Tostan’s Social Mobilization Agents: Motives and Methods of Organized Diffusion in Senegal

Introduction and Statement of Research Question

While the world is dealing with circumstances fueled by extremist religious and militant organizations, the Senegalese have managed to maintain a constitutional democracy and pluralistic society that demonstrates political stability and an absence of extremist groups. This blend of circumstances is rare, especially in Africa, and has been labeled by scholars for years as Senegalese exceptionalism. Moreover, a gender parity law that was adopted in 2010 has paved the way for women in the formal governance sector, as it requires that half of political parties’ candidates are women in local and national elections. The first time this law was put into action in 2012, 44% of national assembly seats elected were women – an unprecedented amount in the country and region.

Meanwhile, amidst these intertwined factors, Tostan, a regional NGO focusing on community empowerment through nonformal education, has been working for 25 years in Senegal bringing change on a local level. The name of their organization means "breakthrough" in the West African language of Wolof and was inspired by Cheikh Anta Diop, a Senegalese historian, anthropologist, physicist, and politician who was a mentor figure to the founder, Molly Melching. Through Tostan’s original Community Empowerment Program (CEP) in conjunction with their Community Management Committee (CMC), Tostan communities have selected more than 19,000 women into leadership positions and have expanded the dialogue of democracy and human rights to over 100,000 people regionally. They have reached, in total, more than three million people.

As part of Tostan’s theory of change, participants are encouraged to disseminate the knowledge to others in their village and surrounding communities. This has created of group of dynamic, motivated, and educated Social Mobilization Agents (SMA), a type of community activists, who are committed to sharing their new understanding and attitudes with others. This group, comprised of mostly women, is committed to helping themselves, their communities, their nation, and the region take control over their future and realize human rights and responsibilities, improve their education, health, environment, and increase their economic prosperity.

This method of mobilization and activism, as well as the mobilizers themselves, have had enormous success yet they are not well known outside of Senegal, or Tostan for that matter. In the literature on Tostan’s CEP/CMC programs, it suggested these women (and men) have become more empowered yet little is known about the work of those that continue to mobilize. What social mobilization looks like in the Senegalese and West African context is unknown to academia, governments, and even organizations who are contributing to social change. If we do not understand the experiences of the SMAs, we will not be able to grasp how and why their work is done nor will we be able to see how and why it has been successful. This information will also give practitioners the ability to better monitor and replicate similar mobilization efforts elsewhere.

I will look into the lives of five to ten social mobilizers and their work in order to illustrate how they work and why they have chosen to become SMAs. This research will illuminate their stories: their lives, what motivates them, their successes and failures, the techniques they use, and their experiences.

Research Question:	How and why do Tostan’s Social Mobilization Agents do their work?
Sub Components:	What are their successes and failures? What factors motivate them to do this work? How and why do these mobilizers work together?

Significance

The significance of this research is twofold: First, it will give an individual portrait of each social mobilizer. Secondly, it has the potential to generate knowledge regarding many unanswered questions as to the different experiences of these social mobilizers, how they work together, successes and failures they have had, and why they are committed to knowledge diffusion. This will allow for a deeper understanding of how social change happens at a grassroots level with the hope that it may be of use to Tostan and other organizations working in similar contexts.

Moreover, this research may also shed light on questions broader than the scope of the research whose answers are important to a global audience including both practitioners and academics. It may lead to further research questions surrounding social action in the majority world (also known as the global south) which may, in the future, aid in a better understanding and addressing of the pressing daily needs of societies and how women can be active participants in society.

Research Method

The approach to this research will be a qualitative collection of data. In order to ensure triangulation, I will be using five research methods including semi-structured in-depth interviews (creating a portraiture of each participant), a focus group, document analysis of Tostan, photo-reflection, similar to photovoice, and observation.

