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Good practice Imported

Jokko Initiative — Tostan's mobile-phone literacy program for rural Senegalese women

Senegal · Vélingara · See the Senegal profile

Evidence: Observational / pre–post Top 55% 72/100 · Ask Evidence Copilot about this practice

Tostan's Jokko Initiative paired basic literacy classes with mobile-phone and SMS training for rural Senegalese women. A UNICEF/UC Berkeley evaluation of the 2007–08 pilot found large gains in literacy, numeracy and text-messaging ability, though continuity since the 2008 scale-u

12 to 29 %
Women in highest literacy/numeracy category (4-month pilot, 2007-08)
8 to 33 %
Girls in highest literacy/numeracy category (4-month pilot, 2007-08)
8 to 62 %
Women able to write a text message (4-month pilot, 2007-08)
12 to 25 %
Women owning a mobile phone (4-month pilot, 2007-08)
Jokko Initiative — Tostan's mobile-phone literacy program for rural Senegalese women

Details

Promoter
Tostan
Period
2007–2008 (pilot and initial scale-up)
Keywords
literacy, mobile/digital literacy, women's empowerment, community education

Context

Tostan, a Senegal-based NGO, launched the Jokko Initiative in 2007 to combine its community-based literacy curriculum with practical mobile-phone and SMS training for rural women, teaching participants to send text messages in their own languages.

Activities

The program was piloted in 25 villages in the Velingara region with about 800 participants, then extended to roughly 200 villages across five regions between September 2007 and December 2008, in partnership with UNICEF Innovation.

Results

UNICEF and UC Berkeley's CEGA evaluated the pilot with baseline and four-month follow-up surveys: the share of women scoring in the highest literacy/numeracy category rose from 12% to 29% (8% to 33% for girls), and the share able to write a text message jumped from 8% to 62%. Mobile-phone ownership among women rose from 12% to 25%.

Conclusions

The rigorous, quantified evaluation covers only the initial pilot villages and a four-month window; no evidence was found of the program's continuity or impact after the December 2008 scale-up, so long-term sustainability cannot be confirmed.

Implementation
Indicative cost
Low (< €50k) — NGO-led pilot; specific budget not disclosed.
Time to results
Short (< 1 year) — Piloted September 2007-December 2008 with a four-month evaluation window.
Staffing & skills
Tostan facilitators, UNICEF Innovation

Conditions for success

  • Combining literacy curriculum with practical, immediately-usable mobile-phone skills
  • Teaching in participants' own languages (Wolof, Fulani, Soninke, Mandinka, Diola)

Common failure modes

  • No evidence found of continuity or impact after the December 2008 scale-up

Commonly funded by

Philanthropic / foundation funding

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Data sources

Where this practice's information was retrieved from, and when.

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