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About
About
About Us
Tostan is a global nonprofit organization dedicated to empowering communities through human rights–based education, fostering dignity, equality, and sustainable development across Africa.
Leadership Team
Leadership Team
Meet the visionary leaders guiding Tostan’s mission to empower communities, promote human rights, and drive sustainable development across Africa.
Board of Directors
Board of Directors
Tostan’s Board of Directors provides strategic guidance, oversight, and support to ensure the organization’s mission of community empowerment and sustainable development thrives across Africa.
Where We Work
Where We Work
Tostan works across several African countries, partnering with communities to promote human rights, education, and sustainable development from the grassroots up.
Awards & Recognition
Awards & Recognition
Tostan’s innovative community empowerment approach has earned global recognition and numerous awards for advancing human rights, education, and sustainable development across Africa.
Our Work
Our Work
Our Work
Tostan’s work centers on empowering communities through human rights–based education, enabling sustainable progress in health, governance, and economic well-being across Africa.
The Community Empowerment Program
The Community Empowerment Program
Tostan’s flagship Community Empowerment Program (CEP) equips communities with the knowledge and skills to advance human rights, health, education, and sustainable development through collective action.
Program Structure
Post-CEP Module
Maximizing Impact
Ensuring Sustainability
Sharing & Mutual Learning
Sharing & Mutual Learning
Tostan fosters mutual learning and knowledge exchange, partnering with organizations and communities to share proven approaches and amplify impact across regions.
Training Program
Community of Practice
Special Projects
Special Projects
Tostan’s Special Projects drive innovation and deepen impact through targeted initiatives that address emerging needs and strengthen community-led development.
Prison Project
Covid-19-Brochure
Impact
Impact
Impact
Tostan creates lasting impact across key areas — from human rights and education to health, governance, and economic empowerment — helping communities lead their own sustainable development.
Good Governance
Good Governance
Tostan promotes good governance by empowering communities to strengthen leadership, enhance transparency, and foster inclusive decision-making for sustainable development.
Inclusive Leadership
Women’s Empowerment
Social Transformation
Social Transformation
Tostan drives social transformation by empowering communities to advance human rights, gender equality, and collective action for lasting, positive change.
Female Genital Cutting
Community Wellbeing
Child Protection
Peace and Security
Human Development
Human Development
Tostan advances human development by fostering education, health, and dignity, enabling individuals and communities to reach their full potential.
Education
Health
Economic Growth
Environment
Early Child Development
Resources
Join Us
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PT
How to support
Media Space
2022
Melinda French Gates Highlights 5 Women Inspiring Change in Their Communities in Rwanda and Senegal
2022
The Heart of the Solution
2022
Two approaches to women’s empowerment in Senegal
2021
When shame kills: why do so many mothers in Senegal feel forced to murder their babies?
2021
Localized development and the future of aid
2020
COVID-19 highlights the value of context-specific messaging
2019
Melinda Gates pairs her reading and her travel
2019
Mentoring: How it Begins
2019
ByKids: Walk on My Own
2017
Africa: Senegal Leading the Fight to End FGM in Africa
2017
A Senegal-based humanitarian group helps African communities reject harmful practices against women
2017
African Communities Work Together to End Female Genital Cutting
2017
She arrived in Senegal 43 years ago – and is still there working on social issues
2017
Child Marriage and Religion
2017
Honour for adults who fight for children’s rights
2017
Here’s What You Need To Know About The Global Fight To End Female Genital Mutilation
2017
6 ways to support women and girls all year round
2016
FGM Banned in 300 West African Villages in Powerful Win for Women & Girls
2016
What It Really Takes to Fund Peace and Security
2016
Hundreds of West African communities declare end to female genital mutilation
2016
Want to spark a social movement? 4 Lessons from However Long the Night
2016
Ending child brides: Advocate for more women as community leaders
2016
Surprising sustainability lessons from Africa and the Middle East
2016
Discovering empowerment through empowering others
2016
Molly Melching: ‘Maybe It Was Supposed to Be?’