1.     Semi-structured in-depth interviews: By first using the portraiture approach for the SMAs, I will be able to focus on each individual’s concerns and issues around their life and their work. This will be non-critical and therefore foster trust with the participants. I will use the life-history approach looking back in detail across their entire life up until now to better understand their experiences before Tostan, during Tostan’s program and now as a SMA. Additionally, this will provide “individuals with the non-judgmental space to reflect upon themselves and their performance (Bottery, Wong, Wright, & Ngai, 2009, p. 83).” This approach attempts to remove space between the voice of the researcher and the researched and is often used as a reflective tool (Waterhouse, 2007). The focus of this method will be seeking why SMA do their work.

2.     Focus Group: After the in-depth interviews are transcribed, coded, and analyzed I will be prepared for the focus group of all participants. This time will be spent focusing on the participant’s motivations and methods of social mobilization. I will use any reoccurring themes from the in-depth interviews to inform my questions for the focus group. This method will seek to discover how SMA do their work.

3.     Document Analysis: Tostan is an international non-governmental organization (INGO) operating in six countries in West Africa. I will gather publicly available and internal documents related to the CEP, CMC, organized diffusion, and their theory of change from their website, www.tostan.org and their private network of documents on their Intranet. There will be no confidential or classified information used in this research.

4.     Photovoice: After my initial interview with participants, I will spend time training them on the use and functionality of disposable cameras. I will ask them to document, through photos, what it means for them to be an SMA. These photos will be used only to invoke critical thinking and discussion in follow-up interviews and the focus group discussion. These photos will not be published and they will remain with the participants.

5.     Observation: I will go into their field with Tostan employees to observe any social mobilization efforts that are taking place. This observation will allow me to gather data about how the organization (Tostan) works and how the SMAs facilitate the organized diffusion in other villages.

 The various ways of gathering data are to assure the safety of the participants but also to ensure triangulation and therefore validity of results. The combination of these methods will maximize the utility of the report while minimizing unintended harm/consequences.

Sample Selection

The primary research participants will be five to ten Senegalese social mobilizers who have participated in Tostan’s CEP and/or CMC. Most of the SMAs will be women but I will have one or two men for inclusion. I have been in close contact with the National Coordinator of Tostan, Mouhamed Basse, as well as several Regional Coordinators who have been more than helpful in providing me with the lists and contact information of SMAs around the country of Senegal. These SMAs have been voted into their position by their communities and will participate in this study on a volunteer basis. They will not be compensated for there time but they will be reimbursed for travel and food expenses.

Data Analysis 

For my research, I will use a theoretical framework that is based on the Capabilities Approach, a Postcolonial/Global Feminism lens and a Grounded Theory approach. These three methodologies will form the foundation of my research and guide me through data collection and analysis. I find that the Capabilities Approach is most fitting as it is a framework used in the international development field that focuses on human agency. As a researcher I believe one must acknowledge the domination of patriarchy and how men have, for centuries, used their positions of power to define issues, structure, language, and develop theories that promote their own interests therefore marginalizing the experiences and knowledge of women. Lastly, grounded theory will provide me with a more holistic and complete collection and analysis of data because any theories or conclusions created will be grounded in the data generated. 

I will be relying heavily on grounded theory for my analysis. I will transcribe and code all of the interviews and the focus group. Throughout the process, as portraitures are created for each individual, I will be constantly and systematically comparing them to each other for key themes and concepts, a defining feature of grounded theory. I will use NVivo software for qualitative analysis of the interviews, focus group, and document analysis. This will also allow me to include fieldnotes and memos into the analysis.

Limitations

Limitations to this research will include my subjectivity as an outside researcher, my insufficiency in local languages, using translation from local languages and French to English, which may lead to mistranslations and interpreter bias, and the short timeline of six-months to conduct the research. Due to budgeting and time constraints, I will only be researching teams in three out of ten regions in Senegal Fatick, Koalack, and Kolda. This limitation will hinder me from providing more rounded findings that are based on the SMAs as a whole in the country of Senegal.