Tostan Inc.

“The form 990 was prepared by the outside accountants. A draft of the return was reviewed by senior management and audit committee. The final form 990 was provided to the board of directors before filing with the irs.”

“All employees and board members are asked to annually submit any conflicts of interest in writing. New hires will be asked if there is a conflict and notice will be given to the senior management immediately and board yearly. If a conflict arises, the board of directors determine whether the conflict exists and, if so, the board votes to authorize or reject the transaction or take any other action deemed necessary to address the conflict and protect tostan's best interests. Board members have a duty to disclose any possible conflict of interest. The board of directors determines whether a conflict of interest exists and, if so the board votes to authorize or reject the transaction or take any other action deemed necessary to address the conflict and protect tostan's best interests. Votes will be by a majority vote, without counting the vote of any interested director, even if the disinterested directors are less than a quorum provided that at least one consenting director is disinterested. An interested board member, officer, or staff member will not participate in any discussion or debate of the board of directors, or of any committee or subcommittee in which the subject of discussion is a contract, transaction, or situation in which there may be a perceived or actual conflict of interest. However, they may be present to provide clarifying information in such a discussion or debate unless objected to by any present board or committee member. Anyone in a position to make decisions about spending tostan's resources (i.e., transactions such as purchases contracts) - who also stands to benefit from that decision - has a duty to disclose that conflict as soon as it arises (or becomes apparent); s/he will not participate in any final decisions.”

“The board committee reviews comparable salaries before making any recommendations for senior staff salaries. The process is documented. A review was last conducted in september 2017. The board committee also reviews comparable salaries before making any recommendations for the key employees salaries. The process is documented. Tostan's compensation policy is to pay at the 25th percentile of the market for senior management and towards the 75th percentile for around 900 african staff members in the field.”

“The organization makes its governing documents, conflict of interest policy, and financial statements available to the public upon request.”

“The gambia: tostan worked with 30 communities, with a total of 2,546 participants. Mauritania: tostan worked with 30 communities in a post-cep partnership. Total number of tostan major program participants in 2017 in the 6 countries: 27,681 total number of african communities hosting in tostan's 3 major programs in 2017: 483 tostan also conducted a wide range of programming activities, reaching many hundreds more communities. Please see below. Community empowerment program (cep): our unique three-year program empowers community members in six west african countries with the skills and knowledge they need to lead their own development. The cep is a non-formal education program, based on human rights, and is implemented in more than a dozen local languages. It combines modern education techniques with traditional african oral teaching methods and is underpinned by a respectful approach to local beliefs and culture. Impact areas: our work uses a holistic approach for community-led development, and our impacts are found across five key areas: governance, education, health, environment, and economic growth. Each impact area is elaborated upon below: governance: cep participants learn about democracy, human rights and responsibilities, leadership, decision-making and problem-solving. Each community democratically selects 17 members to form a community management committee (cmc) and receives training in the skills necessary to implement projects in their communities. These committees constitute a strong leadership presence in tostan communities, contributing to the growth of good governance and democracy. They work to increase democratic participation by encouraging residents to register their children at birth, to vote and run for office as well as participate in national elections. The participation and leadership of women in cmcs is highly encouraged, and in 2017, 100% of cmcs in guinea, guinea-bissau, mali, mauritania and senegal had a majority of female members. These women emerge as community leaders, activists, and role models, showing young girls and boys alike that women can succeed in leadership roles and work alongside men as equals. Education: cmcs organized during the cep lead initiatives that ensure girls and boys are enrolled in school. When a family is considering removing their child from school, cmc members meet with them to discuss other possible solutions. Child/forced marriage is one practice that is a key factor in determining whether a girl will stay in school. Following their participation in our holistic program, hundreds of communities across the countries in which we work pledged to abandon child/forced marriage in 2017, bringing the total number to over 8,000 as a result, thousands of girls are likely to have the opportunity to stay in school for longer, rather than be married at a young age. In the final module of the cep, the aawde, participants learn to read and write in their local languages, as well as basic math skills. Learning how to send and receive sms text messages through the mobile phones for literacy and development (mpld) module, described below, encourages participants to practice and share their newly acquired literacy skills. In 2017, tostan continued the growth of our reinforcement of parental practices (rpp) module which builds on knowledge gained during the cep to enable parents and communities to create an environment which supports children's early development and learning in order to better prepare them for success in school and life (see also early childhood development below) health: during the cep, participants learn about their right to health and the right to be free from all forms of violence, about hygiene and how diseases are spread and prevented. They also discuss the health risks of harmful practices such as female genital cutting (fgc) and child/forced marriage. The cep encourages community members to share the knowledge they gain about health and human rights with their”

