RapidSuivi, Tostan’s Future Real-Time Monitoring System

Tostan’s collaboration with UNICEF provides a unique opportunity for Tostan to improve the monitoring and evaluation capabilities of its Community Empowerment Program (CEP). By adopting UNICEF’s RapidSMS technology, Tostan aims to design a platform for real-time monitoring in combination with geographical analysis that will facilitate strategic decision-making regarding how to employ resources, work with communities, and track impact.

The purpose of RapidSuivi is to address certain issues that can hinder adequate monitoring and evaluation of Tostan’s CEP. The CEP lasts for 30 months, consisting of in-the-field learning, community organization, and outreach and grassroots advocacy, and contributes to the overall development of participants as they engage with their community in designing, carrying out, and sustaining community-led activities.

"How It Works" - Tostan 2010

Challenges that Tostan faces in monitoring activities include inadequate follow-up and capitalization on the success of field operations. The lag in receiving data in Tostan’s main offices hampers timely data analysis and digestion.  Simply put, community-led activities can be spontaneous and Tostan representatives cannot be present at every event or report on all of them. The implementation of RapidSuivi would address this issue by providing up-to-the-minute data to be reviewed and analyzed by Tostan’s Monitoring, Evaluation, Research & Learning (MERL) Department. Naturally, it is in Tostan’s best interest to identify where programs are achieving results and to continue to allocate support to those villages. RapidSuivi will provide the MERL department with the most recent data, helping Tostan to identify areas where results have been achieved and where progress is still needed.

Another issue the real-time platform will address is the demand for increased CEP supervision by Tostan. The real-time monitoring system will provide Tostan with the unique ability to view current data and information sent from the villages where it has programs. This provision of real-time data will further help Tostan in analyzing the effectiveness of its programs as well as identifying areas where a program may be lagging, and thus requiring more assistance or oversight from Tostan headquarters.

While achieving better efficiency in analyzing and organizing data will help increase Tostan’s supervisorial abilities, another main benefit of the real-time system will be the establishment of a database of up-to-the-minute information that will allow Tostan to create a more effective system of support for its village programs. As stated, there are many benefits to having instant access to the most recent data. The creation of the real-time database will assist in the objectives of monitoring and evaluating Tostan projects. It will also help to identify areas where Tostan’s programs have been successful and thus require further assistance in continuing program activities or where the programs have been ineffective and more oversight may be required.

Benjamin Bryan, 

Project Assistant MERL Dpt

Documenting the Jokko Experience in Touba

Last week, Guillaume (Project Manager, Tostan International), Malick (Project Coordinator for Senegal) and I traveled to Touba, Senegal, to sit in on classes at four different centers where the Jokko module, which teaches participants how to use mobile technology to improve their lives, is currently being taught. 

The majority of participants in Tostan’s programs are women and girls, but in Touba all of the participants in the Jokko module - as well as all of the Facilitators leading the classes - are female.  Given the conservative environment of Touba – a holy site that is a destination of pilgrimage for Muslims across the globe – this fact is all the more remarkable.

The dynamism of the participants was unmistakable. Despite the potential distractions posed by the presence of three newcomers with video cameras and lots of questions, the participants remained highly engaged with the Facilitators. In fact, the only time that any of the participants seemed to pay us any attention at all was when they snapped our photos with their own camera phones (!).

What made me think I would be the only one snapping pictures?

The sheer motivation and the level of skill that participants demonstrated with mobile phones in each of the classes we visited was excellent. Over the course of two very productive days, we managed to gather a tremendous amount of feedback and to make important observations that will help us as we scale up and implement new activities in the coming months. 

DAY 1

• Khai-ra 2

At the Khai-ra 2 center, the class was working on Session #6 : The Mango Tree Workshop.  Participants learn how to navigate the main menu of a standard mobile phone with the help of a visual aid in the form of a mango tree.

A participant at the board explains how to access the calculator function by tracing her steps along the branches of a mango tree representing the different manipulations possible.

Participants walk through a larger, more interactive version of the mango tree excerise outdoors.

Once the session had ended, we interviewed two young women who explained that one of their reasons for participating in Tostan’s program was so that they could learn to read and write in their national language, Wolof. After participating in the Jokko module, they can now compose text messages in Wolof without assistance.

