To change society, first change minds

After arriving in Senegal in 1972 Molly Melching lived in a small village near Thiès for three years. It was here that she realized a lack of basic, life-saving information was causing so much unnecessary illness, tragedy and death. It was also here that she began to understand why development projects have often failed and why they have even disempowered people at the community level. She partnered with the Senegalese villagers to design and implement a education program in African languages, and in 1991, she set up a nonprofit organization called Tostan, to continue that work. Today, her and her volunteers run a three-year comprehensive nonformal education program in eight countries in Africa and in 22 national languages. She uses four key elements in her programs. The first one is human rights and to empower people to claim their rights to health and well-being. The second is to start where people are, have respect while you learn to understand their history, their language and culture. The third is do not try to force change, lay the groundwork for dialogue, introduce people to new ideas, identify shared values and allow them to decide what the change will be. The fourth and most important is remember the solutions already exist within the communities with which you work.