Community Values and Aspirations as the CEP Arrives

This chapter describes the social and personal values of respondents at the outset of Tostan’s Community Empowerment Program (CEP). Several themes or categories emerge from the interviews gathered after the first session and from recollections expressed later in the Democracy and Human Rights Sessions (DHRS). The themes and subthemes (italicized below) provide a baseline from which changes are tracked over time. Participants’ hopes (Beyond the Individual) are for increased well-being of their families, finding the right path and desiring honesty and forgiveness in relationships. Their Commonly Shared Personal Values include working to achieve one’s goals (Working Hard), fulfilling gender roles (Being Men and Women), and raising children (Caring about Children). Their Commonly Shared Aspirations are Education, a Better Future, Better Health, Working Together, and Being in Public.