• Touba Bêgg Bamba

At the second center of the day, participants greeted us with a skit demonstrating the cost-efficiency of SMS texting relative to placing a call. An animated discussion with participants brought forth some interesting stories about how the knowledge gained in the classes has affected their everyday lives. One adult participant related how her husband had prevented her from using the household mobile phone, fearing that she would waste the credit, as she did not know how to properly use the phone. Once she demonstrated what she had learned in the Jokko module, her husband began to let her use the phone and now plans on purchasing a second.

Participants who have their own mobile phones - some being relatively sophisticated - bring them to class.

Like at the Khai-ra 2 center, a major theme that emerged from the participant’s personal stories was that of social empowerment. Facilitators and participants explained how friends, relatives and community members now sought their help in using mobile phones and how they frequently shared their newly acquired knowledge with those around them.

Participants also spoke of the sense of autonomy and independence engendered by knowing how to use certain mobile phone functions. For example, several young women explained how before they began the Jokko module, they did not know how to send text messages and were forced to ask someone to send text messages on their behalf. Now, mid-way through the Jokko module, they no longer need assistance to send text messages and appreciate the discretion this allows them.

Boys are eager to get in on the action. The doorways and windows of most classrooms are typically crowded with other community members curious about mobile technology.

DAY 2

• Touba Palléne

Participants follow along on the Nokia 1202 handsets provided by Tostan in classroom.

At the Touba Palléne center, Session 12: "SMS and Health" was being covered. At this point in the module, participants apply the skills they’ve gained to specific themes (such as health, agriculture, and the environment) relevant to their everyday lives. In this session, participants learn how to send text messages to spread news about vaccinations and awareness-raising campaigns, to make appointments at health clinics, and to ask for advice on matters concerning health and hygiene.

• Touba Diémoule

Our last stop was the Touba Diémoule center, where we engaged in a lively discussion with the participants about their experience both inside and outside the classroom. A major topic was access to mobile phones: To what extent do our participants have access to mobile phones outside of the classroom? What kind of barriers to access do they face ? . The more surprising answers we received concerned utility: participants  did not fully grasp the usefulness of mobile phones prior to starting the Jokko module. Once they understood that a mobile phone could be used for far more than  making and receiving calls, and how functions such as the alarm and the calculator were relevant to their everyday lives, they were much more motivated to use them.

Participants often share mobile phones in the classroom and help one another to learn. However, participants and Facilitators alike expressed a demand for additional mobile phones to use in the classroom.

We’d like to thank Madame Bousso Gaye Diop –  Supervisor for Tostan’s Touba Coordination – for her careful planning, Serigne Fallou Fall for his time and for hosting our classes at Touba Pallène, our talented Facilitators – especially N'deye Fatou Fall, N'déye Binta N'diaye, Aminata Basse, Fatou M'backé N'diaye -  and all of our highly engaged and motivated participants in Touba.

Contributed by Lindsay Powell, Edited by Sydney Skov

The Guediawaye CMC : Exemplary Social Entrepreneurs and Activists

Last week, Guillaume, Malick and I had the opportunity to sit in on a Community Management Committee (« CMC » in Tostan-ese) meeting in Guediawaye, on the outskirts of Dakar. Tostan is currently running its 30 month-long human rights-based non-formal education program in Guediawaye. While participants won’t be starting the Jokko module for literacy and social empowerment until October 2010, we have a lot to learn from this village in the meanwhile!

Some context : During Tostan's education program, we help found a community-based organization to support local development projects long after we've left the village. The CMCs are composed of 17 democratically-elected community members – including a minimum of 9 women – who engage in income-generating activities in order to raise funds to support advocacy efforts and development initiatives.

Barely 2 years old, the Guediawaye CMC serves as an exemplar and is close to obtaining GIE (Groupement d'Intérêt Economique / Economic Interest Group) status, which is the most fundamental economic unit recognized by the Senegalese government. With the funds generated from fabric dying, millet grinding, table gardening and soap-making the Guediawaye CMC is able to support awareness-raising for the prevention of HIV /AIDS and malaria and to lead neighborhood clean-up activities.

The discussion in the CMC meeting was lively and inclusive (I only wish that my understanding of Wolof had been a bit better!).

Roof-top table gardens.

Ground millet, ready to be sold.


Dame Guéye leads an interactive exercise.


Malick and Guillaume discuss serious stuff.




Guediawaye CMC members talk strategy.

Lindsay Powell