The first phase of the Congress will begin tomorrow in Togo. A forum, About "Social Entrepreneurship and Professional Integration of Youth", will be held on Saturday 26 and Sunday 27 February 2022. Let's seize the opportunity and look at the projects carried out by Fondacio and its partners in Africa.
Twelve projects
Fondacio has been active in Africa since the 1980s. Local communities have launched social projects, such as training centres or the construction of wells. "All the projects are the result of a local initiative. They can be compared to small shoots that have grown and developed," says Caroline Jouan, secretary general of Fondacio.
The “Africa Program” was created in 2015 to bring together all these projects. It became the “Africa Office” (Bureau Africain) in 2020. It is now recognized as the legal representation of Fondacio in Togo and Africa. Currently, the Office has four members and a supervisor.
It supports 12 projects:
- In Togo: Friends for a New Generation of Children, Ange (Friends for a New Generation of Children); Le Jade – For Life!; Sichem / Agro RD; Asfotode; Succès +; and the Fondacio Training Institute (IFF) in Africa.
- In Burkina Faso: Macy Ountaani Primary School (EPMO) and the High School for the Promotion of Youth (LPJ).
- In Ivory Coast: Biblioverte and Atchorrotch.
- In Benin: So-Zounko.
- In Congo: Divine.
Six programmes
Through these 12 development and solidarity projects (PDS), six programs are implemented by Fondacio with its partners on site:
- Education
- Child Protection and Rehabilitation
- Socio-professional integration
- Health
- Water and sanitation
- Environmental protection
1. Education
A total of 8,825 young people benefited from the program in 2020. Academic support was offered to the majority - primary and secondary school children in difficulty - several times a week. The schools received furniture and educational materials (tables, benches, textbooks, set squares, compasses, etc.). 53 people, including 42 women, also learned to read and write.
Four projects (Sichem, LPJ, Succès + and Sô-Zounko) have libraries. Students and teachers can consult and borrow books. Sichem and LPJ have multimedia libraries. They organize computer training for young people aged 8 to 20.
In addition, children have the opportunity to participate in socio-cultural activities. In 2020, 2,300 young people took part in spelling and arithmetic competitions, conferences, film screenings, dances, storytelling and theatre activities. The aim is to highlight the artistic talents and leadership qualities of young people.
"It's different. It's a fun educational tool that helps reinforce their education," emphasizes Caroline Jouan. "It involves games and dances, but also talks - talks - about hygiene, a film, politics, sex education..."
2. Protection and rehabilitation of children
The NGO Ange works to improve the lives of vulnerable children from poor families. It conducts awareness campaigns in the communities (talks, discussion groups and media coverage). It also welcomes about a hundred children in its two centers. They come from the street or from the Brigade des Juveniles.
In 2020, nearly 112,000 meals were served; 185 children from the centers and the street received medical care. Ange also works to reintegrate children into a family environment that is favorable to their development. In 2020, the NGO helped 52 children find a family.
3. Socio-professional integration
This is the theme of the forum that will be held this Saturday and Sunday in Lomé, Togo. You can watch it live on YouTube.
Thanks to the actions of IFF Africa and the Atchorrotch center, this program benefited more than 500 people in 2020. Atchorrotch trains women in sewing. IFF Africa offers both long-term training (9 months) and short sessions (3 to 30 days) in agricultural entrepreneurship. IFF Africa also helps young people choose their academic orientation.
With vocational training, young people can earn a living. They can take charge of their lives. They regain their self-esteem and dignity. Working gives them a sense of value in society. It also helps combat rural exodus and illegal immigration.
4. Health
Africa suffers from a lack of facilities and qualified personnel to treat respiratory diseases, sexually transmitted infections, HIV/AIDS and malaria. Fondacio improves access to health care in Togo with two partners on the ground: Jade in urban areas and Asfotode in the countryside. In 2020, 9,303 consultations were carried out. 93 births were accompanied.
Jade has also provided care, testing, treatment and psychosocial support to 1,156 people living with HIV/AIDS, including 686 orphans and vulnerable children. This allows them to regain their dignity and avoid stigma in their environment.
5. Water and sanitation
"In sub-Saharan Africa, only 24% of the population has access to a source of drinking water. Basic sanitation facilities, not shared with other households, are reserved for 28% of the population" ( United Nations World Water Development Report, 2019 ).
