18943 Senegalese Women Remake Their Culture Although for decades the capital of Several vears ago, the TOSTlN NG10 French \V'est Africa, Senegal. like responded to the solicitations of xillage other countries of the Sahel, rc- authorities in Malicounda who had seen mains predominantlv rural. And while the impact of its training programs on @ ~~~~~~62 percent of the people rcside in rural Nvomcn in neighboring commtunities areas, more than 85 percent of the and helped this Bambara communitv of wealth is in urban centers. As in manv wvest central Senegal to creatc its own countries, disadvantage accumulates at center. The program placed special em- the level of wvomen and girls. In 1995. phasis on the identification and resolu- female literacy countrywide wvas just tion of common problems, and one of over half the rate for men (23 percent the last training modules in the serics compared to 44 percent), and the dis- addressed issues of wvomen's health and crepancyvvwas still greater in rural areas. sexuality. Its popularitv among rural TOSTA\N, literally means "breaking out wvomen participants broke all records. z \ 8 | of the egg" in WNolof, the language spo- Shortly after completing their training. ken by the majority of Senegal's 7.9 the newly literate women of million people and is among a number MIalicounda decided that the problem of innovatixe rural dex-elopment and thev wished to address wAas thc custom women's education initiatives that are of female circumcision - a addressing the problcm at its source. It longstanding pattern in the Bambara/ offers an 18-month learning program Mlandigue and Pulaar communities. By that combines basic education in na- informing themselves on practices else- tional languages with practical develop- where and on the effects of circumci- ment issues, and proxides rural people sion on girls' health and sexual life, with the resources to improve their thev developed an arsenal of arguments No. 3 standard of li'ing wN-hile fostering in- that eventually convinced the village creased confidence in their wN-av of life. Mlore than literacv; this breakthrough program offers participants the tools to - tackle such community issues as health, hygiene and the cnxironmcent. The program uses six modules that link literacy to life skills in a highly partici- patory process of problem solving. TOSTVN successfully sustains the link between basic education and rural de- velopment, giving adult learners not onlv literacv and numeracv skills in their national languages but the means. to understand and sol-e local problems. 2 council to abolish the practice officially. In the months May to W\Vomen's Association, herself the daughter of a traditional July 1997 - the traditional period for genital cutting on circumciser, said that her owin daughter had hemorrhaged young girls - no such operations were performed in seriously during the operation and that it was time to change. Malicounda for the first time in the community's history. Inhabitants of the second community, Ker Simbara, de- TOSTAN and L,sICEF supported the women by organizing a cided that they could not put a stop to the practice vwithout visit from twenty Senegalese journalists to interview them consulting kin in a whole network of neighboring Nillages. So about their stand. The women performed a play for the visi- for a period of eight weeks, two men who had talken part in tors to illustrate the reasons why they had made this decision the TOSTAN program - one a TOSTAN facilitator and the other and the arguments they had used with other villagers. The a 66 year-old Imam (a senior Muslim priest)- traveled from visit brought publicity to the issue, but also attracted some village to village to discuss the negative effects of female cir- threatening comments and criticism from surrounding com- cumcision with local people. The men originally had feared munities of the same ethnic group. Saddened but basically that they would be chased out of many of the communities. undaunted, the group from Malicounda decided to organize a Instead they discovered that the news of Malicounda opened delegation to two neighboring villages to convince women doors and hearts, and they heard shocking stories from there of the importance of a local decision to abolish genital women, speaking out for the first time about what they had mutilation. experienced. In one of these - the community of Ngerin Bambara - The men returned convinced of the importance of what *vomen who had just completed the Tostan program decided they had heard and what they were doing. They assisted the to endorse the "oath of Malicounda." The President of their women of Malicounda, Ngerin and Ker Simbara in organizing a intervillage conference in Diabougou for all those inter- ested. In February 1998, three representatives - the xillage 1K5 + No teschief and two women representatives - from thirteen differ- IK\ s N ot es t 9ent villages met for two days to discuss the problem and for- would be of interest to: mulated the "Diabougou Declaration," an engagement on the part of 8,000 villagers to cease henceforth genital circum- Name cision of girls. Institlutinn XVord of this initiative next traveled to the Casamanee re- gion of southern Senegal, where another group of \illages - Address these all of Pulaar lineage, an ethnic group practicing genital circumcision on 88 percent of girls - banded together for a similar conference and declaration. Their conference was at- tended by representatives from 18 communities, by health workers and by the highly respected Imam of Medina Cherif, _ - , -. _ * , * who assured the women that the Muslim religion does not re- * * * *~ - -. quire girls' circumcision and guarantees women's rights to health and human dignitv. Many women spoke of the harm * -*.- __* -. * - v wrought by this practice. One lamented the death of her two - -- girls following the operation; and a traditional "cutter" ad- *25 * l 3= l mitted that a girl had died iIn her village the vear before. _ 3 *3 i . 