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The TOSTAN Basic Education Program, Senegal |
 Background | Project Overview | Activities | Outcomes and Implications | Resources | Questions PROJECT OUTCOMES AND IMPLICATIONS |
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Health and Hygiene Improvements Adult learners who had completed the program found they were able to improve the health and hygiene practices in their personal lives and in their villages. As a result of the program, vaccinations increased from 33% to almost 100% and use of the Oral Rehydration Solution increased from 17% to 100%. Participants in the program improved their village's hygiene situation by implementing rules that ensured good health practices. Also as a result of the TOSTAN program, the practice of female genital mutilation has been abolished in many villages. Female genital mutilation has been regarded as a right of passage into adulthood that has been a part of African culture for centuries. According to Unicef, approximately 100 million African girls and women have undergone the practice and 6,000 more undergo it each day. Because of the nurturing environment of the TOSTAN program, woman and men were encouraged to openly discuss their feelings about this tradition and decide about its continuation. As a result of the TOSTAN program, approximately a dozen villages of the Bambara ethnic group near Senegal recently renounced the practice of female genital mutilation and more villages in Senegal's southern region followed. The government of Senegal has recently banned the practice of female genital mutilation nationwide. Individual and Group Finances
Project Management Women in the program found use for the project management skills they learned in a variety of ways that affected their everyday lives. Because village children often crawled too close to the cooking fire and were burned by hot coals, the women used their project management skills to organize construction of a clay stove in every household. And as a result of discussions about the long distances women had to walk to find firewood, the villagers planted a small wood lot close to the village to ensure materials for their cooking fires in the years to come. Adolescent Classes
Other Organizations More than 20 non-governmental organizations have tied TOSTAN's basic education program to their own rural development projects. Its success in linking writing, reading, and math with life skills to deal with vital issues is one of its strongest selling points. Quanitifiable Outcomes
Quicktime Movie: Women Gain Confidence and Continue to Work Together T1 Connection (1.2 MB)    |
Participation in the TOSTAN Basic Education Program has empowered Senegalese women to implement village projects with confidence and success, engendering a belief in themselves and the value of education in their lives. Besides learning how to read, write, and do math in their mother tongue, many aspects of their lives, including health, hygiene, individual and group finances, and project management have considerably improved. Participants have taken numerous initiatives that show they are on the way to becoming autonomous and self-sufficient. Additionally, the adult project has been adapted and expanded for adolescents. Furthermore, other organizations have adopted the program, which is in growing demand across Africa.
Financial management skills have greatly improved the lives of the villagers. Participants are now more successful running their small businesses. Improvements have occurred because they can calculate profits and losses and maintain financial records on a daily, monthly, and yearly basis. Because the women graduates of the TOSTAN program have more confidence in their financial management abilities, they are now successful in managing sales from such activities as their communal gardens and agricultural projects. 
A separate adolescent program is now in place. Thousands of Senegalese children who have never been to school and would have no chance to do so under the formal system have benefited from this program. The adolescent classes were so successful that TOSTAN-Unicef is now working with the Department of Literacy and Basic Education of the Ministry of Education to develop a basic education program more specifically designed to meet the needs of young people who have never been able to attend school. 
As a result of the TOSTAN Basic Education Program, women from surrounding villages have benefited and improved the lives of their families. 
