Experience from a Community-based Education Programme in Burkina Faso

From the summary
"This study describes a project that tested the feasibility and effectiveness of replicating the village empowerment program (VEP) developed by the Senegalese NGO, TOSTAN, in Burkina Faso. Although one of the ultimate goals of this model is the eradication of female genital cutting (FGC), Tostan has found that an effective means to achieve this is by empowering community members to understand and act on their situation through a broadbased functional educational programme.

TOSTAN’s educational model includes four modules on human rights, problem solving, environmental hygiene and women’s health. TOSTAN’s hypothesis is that communication of technical information, discussion of human rights issues, and development of strategies for social transformation improve the confidence and selfdetermination of women through participatory educational methods."

The study also evaluated the combined effect of the education programme and the social mobilisation process on the community’s intention to give up FGC. This document is in French

Findings
"Over three quarter of participants attended all sessions in the full program; the main reasons for not attending all modules were lack of time, travel, illness, pregnancy, and funerals within the family. Participants declared a preference for the hygiene and health modules over the human rights and problem solving modules.

As a direct effect of the programme, the inhabitants of the 23 experimental communities undertook activities to improve environmental hygiene through cleaning the schools and health centers, as well as the areas surrounding sources of water. Healthcare huts were constructed, improvements made to homes, and water sources repaired. In addition, legal documents such as birth certificates, identity cards and family booklets were requested and issued, and 43 couples went through an official civil marriage ceremony.

Cases of denouncing forced marriage and of acknowledging discrimination against educating girl children were also noted. However, community members regretted that the program did not include literacy classes, nor did it include any income generating activities. Also, the change of facilitators, which took place after the first phase of training, was not appreciated.

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