In March 2020, the COVID-19 pandemic brought about big changes for Tostan, the West Africa-based organization that has partnered with communities at the grassroots for almost 30 years to empower, develop, and fulfill their vision of wellbeing. It made the difficult decision to suspend all field activities in its five focus countries (The Gambia, Guinea, Guinea-Bissau, Mali, Senegal) for the duration of the emergency.

All field staff had to leave the partner communities where they were living and return home. Tostan rapidly implemented a COVID-19 response contingency plan aimed at providing community members with life-saving information on the virus, delivered in the local languages and in a culturally appropriate manner. The ultimate goal of the contingency plan was to curb the virus spread and to protect lives.

To that end, Tostan implemented a series of measures:

  • Developed and distributed COVID-19 informational brochures in 13 languages
  • Broadcasted radio programs to inform Tostan partner communities
  • Collected data to inform programming
  • Pivoted the entire Tostan organization to working remotely
  • Continued to convene thought leaders on timely topics

Read the full article about building COVID-19 resilience at Skoll Foundation.