan seeks to strengthen the capacity of Senegalese communities to provide protection for their children and prevent numerous violations of children’s rights. By working with previously-trained
Community Management Committees (CMCs), Tostan will help to establish and train Commissions for Child Protection, which will enable the CMCs to deal specifically with issues related to protection of children’s rights. The project will provide an innovative, replicable model for Senegal and other West African countries.
This child protection project is innovative in that it fosters community-led and community-owned interventions that are initiated, managed and sustained by the community members themselves. Through this program, children learn where to seek help and know they will be listened to and protected by a group of informed and engaged community members.
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