Evaluations and Research

We are committed to research and aim to foster external research efforts whenever possible. If you are interested in partnering with Tostan (or require any type of resource from us), please email research@tostan.org. Please also consult our Research Policy for guidance and more information.

The story of the “now-women”: changing gender norms in rural West Africa

2018: Beniamino Cislaghi

This article offers a qualitative investigation of how human rights education sessions, embedded in a multi-faceted intervention, helped members of a rural community in West Africa challenge inequitable gender norms that hindered women’s political participation. Results show a change in women’s political participation and community members’ descriptions of women’s potential. Three features of the intervention contributed to this change: (1) its pedagogical approach; (2) its substantive content; and (3) the engagement of men and women together. The article calls for interventions that facilitate sustained dialogue between men and women to achieve greater gender equity. © Development in Practice, 28:2, 257-268 Taylor & Francis Ltd

Today I see that women lead: How women became and came to see themselves as leaders in their communities and Tostan’s role in the process

2017: Kyla J. Korvne

This study, made possible by a Fulbright grant, describes how women came to run for leadership positions, including elected political office, in the Goudiry region of Senegal.  The women gained the ability to speak in public, new competencies that were evident to the rest of their community, and self-confidence through Tostan’s Community Empowerment Program.

Revising the Script: Taking Community Mobilization To Scale For Gender Equality

2016: International Center for Research on Women & Raising Voices

This series of case studies examines various human rights and development programs within the context of innovation, evaluation, and scaling up. Their particular focus is how community mobilization approaches are used to successfully address many socially and politically sensitive issues, especially in terms of intimate partner violence.

Values Deliberation and Collective Action: Community Empowerment in Rural Senegal

2016: Beniamino Cislaghi, Diane Gillespie, Gerry Mackie

This book describes how a program of values deliberations with discussions surrounding human rights has led to individual and collective empowerment in communities in rural Senegal. These values deliberations contribute to a larger process that results in improvements in areas such as education, health, child protection, and gender equality. The book also focuses on how participants, particularly women, enhance their individual and collective capacities to play public roles and foster community action.

Participatory Development: A Tool of Pedagogy

2016: Akor Omachile Opaluwah

Published in Exchanges: The Warwick Research Journal, this study explores the role participatory methods can be play in education initiatives designed to increase personal engagement in one’s society. Tostan is cited (pg 12) as having successfully brought a participatory program to West Africa in order to educate and create opportunity for communities, which in turn became a key factor in the movement for female genital cutting abandonment.

Reinforcement of Parental Practices program infographics

2016: Tostan’s Monitoring, Evaluation, Research & Learning Team

Following the final evaluation of the 18-month Reinforcement of Parental Practices program, these infographics were created to compare the baseline study and end of program results in Senegalese communities. They show significant improvements in interactions between primary caregivers and infants, as well as attitude changes surrounding beliefs on parenting.

Mid-Term Evaluation Infographic

2016: Tostan’s Monitoring, Evaluation, Research & Learning Team

These infographics represent some of the key results from the mid-term evaluation of our Community Empowerment Program, which was implemented simultaneously in 150 partner communities across four countries–Guinea, Guinea-Bissau, Mali, and Mauritania. This evaluation compares findings with the baseline study in these communities and shows the progress made and changes in attitude halfway through the program.

Faith and Development in Focus: Senegal

2016: Lauren Herzog & Wilma Z. Mui

This report from the Berkley Center for Religion, Peace & World Affairs and the World Faiths Development Dialogue at Georgetown University examines the influence of religion in Senegalese daily life with a particular focus on faith-inspired engagement and contributions to development. The research highlights Tostan’s work with religious leaders for the promotion of women’s empowerment and human rights.

Narrowing the Gender Gap: Empowering Women through Literacy Programmes

2015: UNESCO

This compilation of case studies from the UNESCO Effective Literacy and Numeracy Practices Database draws from examples across every region of the world to highlight successful approaches to delivering literacy skills to women and girls. These learning experiences in literacy and other basic life skills lay the groundwork for empowered women, families, and communities.

