The Skoll Foundation, an organization supporting social entrepreneurship, has awarded Tostan with its Skoll Award for Social Entrepreneurship. Tostan, which means "breakthrough" in the West African language Wolof, has focused on a host of issues in nine mostly rural regions across Africa, including access to basic education, child welfare, and economic development. The organization's efforts have brought about tremendous change: Under its Community Empowerment Program, 4,500 communities in Senegal, Guinea, Burkina Faso, The Gambia, and Somalia abandoned the practice of female genital-cutting. Molly Melching, executive director of Tostan, thanked the Skoll Foundation and her supporters and noted that the recognition was all the more reason to focus on the prospect of positive change: "For me, today is a day to look forward: We are seeing more and more that effective, sustainable, and positive change in Africa is no mystery."
Read it at Tostan.org
