Female Genital Cutting

In many of the communities where Tostan works, traditional roles, exclusion, and cycles of violence limit what people believe is possible. Practices such as female genital cutting (FGC), child marriage, and gender-based violence are upheld by social norms, perpetuate inequality, and hinder development.

The process of social transformation begins early in the Community Empowerment Program. In the Kobi phase, participants collectively define their common vision of wellbeing. They explore principles of human rights, the related responsibilities, and shared values. They reflect on how these principles apply in daily life. They explore how their practices align with these principles and begin to question practices that cause harm. Using dialogue, storytelling, and cultural learning tools, communities begin to envision alternative futures.

As learning deepens, communities learn how to engage in peaceful communication, conflict resolution, mediation, and collective decision making. Open dialogue, sharing, and learning about rights and communication enable them to reduce violence and strengthen relationships between groups such as men and women or youth and elders. These stronger connections make it possible to engage in open, respectful dialogues about sensitive issues and to agree on new directions. 

Change spreads further through Tostan’s organized diffusion strategy, in which participants share what they learn with relatives and with neighboring villages. The dialogues often culminate in public declarations where villages and their kin networks commit to work together toward attaining the principles of human dignity, including by abandoning harmful practices.

Over time, networks of communities, together with religious leaders and local authorities, reinforce new practices until they become the new social norm.