Since we began, our human rights-based education program has reached more than three million people, resulting in:
Women’s Empowerment
women have been selected into leadership positions in their communities
Health
people live in communities that publicly declared an end to female genital cuting
Child Marriage
communities that have publicly declared their daughters will not marry before they are 18
The Tostan Model
Our three-year non-formal education program puts rural communities in charge of their own futures. We help communities develop their own vision for development using an approach that is:
HUMAN RIGHTS BASED
Knowledge of human rights and responsibilities is the foundation for learning
RESPECTFUL & INCLUSIVE
Information is shared in a non-judgmental way
HOLISTIC & SUSTAINABLE
Program covers five key impact areas and has sustainability at its core
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FGC Research Fellow
Organization Overview Tostan is an international nonprofit organization currently working in six African countries and headquartered in Dakar, Senegal. Our vision is “Dignity for all.” Our mission is to empower African communities to bring about sustainable...
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Organization Overview Tostan is an international nonprofit organization currently working in six African countries and headquartered in Dakar, Senegal. Our vision is “Dignity for all.” Our mission is to empower African communities to bring about sustainable...
read moreExecutive Assistant
ORGANIZATION OVERVIEW Tostan is an international nonprofit organization currently working in six African countries and headquartered in Dakar, Senegal. Our vision is “Dignity for all.” Our mission is to empower African communities to bring about sustainable...
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Today we celebrate an amazing woman, Marietou Diarra, former Tostan CEP participant who, prior to the program, had lost her second daughter due to complications from undergoing the FGC operation. Marietou became a social mobilization agent visiting communities where she has relatives who practice FGC and child marriage. By talking about her own loss, Marietou has led hundreds of women to share, often for the first time, the suffering they or their loved ones have endured due to FGC.
Traveling from village to village she and her team of four other dedicated Social Mobilization Agents have led over 200 communities to end FGC and child marriage through public declarations of abandonment.
#TostanIgnite
Each year, 12 million girls are married before the age of 18 and at least 3.9 million are at risk of undergoing Female Genital Cutting (FGC) globally.
Watch this inspiring video, in collaboration with Orchid Project and Girls Not Brides, from activists gathered at the Tostan Training Center for its community-led approach: www.youtube.com/watch?v=FGXKgB-4IHk&
#Tostanignite
333,600 people are currently living within active Tostan communities! And through organized diffusion each of these people have 'adopted' a peer to educate them about Human Rights.
Imagine the impact of this education on thousands upon thousands of people...
#TostanIgnite
Today we are featuring Fanta Mballo's mother, also a Community Empowerment Program participant, who listened to and supported her daughter, refusing to let her child be married at 13. Thank you to all mothers who support their children's Human Rights!
#TostanIgnite #Motherhood
Today we are featuring Fanta Mballo, Community Empowerment Program participant, Sindiangiang, Kolda, Senegal, who stood up against her own child marriage at age 13.
Thanks to her participation in Tostan’s program Fanta is now studying to be a midwife and aspires to opening a health center in her community.
#TostanIgnite
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