The Talibé Project

 

Senegal is 94% Muslim. Many Senegalese enroll their children in religious schools called daaras to receive Koranic instruction. Frequently, poverty-stricken parents send children from rural villages to live in these daaras in urban centers. The students in the daaras are called talibés (pronounced TAL-ee-bay), a French word derived from the Arabic word tâlib meaning "one who seeks or asks."

 

In Senegal, thousands of talibé children live in daaras, yet sometimes, instead of focusing on religious studies, the children are forced to spend the majority of each day begging in the streets. Because of a lack of financial resources, most Koranic teachers, or marabouts, rely on talibé beggars to support their schools. Over time, this practice has turned into a form of child exploitation. Additionally, some marabouts physically abuse talibés who fail to bring in a fixed amount of money per day from their begging. 

 

The long term goal of Tostan's Talibé Program is to eliminate the practice of begging by talibé children; in the short term, it aims to improve their educational experience and living conditions.  

 

Tostan's primary strategies to achieve the short-term objectives are: 1) providing health care and essential items such as soap and shoes for talibés; 2) mobilizing communities and marabouts to assume responsibility for the welfare of these children and; 3) raising awareness among parents, the public, and the government about the legal requirement to protect the human rights of talibés.

 

Current activities include the distribution of mosquito nets, first-aid kits, basic medicines, clothing, soap, bleach, sleeping mats, and clean water storage containers to daaras. Tostan also commissions the building of roofs over the areas where talibé children learn and sleep to protect them from rain and sun exposure. We facilitate seminars on human rights, basic hygiene, and health care for marabouts, older talibés, and community members.

We also provide microfinance funds and management-skills training to marabouts so they are able to launch small-scale income-generating projects to support their schools instead of relying on talibé begging. Additionally, Tostan broadcasts radio shows in order to spread information on talibé-related issues such as children's rights, health and hygiene, and constructive citizen involvement with neighborhood daaras. The radio show is also a platform for influential marabouts to express their opposition to begging, arguing that it is not a recommendation in Islamic texts.

 

Tostan has found that community involvement in their local daaras is critical for the improvement of the living and learning conditions of talibés. Thus we have established and trained neighborhood associations to take responsibility for talibé children. For example, local families adopt a talibé and ensure that he is well-clothed and fed and has regular access to water for bathing and laundry.

Tostan is also undertaking awareness-raising activities designed to educate the rural populations about the harsh conditions of the talibes in the daaras. We encourage the parents in these communities to keep their children in their villages and send them to local Koranic schools with whom Tostan also works. Eventually, populations may make public declarations against the practice of sending their children to beg in the cities, in much the same way communities have publicly declared support for women's rights and health by abandoning female genital cutting. 

 

To meet its long-term goal, Tostan works in conjunction with partner NGOs and the Senegalese government to create the conditions for an end to the unnecessary practice of talibé begging. The program aims to encourage a more comprehensive education curricula for the talibés while also establishing alternative sources of income for the Koranic teachers to financially sustain their schools.

Tostan and its partners are lobbying the Senegalese government to formalize daaras, making them a part of the state school system and establishing a certification system for marabouts. We have already trained facilitators to teach French and mathematics in daaras where the marabouts have requested such classes. Ultimately, ending this harmful practice requires legal sanctions against those who continue to force their talibés to beg. Tostan and its partners are collectively lobbying the Senegalese government to enforce existing laws for the protection of these children.