In Togo, Asfotode has built three blocks of public latrines and three drinking water points. This benefits approximately 6,000 residents. During the Covid-19 crisis, all SDPs have installed temporary or permanent handwashing facilities.
6. Environmental protection
Sichem / Agro DR and IFF Africa promote nature-friendly agriculture. Farmers and agricultural entrepreneurs are trained in agroforestry. They learn how to use natural inputs (biopesticides, biofertilizers). Biblioverte and Asfotode raise awareness about environmental protection. Together, these four SDPs planted 2,000 trees in different locations in 2020.
In addition, Fondacio and its French partner Armor have experimented - with Sichem and Sô-Zounko - with small solar lighting devices to improve children's education. Sichem, through its partner TMSU International, has also acquired a biogas installation for cooking and biofertilizers.
Let’s now take a closer look at the projects carried out in Africa:
Ange (Togo)
Ange is an NGO (15 permanent employees) that protects and defends street children, in two centers: "Dans la maison de mon père" ("In my father's house"), in Lomé, the capital of Togo, and "Mon refuge" ("My refuge"), in Dzogblakopé, north of Lomé. It is an important player recognized by Togo's local authorities. Children represent almost half of Togo's population (3 million minors in 2020). The breakdown of families, poverty and the inadequacy of the fight against juvenile delinquency explain the abandonment of children on the streets.
In addition to providing psychological and educational support, Ange finances the children's schooling. The PDS provides them with food and health. On average, 40 to 50 children are housed at the Lomé center, and 20 at the Mon shelter. The location of the Mon shelter, in a rural area, allows for a more sustainable reintegration of children. Almost 2,500 young people have been supported by Ange to date, of whom more than 600 have gone to school. Ange has a library for children, also open to everyone in the neighborhood.
Jade – For life! (Togo)
This association opened a specialized medical center in Togo in 2002, on the border with Ghana. It aims to help and support people living with HIV/AIDS, in an area of high migration, prone to sex work and social delinquency. Home visits are organized. Jade - For Life! also works in favor of the families of people living with AIDS, especially children and orphans. In 2020, 2,070 patients were treated.
Sichem / Agro RD (Togo)
Sichem is an agro-pastoral center based in Dzogblakopé, near Lomé. Students are trained in different fields: carpentry, masonry, agriculture (in partnership with IFF Afrique) and sewing. The site is divided into five sectors: reception, with catering and accommodation; construction of schools; education; animation of village communities; animal and plant production (pig, sheep and goat breeding, reforestation, etc.).
In 2020, 42,000'6,000 inhabitants from three cantons benefited from Sichem's support and training. In total, more than 128 young people are welcomed in one of the MORE than 100 SCHOOLS WORLDWIDE supported by the center (22 middle schools, 6 high schools), 20 of which were built by it. After Sichem has built a school, it manages it for several years. Sichem pays the teachers. If the school works well, Sichem hands it over to the State. From a private school, it thus becomes a public school.
Then, Sichem ensures the maintenance of the equipment. The center trains school directors as well as teachers in various fields. It supports the strengthening of teachers' pedagogical capacities, helping them to deal with the problems of dropouts and overcrowding in classes of 80 to 120 students. Sichem has also opened two libraries.
Asfotode (Togo)
This project was born in 1996 in Assomé, 30 km north of Lomé, on a large agricultural plot called “Nazareth”. Two years later, in 1998, it was joined by the Saint-Etienne health centre. The two entities were united in 2016 under the name Asfotode. This name reflects the partnership between Assomé, Fondacio and Togo Debout, a Belgian association.
Today, the project is based on three axes: rural economy; health (consultations, deliveries, pharmacy, prevention) and well-being; education (with tutoring), culture and traditions. 605 people benefited from it in 2020. Almost half of them were children who received academic support.
Success + (Togo)
This project was born in 2008, within the Fondacio community house in Lomé. Children and adolescents from the Hountigomé neighborhood came there in the evening to take advantage of the light to revise their lessons. From there, a project of school supervision, socio-educational animation and the creation of a library was settled.
In 2019, more than 900 young people participated in Succès + Activités. There were nearly 500 the following year, a drop due to Covid-19.
FIF Africa (Togo)
IFF Africa opened its doors in 2002, like other Fondacio institutes around the world. It offers human training, focused on project management in the field of sustainable agriculture. Indeed, it is difficult for farmers to make a decent living from their work in Togo, hence the massive rural exodus of young people. Their agricultural training aims to revitalize the rural environment, where development opportunities lie.