Successful Approaches to Ending Female Genital Cutting

2015: Kay Young McChesney

This study, conducted at University of Illinois Springfield and published in the Journal of Sociology and Social Welfare, compares approaches to FGC abandonment. It describes “unsuccessful approaches” such as “cultural absolutism, cultural relativism, health education, feminism, human rights legislation, and psychosocial approaches” in contrast to two “successful programs”–including Tostan’s model–which are cited as “community-led, aim to change social norms in the whole community, and empower women.”

An evaluation of Tostan’s Reinforcement of Parental Practices (RPP) Program

2015: Drs. Anne Fernald & Ann Weber

The Stanford-Tostan Evaluation Project (STEP) of Stanford University evaluated our Reinforcement of Parental Practices (RPP) program, which aims to improve Early Childhood Development by working with parents, teachers, and other primary caregivers and their interactions with their babies and young children. The evaluation, complete with ilucidating infographics, shows the positive impact these parenting techniques have had on children in Senegal.

Legislating Change? Responses to Criminalizing Female Genital Cutting in Senegal

2014: Bettina Shell-Duncan, Katherine Wander, Ylva Hernlund, Amadou Moreau

This study examines the range of responses in rural Senegal where a 1999 anti-FGC law was imposed on communities in which the practice was being actively contested and targeted for elimination. The study analyzes responses in relation to two leading theories on social regulation, which make differing predictions on the relationship between social norms and legal norms. Among supporters of FGC, legal norms ran counter to social norms, and did little to deter the practice, and in some instances incited reactance or drove the practice underground. Conversely, where FGC was being contested, legislation served to strengthen the stance of those contemplating or favoring abandonment. The authors conclude that legislation can complement other reform strategies by creating an “enabling environment” that supports those who have or wish to abandon FGC.

Case Studies on UNICEF Programming in Child Protection

2013: UNICEF

These case studies illustrate how UNICEF support is helping countries to strengthen child protection systems and promote social change to align social norms and practices with child protection. The case studies provide evidence of positive results from diverse initiatives in nine countries, including Tostan’s work to end female genital-cutting in Senegal.

Ending Child Marriage: What Works

2013: International Center for Research on Women / Girls Not Brides

In this report, the ICRW looked at what works when it comes to delaying or preventing child marriage. The report cites Tostan’s Community Empowerment program as one of the leading strategies.

Adolescentes, jeunes femmes et développement (in French)

2013: French Ministry of Foreign Affairs’ Working Group for Adolescent Girls and Young Women in Development

In this report, Tostan’s Community Empowerment Program was cited as best practice for promoting gender equality and the empowerment of girls. The report presents ten recommendations for the Ministry on how to better address the needs and priorities of girls and young women through development programs, listing Tostan’s approach throughout.

National Action Plan for the Abandonment of FGC 2010-2015 (in French)

2010: Government of Senegal

The government of Senegal based the National Action Plan for the Abandonment of FGC largely on our program, advocating a human rights-based approach to the goal of ending female genital cutting (FGC) in Senegal by 2015.

Social Dynamics of Abandonment of Harmful Practices: A New Look at the Theory

2009: UNICEF Innocenti Research Centre

The authors of this article take a new look at understanding the factors that perpetuate harmful social practices, such as FGC. Citing Tostan as a best practice, they discuss how these factors interact with processes of social change and are critical to understanding why and how communities abandon such practices.

Innovation for Women’s Empowerment and Gender Equality

2009: International Center for Research on Women

The movement to end FGC in Senegal, and Tostan’s role in the movement, is cited as one of eight innovations that promote women’s empowerment and gender equality.

Start with a Girl: A New Agenda for Public Health

2009: Center for Global Development

Tostan is highlighted for its innovative programs in the effort to eliminate FGC.