2016
Ending Harmful Practices and Equipping the Next Generation
2016
Tostan’s intervention reduced domestic violence in our communities
2016
Changing social norms around child marriage: activists share what they’ve learned from Tostan
2016
How to end female genital cutting in our lifetime
2016
Social entrepreneurs can give government a lift
2016
Montreal woman hopes to break world travelling records
2016
Making Big Donations to Change the World
2016
Western do-gooders need to resist the allure of ‘exotic problems’
2016
Child Rights Hero: Molly Melching
2016
Fighting Gender Inequality with the Power of the Keyboard
2016
Aligning methods to inspire and monitor change
2016
Why New Numbers On FGM Should Make You At Least A Little Optimistic
2016
Communities are abandoning female genital cutting. And Africa hears them loud and clear
2016
The Reductive Seduction of Other People’s Problems
2015
To end forced marriage, we must work with the whole community
2015
5 Female-Focused Charities You Should Start Supporting Today
2015
How Social Entrepreneurs are Changing the World
2015
This Mother’s Day, let’s support all moms by helping to ensure these things
2015
Turning Their Backs on Tradition (Swedish)
2015
Turning Their Backs On Tradition
2015
5 Powerful Stories About FGM/C You Need to Hear
2014
Education is key to protecting children in West Africa
2014
5 Best Charities That Benefit Women And Girls According To Melinda Gates
2014
Transforming Cycles of Violence Into Cycles of Prosperity
2014
30 Women Entrepreneurs Making a Difference in the Community
2014
FGM – ‘An Act of Love’
2014
Lessons from the Transformative Scale Series
2014
Mothers of Innovation
2014
PRIORITÉ SANTÉ: 2. Excision (at 00:07:00)
2014
How One Woman Tackled Genital Mutilation and Child Marriage
2014
FGC Not FGM
2014
Six innovations for ending violence against girls
2014
Women Who Inspire, and Surprise
2014
Lokala insatser har förbättrat livet för kvinnor och barn i Senegal
2014
Men Stepping Up: Ben Horowitz, Demba Diawara and Our Worldwide Fight to End Violence Against Women
2014
Extreme genital mutilation on retreat in Somaliland
2014
Communities in Mali Show the Way Forward in Ending Female Genital Cutting
2014
Lutter contre l’excision, un combat permanent (in French)
2014
30 millions de filles victimes de mutilations sexuelles dans les 10 prochaines années (French)
2014
Mali communities denounce female genital cutting
2014
Journée mondiale contre l’excision (at 00:06:22) (French)
2014
Mali: 14 communautés s’engagent à abandonner l’excision (French)
2014
Daybreak Africa (at 00:21:00)
2014
Au Mali, la lutte contre l’excision piétine (French)
2014
Hear the MPR Top Coast Festival Speakers
2014
Inna Modja : au côté des jeunes filles excisées (French)
2014
3 Social Entrepreneurs Tackling Poverty, Human Rights And Water
2014
Sénégal: la musique pour le développement (French)
2013
Community-Based Health Program Reduces Child Mortality in Mali
2013
A Simple Community Health Remedy in Mali
2013
Find the child, treat them early: message from Mali
2013
Giving Back The Power Of Storytelling Through Film
2013
Tostan Brings Dignity for All
2013
Le quartier des femmes : Au Sénégal, des détenues en détresse (French)
2013
To change society, first change minds
2013
Betting on the Big Picture in West Africa
2013
Des chansons enregistrées par les communautés ouest-africaines isolées pour générer des fonds (French)
2013
Women in Business: Q & A With Maxine Manafy, CEO of Bunndle
2013
Chirurgie réparatrice de l’excision (at 0:04:30) (French)
2013
Danville native, social entrepreneur subject of book
2013
Ending female genital mutilation, one household at a time
2013
The Crucial Role Of Empathy In Development: Q&A With Social Entrepreneur Molly Melching
2013
Bill Gates reveals his summer reading list
2013
Report Finds Gradual Fall in Female Genital Cutting in Africa
2013
Millions of girls at risk of genital cutting, UN reports
2013
Talking Female Circumcision Out of Existence
2013
Bill Gates Reading List: Inventor, Philanthropist Names What He’ll Be Reading This Summer
2013
Tostan: Reinventing Global Education
2013
Africa’s New Women’s Health Advocates: Traditional Male Chiefs
2013
Radio interview with Molly Melching in ‘Le Magazine au Féminin’ (French)
2013
Maternal Health is a Social Issue, Too
2013
Le Sénégal traîne toujours les pieds (French)
2013
Victim turns campaigner: woman who travels the land, using her own story to fight horror of female genital mutilation
2013
The woman who is inspiring Africans to turn against female genital mutilation
2013
Help us protect schoolgirls at risk in the FGM ‘cutting season’
2013
In Senegal, a Campaign of Education and Dialogue on a Painful Rite of Passage
2013
Press Conference USA – Radio Interview
2013
Tostan: Waxbarashaa Joojin Karta Gudniinka Fircooniga (Somali)
2013
Change from Within
2013
A Study in Risk and Restraint
2013
Exclusive: Excerpt from However Long the Night by Aimee Molloy and Molly Melching
2013
Radio Broadcast:”Tina Brown’s Must Reads: Women vs. The World” by NPR Staff
2013
Book Review: “However Long the Night: Molly Melching’s Journey to Help Millions of African Women and Girls Triumph”
2013
Tostan founder shares stories of humanitarian work in Africa
2013
Seeing is believing – abandonment of FGC in Senegal
2013
Out of Africa: an answer to the obscenity of female mutilation
2013
In Senegal, a new president confronts an ancient tradition: child beggars
2013
U.K. Pledge on Female Genital Cutting is a Milestone, Says Tostan’s Molly Melching
2013
Feminist hero Sally Armstrong offers a rallying cry for change: Porter
2013
How Do You Scale Social Innovation Startups?