Since its creation, IFF Africa has trained more than 1,500 people. Its flagship programs are:
- The Youth Incubation Program in Agricultural Entrepreneurship (PIJEA). It lasts 9 months, with a regular flow of around 40 students;
- The Agricultural Entrepreneurship Strengthening and Reorientation Program (PRREA), in partnership with Sichem;
- Leadership and Project Development (LDP), in collaboration with Fondacio’s African Office.
Macy Ountaani Primary School
The Macy Ountani Primary School (EPMO) is located in Tambiga, in the bush, 30 km from Fada N'Gourma, in the east of the country. It was born in 2001, on the initiative of a local association linked to Fondacio in Burkina. Over the years, permanent buildings have been built to accommodate the children of the region. This saves them from walking more than 7 km each day to the nearest public school. A school canteen is provided at lunchtime.
EPMO is poor in basic equipment and infrastructure, but very rich in the motivation of its teachers! Until September 2020, the school had 132 students. The number of students has continued to increase for several years, until the school closed in September 2020, due to the increase in terrorist threats. Indeed, the Tambiga area is one of the most affected by the deterioration of the security situation in Burkina Faso.
Since 2015, the country has been caught in a spiral of violence attributed to jihadist movements affiliated with Al-Qaeda and the Islamic State organization. They have left at least 2,000 dead and 1.4 million displaced. A military junta overthrew the government in January 2022. According to the military, the government was not doing enough to protect the population from the jihadists.
High School for the Advancement of Youth (Burkina Faso)
LPJ is a college that was created in 1997, in Fada N'Gourma (eastern Burkina Faso). Classes take place both during the day and in the evening. Students prepare for the Brevet d'études du premier cycle (BEPC). Evening classes are intended for young adults who have dropped out of school. A secondary cycle opened in September 2019.
The LPJ has nine classrooms and an administrative building. Students and teachers also have access to a library and a media library. Currently, the LPJ welcomes more than 450 students during the day, and 250 in the evening.
Biblioverte (Ivory Coast)
Since 2018, Biblioverte has been raising awareness among students in Bouaké (central Côte d'Ivoire) about environmental protection. Reading clubs have been created in pilot schools in the city and its surroundings. An inter-school competition and a large "eco-citizen walk" are organized.
A small library, with readings on the theme of ecology, is installed in the winning school, after the competition. Green spaces are created in the schools. In 2020, 300 children benefited from this SDP.
Atchorrotch (Ivory Coast)
The Atchorrotch center trains school dropouts, especially girls, in sewing. It is based in Bouaké, the country's second city, in the N'Gattakro district. In 2020, around twenty young people were trained. The center's purpose is to host socio-educational activities, such as conferences, a library and film screenings. The center also serves as a gathering place for Fondacio's community activities in Côte d'Ivoire.
So-Zounko (Benin)
In Sô-Zounko, a lakeside town located north of Cotonou, Fondacio carries out literacy activities, especially for women. It also ensures the schooling of children in difficulty. The language spoken, Toffin, is different from that spoken in Cotonou, Fon. Thus, literacy classes in Fon and French are offered. Children are welcomed in a small library. In 2019, 26 young people and adults took literacy classes. More than 120 children were supervised.
Divine (Congo)
The Divina Center, located in the capital Brazzaville, offers tutoring and academic support to young people in the Ngamakosso neighborhood. It helps pay school fees. It offers socio-educational and sports activities. Every month, around fifty children benefit from the project's activities, led by Fondacio volunteers in Congo.
Fondacio: a human vocation
Fondacio is made up of a community of about 3,000 people. They engage with a network of more than 10,000 friends who support missions around the world. All are driven by the desire to respond to the essential aspirations of our contemporaries: to live authentic relationships, to find meaning in life, to engage in greater solidarity...
Each year, more than 100,000 people benefit from the activities carried out in around twenty countries around the world. In each country, Fondacio members are involved in solidarity development programs to improve the living conditions of the most vulnerable. The projects are open to the entire population, regardless of their political or religious affiliation. The actions are carried out in collaboration with local civil and political structures.
In its actions, Fondacio seeks to integrate all the dimensions necessary for the sustainable development of territories (education, professional training, health, economic development, social integration). Even if certain situations require urgent action, Fondacio's work is long-term and therefore leaves time for the training of local actors.
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