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Good practice Imported

Tostan Community Empowerment Programme — Human-Rights Education & FGC Abandonment, Kolda Region

Senegal · Kolda · See the Senegal profile

Evidence: Quasi-experimental Top 17% 89/100 · Ask Evidence Copilot about this practice

A three-year comparison-group evaluation in Senegal's Kolda region found Tostan's rights and health education programme cut women's approval of FGC from 72% to 16% among participants, versus 89% to 60% in non-participating villages.

72% to 16%
FGC approval among CEP participants, pre to post (2000-2003)
89% to 60%
FGC approval in comparison villages, pre to post (2000-2003)
70% to 15%
Belief FGC is a social necessity among participants, pre to post (2000-2003)
71% to 12%
Intent to cut daughters among participants, pre to post (2000-2003)
21% to 49%
Girls aged 5-10 not cut among participants, pre to post (2000-2003)
5.5 million
People joining public FGC-abandonment declarations (by 2019)
8,830
Communities joining public FGC-abandonment declarations (by 2019)
Tostan Community Empowerment Programme — Human-Rights Education & FGC Abandonment, Kolda Region

Details

Maturity
Established
Promoter
Tostan
Period
1997–ongoing (evaluated cohort: December 2000–January 2003)
Keywords
harmful practice abandonment, women's rights, community education, child protection

Context

Tostan, a Senegalese NGO, has run its Community Empowerment Programme (CEP) since 1997, teaching human rights, women's health, hygiene and problem-solving through weekly non-formal classes, and expanded to 90 villages in Senegal's Kolda region with GTZ funding.

Objectives

The programme seeks to shift community attitudes, beliefs and practice away from female genital cutting (FGC) through rights-based education and organised social diffusion across intermarrying and inter-visiting villages.

Activities

Weekly classes run over roughly three years, reinforced by social mobilisation that spreads new norms between linked villages and culminates in coordinated public declarations of FGC abandonment.

Results

A pre/post comparison-group evaluation found participant approval of FGC, belief in its necessity and intent to cut daughters all fell far more sharply than in comparison villages, and the share of uncut girls aged 5-10 rose substantially among participants.

Conclusions

The model was institutionalised into Senegal's national FGC action plan and adapted in several African countries, though replication elsewhere has not always matched Senegal's comparison-group rigour and self-reported cutting data carry some social-desirability bias.

Implementation
Indicative cost
Medium (€50k–€500k) — Funded via the GTZ Supra-Regional Project for the Elimination of Female Genital Cutting.
Time to results
Long (> 3 years)
Staffing & skills
Tostan community facilitators and educators, social mobilisation coordinators

Conditions for success

  • social mobilisation reinforcing new norms across intermarried and inter-visiting villages
  • sustained multi-year funding (GTZ Supra-Regional Project for the Elimination of Female Genital Cutting)
  • coordinated public declarations across networks of villages

Common failure modes

  • self-reported cutting data are subject to social-desirability bias
  • not all adopting countries have matched Senegal's comparison-group evaluation rigour

Where it fits

Governance type
NGO-led community programme
Scale
multi-village regional (90 villages, Kolda region)
Income level
low-income

Commonly funded by

Philanthropic / foundation funding National / regional programmes

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Data sources

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

Attachments

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