2013
Campaign against female genital mutilation gaining ground support, results
2013
Malawi’s Leader Makes Safe Childbirth Her Mission
2013
Giving Economic Freedom to Women in West Africa
Pre 2013
Tostan’s seminal role in the cessation of Female Genital Cutting gets formal UN backing
Pre 2013
Female genital mutilation: education can empower women and girls
Pre 2013
The African villages declaring an end to female genital mutilation
Pre 2013
Flickornas smärta är som salt i ett öppet sår (Swedish)
Pre 2013
When Helping Women Just ‘Clicks’
Pre 2013
Hace quince años en Malicounda (Spanish)
Pre 2013
The Time Is Now, the Place Is Senegal
Pre 2013
Woman and Leadership: Let’s Continue the Conversation
Pre 2013
Meet The League Of Extraordinary Women: 60 Influencers Who Are Changing The World
Pre 2013
‘Half the Sky’ exhibition hopes to inspire action
Pre 2013
Reflections on the ‘Women in the World Summit’
Pre 2013
A Healthy World Starts With Healthy Mothers
Pre 2013
Women in the World Confrence 2012
Pre 2013
A Weekend of Fearless Women: Tina Brown on Women in the World Summit
Pre 2013
Molly Melching: Enlist the Men!
Pre 2013
Secretary of State Hillary Clinton Highlights Need to End Female Genital Cutting
Pre 2013
Women Hold Up Half The Sky
Pre 2013
International Day Against Female Genital Cutting
Pre 2013
My battle against female genital cutting
Pre 2013
A Moratorium on Mutilation: Community Organizations Find Their own Path to Ending a Dangerous Practice
Pre 2013
Victory in sight for revolution over female genital mutilation
Pre 2013
Senegalese hip-hop artist Sister Fa calls for an end to the mutilation of girls
Pre 2013
A quiet welcome
Pre 2013
Senegal Curbs Bloody Rite for Girls and Women
Pre 2013
Female Circumcision
Pre 2013
Turning Senegalese
Pre 2013
Dr. Besser’s Notebook: Women’s Rights in Senegal
Pre 2013
The Art of Social Change
Pre 2013
The Shame Game
2017
Dix artistes africains qui s’engagent pour le continent (French)
2017
Sénégal: Actrices du développement – Des pas fermes dans l’autonomisation des femmes (French)
2017
Sénégal: Vers l’édification de « Collectivités locales amies des enfants (French)
2017
Sénégal: Kolda/Paix et Securité – Tostan renforce les capacités des membres des comités de paix (French)
2017
Mettre fin aux mutilations génitales féminines et excisions en Afrique (French)
2018
Tambacounda : En caravane, Tostan sensibilise pour l’abandon de l‘excision et du mariage des enfants (French)
2018
Koulikoro : L’ONG TOSTAN et les leaders religieux de ses zones d’intervention en conclave sur l’accélération de l’abandon des violences basées sur le genre (French)
2018
Derrière les mariages précoces, il y a un besoin d’ascension sociale (French)
2019
Småskaliga företag hoppet för ökad framtidstro i Senegal (Swedish)
2022
Célébration des 30 ans de Tostan (French)
2022
Invité de la Matinale Malick Niang Gestionnaire Tostan (French)
2016
Känslan av att äntligen bli synlig var fantastisk (in Swedish)
About
Leadership Team
Board of Directors
Awards & Recognition
Where We Work
Our Work
The Community Empowerment Program
Program Structure
Post-CEP Module
Maximizing Impact
Ensuring Sustainability
Sharing & Mutual Learning
Tostan Training Center
Community of Practice
Special Projects
Prison Project
Covid-19-Brochure
Learn & Engage
Impact
Human Development
Education
Health
Economic Growth
Environment
Early Child Development
Good Governance
Empowerment of Women and Girls
Social Transformation
Female Genital Cutting
Child Protection
Peace and Security
Join Us
How To Support
2025 Annual Report
Theory of Change
Tostan Training Center
Campaigns
Community of Practice
Tostan Strategy 2023-2030: In Partnership for Community Well-being
Contact
How To Support
2025 Annual Report
Theory of Change
Tostan Training Center
Campaigns
Community of Practice
Tostan Strategy 2023-2030: In Partnership for Community Well-being
Contact
How To Support
2025 Annual Report
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