3 i ** Other wx'omen spoke of problems at childbirth and of painful sexual relationships. The group concluded their meeting by issuing their own declaration renouncing the practice. _ 3 The initiative has continued to spread. Early in the process, Participation. TOSTAN was developed with villagers in a President Abdou Diouf of Senegal himself proposed the "Oath highly participative ten- year process. Curricular modules of Malicounda" as a model for national adoption. On the were based on the stories, proverbs, songs, and cultural tradi- heels of the meetings in the Casamance, women in the St. tions of each place gathered by traveling from village to vil- Louis region of Senegal are now preparing for an inter-village lage, listening and recording the oral tradition. The instruc- convocation of their own, to be held in February 1999. tional method maintains a participatory approach and learn- The sort of "active learning" promoted among women by the ers often involve their family and the community in the pro- TOSTAN program in Senegal seems to have resulted in far- cess of problem- solving. reaching cultural change. Elements that contribute to WVomen. WVith a female illiteracy rate in 1990 of 74.9 per- TOSTATN's successful impact in education and sustainable de- cent, women are thc least- educated group in Senegal. velopment are further examined below. Women particularly have been benefiting from TOSTAN's whole language approach that begins with concrete, relevant Issues experiences from their daily lives rather than abstractions. TOSTANT has become a training ground for leadership as Cultural roots. Combined with the use of national lan- women gain confidence, begin to identify problems such as guages, a deep valuing of African culture is the foundation of the retrieval of water, and start to make changes in their com- TOST.AN's educational program, exemplifying the practical munities. Yet men are not excluded: nearly one-third of the and profound relationship between culture and education. participants are male, and - as the story of Ker Simbara illus- National languages. Although French is Senegal's official trates - they may take many of the initiatives critical to allevi- language, the government has increasingly encouraged the ating the burdens that women bear. use of national languages in literacy programs, recognizing that learning is easier and more effective in the affective do- Process of developing approaches main of one's ow"n tongue and is likely to facilitate the transi- tion to international languages. Learning in the mother Besides the participatory processes mentioned, learners were tongue inspires pride, empowering women to speak up in also involved in the development of the contents of the pro- their homes and communities; and pride of place, encourag- gram through a method of testing, dialogue and feedback. ing men to invest in their community rather than migrate to This was costly at the start but ultimately proved cost-effec- the cities. As well, it eliminates the dissonance that children tive due to the success rate of adaptation by other NGOs. Ba- educated solely in French often feel within the village house- sic education, a UNESCO brochure on TOSTAN points out, hold, thereby facilitating intergenerational communication "strikes a deeper chord in peoples lives than a straightfor- and solidarity. ward literacy project ... Understanding ho w each module will Problem solving is the program's backbone and provides contribute to changing their lives and environment is a pow- a strong motivator for literacy acquisition. Skills taught in erful motivating factor for learners". The problem-solving this five-step process include (i) identifying and analyzing the process is basic to the TOSTAN approach and easily adapted to problem; (ii) studying adapted solutions based on available varied environments. financial, material and human resources, as well as the time factor; (iii) planning the solution: what needs to be accom- Problems Encountered plished? when do the steps have to be completed? who is re- sponsible? what human, material and financial resources are In 1987 there were no basic education programs in national necessary? what are the possible obstacles? (iv) implement- languages in Senegal, and two government ministries shared ing the solution; and (v) evaluating the results: Did we solve responsibility for literacy programs which often tloundered. the problem? Existing programs were little connected to practical life and 4 functioncd in a non-literate environment, wvhere skills The UNESCO flyer on TOSTAN draws an apt conclusion: learned and not practiced were soon lost. The TOSTAN basic "The availability of a comprehensive program that offers par- education program addressed another basic problem, bore- ticipants problem-solving tools and deals with the crucial dom, by relating literacy to community and personal life and problems of health, hygiene, and the environment is an asset developing attractive materials from local concerns. Finding for many regions of Africa faced with high illiteracy rates, es- qualified facilitators was not easy at the outset, and there was pecially among women. More focus needs to be put on imple- resistance from participants to the idea of paying the facilita- menting these well-studied and tested programs rather than tors from local resources. Thev preferred to use that money developing new ones. ..TOSTAN has shown that individuals for materials or classroom construction. TOSTA.N graduates without any formal education, from villages with minimal re- are now themselves trained to be facilitators and provide the sources, can improve their lives and environment through a bulk of staffing. solid program leading to greater autonomy and self-suffi- ciency." Solutions and Conclusions The problem-solving skills presented in the first module are used throughout the followving modules, which deal succes- sivelywith hygiene activities. uses of oral rehydration therapy and vaccinations, financial and material management skills, management of human resources, and feasibility studies and income-generating projects. Using these skills, women par- ticipants have started a number of small businesses. The TOSTAN methodology has also been used to reach out-of- school children with a curriculum that covers reading, wNrit- ing, math, problem solving, health and hygiene, nutrition, family management, children's rights, history, geography, education for peace, leadership skills and group dynamics. Using the participatory approach, adolescents learn to pro- duce their own texts. ghsatcei ae naericmiee gk~rao ~eTe ~ppr i hiq ueiino