Eliminating Female Genital Mutilation: An Interagency Statement

2008: ONCHR, UNAIDS, UNDP, UNECA, UNESCO, UNHCR, UNFPA, UNICEF, UNIFEM, WHO

Citing an evaluation of Tostan’s programs in Senegal, this report emphasizes the importance of community engagement and respect in programs that work to end FGC. They also highlighted organized diffusion as an important component for success.

Coordinated Strategy to Abandon Female Genital Mutilation/Cutting in One Generation

2008: UNICEF

In this report, UNICEF explains the current state of FGC in sub-Saharan Africa and uses Tostan’s community-led organized diffusion model as an example of best practices in the field. The report encourages other organizations to adopt the Tostan approach in their work toward ending FGC.

Long-term Evaluation of the Tostan Programme in Senegal: Kolda, Thies and Fatick Regions

2008: UNICEF, Macro International, the Center for Research in Human Development (CRDH) and the Population Council

The main objective of this evaluation was to assess the lasting impact of Tostan’s nonformal education program as implemented in Senegal from 1997-2000. The quantitative portion measured changes in the prevalence rates of FGC, the age of girls at first marriage, and improvements in the health status of mothers and children. In its qualitative component, the evaluation aimed to examine Tostan’s processes for implementing the program, to understand how villages organized their participation in public declarations to abandon harmful social norms, and to recordwomen’s opinions on the impact of the program. The evaluation was conducted for UNICEF under the direction of Macro International Inc., and carried out by Dakar-based teams from CRDH and the Population Council.

The report confirmed that in communities that had participated in the Tostan program and then publicly declared their intention to abandon FGC between 1998 and 2000, the prevalence of FGC practice dropped by 77% (in the 0-9 age group) over the course of 20 years. It also noted a 63% decline in the prevalence of FGC practice among neighboring communities involved in the public declaration. Among women with uncut daughters, the rate reporting that they did not intend to cut their daughter was three times higher in Tostan communities than in control communities. The rate for girls marrying under the age of 15 dropped by 48%. These findings were used as evidence to formulate the second national action plan for the total abandonment of FGC in Senegal by 2015 in partnership with the Government of Senegal’s Ministry of Family, UNICEF, UNFPA and additional governmental and nongovernmental partners. 

Girls Count: A Global Investment & Action Agenda

2008: Center for Global Development

This report cites Tostan as a best practice for its work on community development and FGC abandonment, and describes why and how to initiate effective investments that will give adolescent girls in developing countries a full and equal chance for rewarding lives and livelihoods.

Evaluation Of The National Action Plan For The Abandonment Of The Practice Of Female Genital Mutilation

2008: REPUBLIC OF SENEGAL – Minister of the Family, National Solidarity, and Feminine Entrepreneurship et de la Microfinance

Several NGOs, associations, and networks intervene alongside the government to promote the total abandonment of FGM/C. Among these are: COSEPRAT, TOSTAN, Enda Action in Casamance, branch of ENDA SYNFEV, the Network of Parliamentarians on Population and Development, the Network of Journalists on Population and Development, the Network of Traditional Communicators, and the Senegalese Association for Family Well-Being (ASBEF). To varying degrees, they benefit from technical and financial support from partners from the international community (UNICEF, WHO, UNFPA, UNIFEM, GTZ and other Foundations) for the implementation of their programs.

Working with the Community for Improved Health

2006: Population Reference Bureau

Based on the (below) 2004 evaluation conducted by the Population Council, the authors of the article compared five community-based programs deemed effective for improving healthcare. Tostan, one of the five programs, was given the highest overall score for community participation as a result of efforts to work on health goals identified by the community.

The Tostan Program Evaluation of a Community Based Education Program in Senegal

2004: Population Council

The findings of this report state that “the impact of the Tostan program on women and men’s well-being has been substantial. The program has been able to bring about a social change within the community and to mobilize the villagers for better environmental hygiene, respect for human rights and improvement of health, as well as specifically reducing support for and practice of FGC. Extending the Tostan program to other areas of Senegal and to other African countries could make a difference to the well-being of women and of the community as a whole. ”