Senegalese women remake their culture

IK Notes Senegalese Women Remake Their Culture lthough for decades the capital of Several years ago, the TOSTAN NGO A French West Africa, Senegal, like responded to the solicitations of village authorities in Malicounda who had seen other countries of the Sahel, re- mains predominantly rural. And while the impact of its training programs on 62 percent of the people reside in rural women in neighboring communities areas, more than 85 percent of the and helped this Bambara community of wealth is in urban centers. As in many west central Senegal to create its own countries, disadvantage accumulates at center. The program placed special em- the level of women and girls. In 1995, phasis on the identification and resolu- female literacy countrywide was just tion of common problems, and one of over half the rate for men (23 percent the last training modules in the series compared to 44 percent), and the dis- addressed issues of women’s health and crepancy was still greater in rural areas. sexuality. Its popularity among rural TOSTAN, literally means “breaking out women participants broke all records. of the egg” in Wolof, 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 Malicounda decided that the problem of innovative rural development and they wished to address was the custom women’s education initiatives that are of female circumcision — a addressing the problem at its source. It longstanding pattern in the Bambara/ offers an 18-month learning program Mandigue 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 provides rural people sion on girls’ health and sexual life, with the resources to improve their they developed an arsenal of arguments standard of living while fostering in- that eventually convinced the village No. 3 creased confidence in their way of life. December 1998 More than literacy, this breakthrough IK Notes reports periodically on Indig- program offers participants the tools to enous Knowledge (IK) initiatives in tackle such community issues as Sub-Saharan Africa. It is published by the Africa Region’s Knowledge and health, hygiene and the environment. Learning Center as part of an evolving The program uses six modules that link IK partnership between the World literacy to life skills in a highly partici- Bank, communities, NGOs, develop- ment institutions and multilateral or- patory process of problem solving. ganizations. The views expressed in this TOSTAN successfully sustains the link article are those of the authors and between basic education and rural de- should not be attributed to the World World Bank Bank Group or its partners in this ini- velopment, giving adult learners not tiative. A webpage on IK is available at only literacy and numeracy skills in http://www.worldbank.org/aftdr/ik/ default.htm their national languages but the means to understand and solve local problems. 2 council to abolish the practice officially. In the months May to Women’s Association, herself the daughter of a traditional July 1997 — the traditional period for genital cutting on circumciser, said that her own 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 UNICEF supported the women by organizing a cided that they could not put a stop to the practice without visit from twenty Senegalese journalists to interview them consulting kin in a whole network of neighboring villages. So about their stand. The women performed a play for the visi- for a period of eight weeks, two men who had taken 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 women 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 village IK Notes would be of interest to: chief and two women representatives — from thirteen differ- ent villages met for two days to discuss the problem and for- mulated the “Diabougou Declaration,” an engagement on the part of 8,000 villagers to cease henceforth genital circum- Name cision of girls. Institution Word of this initiative next traveled to the Casamance re- gion of southern Senegal, where another group of villages — 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- Letters, comments, and requests for publications quire girls’ circumcision and guarantees women’s rights to should be addressed to: health and human dignity. Many women spoke of the harm Editor: IK Notes wrought by this practice. One lamented the death of her two Knowledge and Learning Center Africa Region, World Bank girls following the operation; and a traditional “cutter” ad- 1818 H Street, N.W., Room J5-171 mitted that a girl had died in her village the year before. Washington, D.C. 20433 Other women spoke of problems at childbirth and of painful E-mail: pmohan@worldbank.org 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 Women. With a female illiteracy rate in 1990 of 74.9 per- TOSTAN’s successful impact in education and sustainable de- cent, women are the 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. TOSTAN 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- TOSTAN’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 own 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 how 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 floundered. the problem? Existing programs were little connected to practical life and 4 functioned in a non-literate environment, where 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. They preferred to use that money developing new ones...TOSTAN has shown that individuals for materials or classroom construction. TOSTAN 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 following modules, which deal succes- sively with 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, writ- 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. This article is based on research conducted by Senegalese researchers with the support and technical supervision of Peter Easton, Associate Professor, Graduate Studies in Adult Education, Florida State University, and with the active collaboration of the concerned African communities. The research was carried out under the joint aegis of the Club du Sahel/OECD, the CILSS and the Association for the Development of Education in Africa (ADEA).