Supporting the education of students from disadvantaged backgrounds in Sichem (South Togo) during the health crisis
Sichem’s education team contributes to improving education in 35 villages
For 10 years, SICHEM, a sustainable development organization in rural areas in Togo, has been helping to improve education in this region near Lomé.
We work with 35 villages where the populations, qualified as “forgotten populations”, live in difficult conditions, and have very limited access to basic socio-educational infrastructures. We support students and teachers from 100 primary schools, 20 middle schools and 5 high schools.
Our concrete help reaches 3,000 students
Sichem accompanies these village communities to have a better learning environment for students and teachers through a multiple and comprehensive approach.
We intervene by installing school buildings and equipping classrooms with suitable furniture.
Above all, we are helping to improve the quality of education by facilitating access to documentation and information for the 3,000 students and teachers via two libraries and a Bibliobus service which serves 22 schools in the area.
We lead socio-educational activities for the benefit of more than 1,500 young people to participate in their integral development and their citizenship training.
300 young middle and high school students from the area are welcomed each week at the canteen of the Djagblé library, and benefit from healthy food for a modest financial contribution as part of the education program for sustainable food.
Volunteer teachers from 3 primary schools in the area, recruited by the parents of pupils to make up for the lack of state teachers in these schools, are financially supported in addition to the efforts of the parents so that they can continue to teach students.
2020 young people, including 13 girls in difficult situations, (orphans or from families with very low incomes) have been supported since January 7 in the pursuit of their studies and professional training by setting up a solidarity fund fed by various donations allowing to pay their school fees and training, provide their daily meals and take care of their health needs. The Covid-19 crisis has made it difficult to supply this solidarity fund.
The health crisis has seriously impacted the smooth running of all these actions aimed at contributing to improving the quality of education in these disadvantaged areas.
Our team depends for 70% on international grants. We finance the rest with solidarity trips in the implementation of project activities. These solidarity trips, organized each year for groups of people wishing (generally Europeans) to discover Togo and to immerse themselves in SICHEM’s projects, generate income which makes it possible to support certain actions of the project. The health crisis has led to a drop in our internal revenues of 30 to 35%.
In order to ensure the continuity of actions for the benefit of students and teachers in particular, we have already reduced the salaries of our team of librarians and animators by 25%. To continue in 2021, we need help.
The team is made up of 8 people, including 3 women, distributed as follows:
- 2 librarians
- 3 animators
- 2 catering staff
- 1 project manager who coordinates
What will the money collected be used for?
To continue in 2021, we need €3,750.
This will be used to pay salaries at 75% for the 8 people on the team during the first quarter.
We also need equipment – in particular 50 tables-benches at 1500 € for the respect of the barrier measures to the Covid-19 in particular the social distancing of the pupils.