“Child protection: through our cep module on child protection, cmcs are trained to address the deep social norms and practices that negatively affect children. The child protection module training is for cmc members in communities that have implemented the cep. The module helps build consensus around human rights and children's rights while building awareness of the various moral, social, and legal norms that affect children. Instead of focusing on immediate relief, the module helps communities address the deep social norms and practices that are at the source of these issues affecting children. It emphasizes the importance of education and introduces ideas for how communities can work together to protect their children. The child protection module strengthens the capacity of communities to provide protection for children and prevent violations of children's rights by reinforcing the capacities of communities and their surrounding villages to identify at-risk children, reinforcing the capacities of communities to prevent the trafficking or migration of children to urban centers, reinforcing the capacities of communities to help children in difficult situations such as sexual abuse, incest, forced marriage and fgc, and fostering the creation of dynamic and functional commissions for child protection in all communities. All communities who participate in the cep, specifically the cmcs, are trained in the child protection module. After the training, cmcs establish commissions for child protection (ccps), which lead the community in advocating for children's rights and transforming existing social norms that sustain harmful practices. Thousands of children have been registered at birth by cmcs, improving their access to school and legal recognition. In addition to leading these community-wide projects, cmcs also intervene directly in cases of child abuse. Tostan is also in partnership with the ingo la rencontre africaine pour la dfense des droits de l'homme (raddho) and anti-slavery international for the child protection project, reinforcing higher-level advocacy for koranic school reform with grassroots social mobilization work around ending child begging. Through the project 56 koranic schools with 3,060 children total have ended child begging in 2017. 93 koranic schools with an additional 2,366 children have substantially reduced begging. 196 koranic schools have improved the living conditions of their students thanks to support from the project and 338 koranic school teachers participated in meetings exchanging on best practices towards their students. Early childhood development: in order to address this issue, we developed the reinforcement of parental practices (rpp) module beginning in 2012. The module aims to reinforce knowledge gained in the cep that encourages parents and other community members to create an environment for children's development. As a result, the module will help improve children's early development and learning, allowing them to perform better and stay in school. Research has shown that certain social norms and traditional practices in senegal can hinder the brain development of infants. For example, the belief that infants must be protected from dangerous spirits: to protect them certain parents avoid looking newborn babies in the eye and speaking regularly and directly to them. However, recent discoveries about brain development in young children have shown importance of stimulating interactions between parents and their children. During the rpp module, facilitators share with community members simple techniques that enrich interactions between parents and their young children and are all linked to children's basic human rights to education and health. These techniques include speaking to their young children using a rich and complex vocabulary, asking their children questions and helping them respond, playfully copying their children, telling them stories, and describing objects in detail to them. P”

“Empowered communities network (ecn): the ecn has been set up to support communities to partner with other organizations on development initiatives. Through the ecn, we connect trained cmcs with nonprofit partners, microfinance institutions, businesses, government authorities, and other service providers so they can access resources and funding to continue their community-led development projects. The ecn also assists cmcs to form federations and work together on development projects, ensuring the sustainability of the cep. In 2017 tostan continued ecn partnerships with 80 community partners in senegal. Mobile phone for literacy and development (mpld) module: the module focuses on using mobile phone technology, specifically sms text messaging, as a tool to reinforce literacy and numeracy skills, and is now an integrated part of the cep. Mobile phones and their networks are becoming increasingly more prevalent in the communities with which we partner. We found that using mobile phone technology is a relevant and innovative way to reinforce literacy and numeracy skills learned in the cep. Tostan facilitators teach participants the practical uses of standard mobile phone functions and how sms texting can be used as a tool to practice their literacy skills. The mobile phones are used to reinforce literacy, organization, and management skills, as well as to build consensus around local development initiatives. Sms texting becomes a sustainable and relevant option for reinforcing literacy and numeracy as access to mobile phone technology increases. Mobile phones and sms text messaging can be used as a tool to accelerate positive social transformation. They connect women with each other and with their communities; amplify the voice and influence of youth and marginalized groups in a community's decision-making process; organizing advocacy work; and accelerate large-scale social movements. All communities benefiting from the cep (see above) are benefitting or will benefit from tostan's mpld programming during the 3-year cep period. The peace and security program: the peace and security program reinforces conflict prevention and management skills learned during the cep through additional classes over six months and establishes a community-led structure to lead and strengthen peace-building and human security at the community level. Skills learned include improved communication and problem-solving skills as well as the peaceful resolution of community and familial conflicts. Peace and security programming in 2017 extended to 40 communities in guinea conakry, 40 in guinea-bissau, and 40 in mali. The community management committees in the three participating countries, established during the cep, carried out hundreds of advocacy and awareness raising activities on human rights, human security and peaceful conflict resolution. This program sees women in particular take on more active roles in community leadership. In 2017, 6,688 women leaders helped resolve 1,600 local conflicts through 240 new community-based peace committees. The prison project: aims to help detainees reintegrate back into their communities through participation in a modified version of the cep. Participation builds their knowledge of human rights and equips them with practical skills to start income-generating activities. We also facilitate family meditations to help integrate former detainees back into their communities upon release. An international agreement addressing prison conditions in africa allows prisons to form partnerships with organizations and ngos like tostan to provide rehabilitation services. These services encourage successful reintegration of prisoners into society upon their release. As part of the modified version of the cep we implement in prisons, facilitators lead class discussions on topics including human rights education, problem solving, hygiene, health, and literacy, as well as provide family mediation and skill trainings in project managemen”

“The organization also has additional staff of 663 located in africa.”

“Exchange rate loss 165,610.”