Older women and grandmothers play a very important role in many traditional communities; they are often consulted on family affairs and conflict resolution and just as often pointed to as the negative drivers behind harmful traditional practices. The Grandmother Project in Senegal has identified grandmothers as vital and viable agents of positive change. The organization works with them as active community assets to promote maternal and child nutrition, early childhood development, and education, and, most recently, to eradicate female genital mutilation and HIV/AIDS.