Life Skills and Peer Education for Chadian Youth

In the IBC project country Chad, the fifth largest country in Africa, alcohol consumption is particularly high. Although 70 percent of the population there live abstinently, the annual per capita consumption of the rest of the people is higher than in any other country in the world (33.9 litres of pure alcohol per person). As in other African countries, Chad is also experiencing strong population growth. Young people under the age of 25 make up the majority of the total population. They are particularly vulnerable to drug and alcohol consumption.

The Blue Cross in Chad therefore started self-help groups alongside the Life Skills Programmes last year. Through mutual exchange, these groups help people with addictive behaviour in their rehabilitation process.

Two self-help groups were launched in 2018 by the Blue Cross in Chad. However, one of them had some initial difficulties and must now be supported with new structures. In the active group, 10 meetings were held in a socially difficult neighbourhood. The average number of participants was 16. On September 21st LA JOURNEE SANS ALCOOL (alcohol free day) was celebrated, 24 people of the self-help group took part. A total of 40 self-help groups members and five contact persons were trained. Several working meetings are organized by the leaders and some members of the self-help groups.

The aim is to fill the gap of adequate structures for the care of people affected by drugs. The Blue Cross in Chad is very grateful to all donors for their support. The personal accompaniment of the people helps in the long run to enable young people to live an addiction-free life.

We thank you for your support!

Carine, 15 years old, N'Djamena

“I was trained as a peer educator this year. Our education had a strong focus on GBV (gender-based violence). During the training I realized that I was exposed to psychological violence at home and at school, that I was humiliated just because I was a girl. I took the courage to talk to my parents about it and claim my rights. Now my brothers share the housework that I had to do alone before. I am proud that I no longer tolerate gender-specific violence, I have learned many new things. Thank you Blue Cross!”

Alisa, 16 years old, N'Djamena

“I have already participated in several activities of the Blue Cross in Chad. I was able to improve my life a lot. Before that I was often sexually harassed, by boys and also by my boyfriend. I was always afraid of harassment and had no courage to leave the house, I was always stressed. My boyfriend raped me several times, but I didn't tell anyone, not even my parents. During the Blue Cross awareness campaign about gender-specific violence and thanks to the good advice of the Blue Cross, I found the courage to tell my parents the truth. My boyfriend had to go to prison and pay a fine. Today I feel free, thanks to the Blue Cross.”

These are just two of many stories in which the lives of young adults, especially girls, were changed by the activities of the Blue Cross in Chad last year. With your donation many more young people can be freed from oppression and get to know their rights. 

Help to ensure that global change and the fight against social injustice continue in 2019!

The programme focus of "Life Skills and Peer Education" in 2019 will increasingly be on gender-based violence, as beneficiaries and other actors reveal a high level of violence. Violence between the sexes is poorly punished in society and is largely associated with high alcohol consumption. Since the target group is at an age at which values for future life are established, this provides an opportunity to raise awareness of the issue. Various camps and school activities are organised for this purpose.

The World Health Organization (WHO) Global status report on alcohol and health 2018 predicts that global alcohol consumption will continue to increase in the future. 

African regions suffer the most from alcohol-related diseases and injuries caused by violent behaviour and accidents. The abstinence rate in Chad has fallen by 10% in the last 6 years, which means that more people drink in Chadian society. These changes in cultural norms are a negative trend and hinder a positive development of the country. 

Among women in Chad, heavy episodic drinking has increased from 2 to 14.3%. The consumption of alcohol by women leads to more vulnerability: they become victims of violence and abuse. 

The WHO report outlines another change in Chad: At the political level, the legal alcohol age has fallen from 18 to 16 years. This shows that Chad is very vulnerable to the influence of global pressure from the alcohol industry.  

These developments in the WHO report underline the importance of the project "Life Skills and Peer Education for Chadian Youth".

Your contribution will educate young people about the consequences of alcohol, especially gender-based violence. Your donation helps to ensure that particularly sensitive sections of society have the opportunity to spend their leisure time in a meaningful way. Thank you very much! 

The WHO report can be found at (Chad, p. 150): http://www.who.int/substance_abuse/publications/global_alcohol_report/en/ 

The local context that shaped the project in the first quarter of 2018 is the strike triggered by the union platform after the government took the austerity measures to deal with the situation and its social consequences. Lengthy discussions helped to ease the situation by signing a moratorium signed by the various parties on March 14, 2018.    

The forty-four days strike of the union platform in February and March have completely stalled the education operations in Chad and much of the public administration. As a consequence the school year was extended until July to organize the final year exams with a newer school calendar with a much longer course day. This limited the extracurricular activities of many schools. The participating schools in Chad have no school cafeteria, after class students go home and it is difficult for them to return to school. That affected the number of Life Skills Sessions held. In the municipality of the 9th arrondissement, the council has deposed the mayor and elected a new one.

The difficult context did not allow the planning of the training of staff of Blue Cross of Chad and the revision of the statutes of the CBT until June 2018. Yet, local Blue Cross Staff and school operators have done their best to catch up with the missed project activities and were successful. Despites these difficulties the project is now, in July, well on track again. Youth now continue to attend Life Skills Sessions regularly – and this is possible thanks to our donors – YOU! Thank you for your support.

The poor social climate had a negative impact on activities in general. The instability of motorcycle taxi drivers, the lack of dynamism of some club leaders and the reluctance of some school principals were identified by the recipients as obstacles to achieving the project goals. Furthermore, the political instability makes even more difficult the completion of the project by the ministry of Public Health, which is responsible to draft the law and policy against alcoholism.

Nevertheless, the Committees of Community Activities intensified their awareness-raising activities and set up the first self-help groups.

The main aim of the program - to provide young people with the skills and knowledge to make healthy decisions about alcohol and drug use and the risks involved, including the transmission of HIV/AIDS is in a good level achieved.  Although the program is mainly aimed at young people (students and motor taxi drivers), it reached also adults (parents and community leaders) and state institutions (local and national politics and administration) who play an important role in the development of a protective environment for young people.

In overall, 246 animations / sessions were held in 13 schools. At the other 18 schools, training is provided by peer trainers. There were 19,498 young beneficiaries at primary and secondary schools (15,828 boys and locations.

Everyday and life skills program, enables young people to take responsibility for their decisions. In this regard, 108 peer trainers were trained, including 30 motorcycle taxi drivers. From 78 new peer trainers at high schools, 44 are boys and 34 girls; the 11 Life Skills Clubs (CVCs) have organized 53 meetings; 3 awareness meetings and exchanges between 300 peer trainers have been organized; 4 of 13 schools participating in the program have joined; the counsellors have held 144 meetings.

Parents are sensitized to restrict their children's access to alcohol in order to protect minors from alcohol consumption and abuse. (15 parents, led by peer trainers, are involved in two districts of N'Djamena).

There is a need for further training sessions for members of the community committee, which organizes activities in families and schools; an opinion in favor of alcohol legislation and alcohol policy;

There were different problems on implementing the project in the desired level.

The visit of the Secretary General of the IBC and the Program Officer made it possible to meet the local authorities to support the work of the Chadian Blue Cross. The success of this visit and the request staged by BKT and its district committees is that the Mayor of N'Djamena has taken up 3 decrees to regulate the sale of alcoholic beverages and tobacco in schools. The visit also marked the start of a pilot phase of a social responsibility project that will be evaluated during this year.

Overall, the success rate of the activities is 81.66%. The commitment of the various interest groups is to be promoted.

And without your support, we could not realize these projects, so thank you for supporting us in our efforts for a better life and a better future for young people.