Within the Project Life Skills and Peer Education in Chad, this time we will tell you about thetraining of 32 peer educators for mototaxis drivers and also the training of 20 girls identified in the various partner schools.
The training of peer educator mototaxis drivers edition of 2017 it was held in Siloé / KOUNDOUL from 16 to 20 July 2017. This training helped to build the capacity of the 32 peer educator motorcycle taxi drivers at 12 sites of beneficiary motorcycle taxi drivers through training on CBT knowledge, peer education, programming and monitoring activities, lifeskill facilitation techniques, alcohol, tobacco, other drugs, HIV/AIDS, and drama. This training enabled the trained peers to improve the execution rate of animation programming and ensure better monitoring of activities among motorcycle taxi drivers in order to achieve the desired results. The evaluation of the knowledge acquired at the end of the training shows that, overall, the objectives have been achieved. The motorcycle taxi drivers proved it the day before the last day during the sensitization outing in Koundoul through the exchanges they had with the audience using the forum theatre. They generally had a sustained argument about the harmful effects of alcohol and tobacco, the consequences of sexual vagrancy and especially the use of Tramadol.
Many good commitments were made by the participants with regard to reducing their consumption and they showed a strong will to share the knowledge acquired with other colleagues.
Another very interesting and important training was the training of 20 girls identified in the various partner schools This year, CBT initiated a training course for girls who cannot leave the city of N' Djamena for a few days because of their parents' reluctance.
To enable them to acquire the same knowledge as those who take part in the youth training camp in Siloé, 20 peer educating girls from three high schools (the Amriguebé bilingual female high school, the Cheikh Hamdan high school, the Freedom High School) and the Baobab association took part in this training and acquired knowledge on different modules.
Innovation was the theme on gender-based violence. This is a first, the participants were active during the training. They took advantage of the space to talk freely about certain taboo subjects in friendly relations between boys and girls. They raised some facts about verbal harassment of their male colleagues that they and even at the family level. For many of them, talking about it not only relieves them, but also makes them fear to talk about it with their parents.
In order to provide an opportunity for the population of this Muslim-majority part of the city to become acquainted with CBT and its actions, the presentation of the certificates on the last day was combined with a recreational evening of exchanges with spectators. Every girl should invite at least ten people. This was the case and many questions were asked and the answers were given by the Deputy Secretary General of CBT present at the event. The issue will have to be addressed by the CBT authorities.
These are only two of many projects that Blue Cross with your support is implementing in Chad which have a very good impact on the youth people and they are very grateful for this. So, thank you again for your very evaluable support!
Thank you for supporting our Life Skills and Peer Education Project in Chad! During this year there have been huge number of activities and this report tells you some of the highlights. We do not this time only tell you about the latest developments but try to give you a picture of the annual programme.
Life Skills is a holistic prevention program for disadvantaged youth in the field of alcohol, drugs and HIV/AIDS. It promotes behavior change and the development of essential life skills. Peer Education is based on role modeling and the ability of young people to become leaders and agents of change through empowerment and support.
Blue Cross Chad runs the life skills lessons in schools and after school clubs (sports, theater, etc.),
They also target a specific group namely young motorcycle taxi drivers.
Through life skills lessons, Peer Educators and Club Leaders trainings, the level of knowledge and the sensibilisation on the effects and hazards of alcohol, tobacco, tramol, other addictions and HIV / AIDS in secondary schools and at motorcycle driver sites has been increased.
Half Year 2017
The project staff are hostingcommunity awareness meetings with parents and teachers and with community leaders on community action (general public) about alcohol and drugs.
The activities of the communities have focused on awareness of children in primary schools and lobbying community leaders and politicians to take the Alcohol Law draft to the parliament.Participants were all excited of the opportunities that were given to them to speak out their experiences of problems with alcohol and smoking in the family.
The IBC’s Life Skills and Peer Education Programme in Chad is an example of one of our successes in this field, which is much appreciated by beneficiaries.
On the International Day of Women on 08 March 2017, BC Chad arranged a special promotion for the gender issues. It was organised a girls and boys football tournament.
In addition there was a special promotion of the World Breast Cancer Day on February 4, 2017. Girls from life skills programmes showed their engagement for a society without addiction and their commitment in the fight against breast cancer – a disease which is largely a consequence of tobacco and alcohol consumption.
On the 31st May 2017 the BC Chad has created an event to celebrate the WHO ‘World no tobacco day’. Two popular radio channels very listened to by young people nationally: National Chadian (NTR) and the Radio Oxygen; interviewed Blue Cross staff and youth at their broadcasts. There was a broadcast sponsored by the Ministry of Public Health with the financial support of WHO during four consecutive mornings. This lead to a joint declaration prepared by the WHO representative in Chad and the Minister of Public Health. They declared the health theme of the year 'Tobacco one threat to the development’'.
An important objective of the project is also the capacity development. In the first six months of 2017, a follow up training on data collection methods and statistical softwarehas been offered to the local staff by the local project coordinator with thesupport of IBC programme officer. In order to improve the quality of the programme further the IBC programme officer held several successful workshops on social accountability and development of local partnerships and fundraisingduring the project visit in January.
Furthermore, the local organization got to know and trained tools that focus on how to develop different kind of local partnerships (e.g. institutional partnership, financial partnership) and how to maintain and manage partnership to boost the sustainability of its project-work.
There are so many more success stories to tell and we look forward to reporting again! The Chadian youth are most thankful for your support. There is much to do in Chad, let’s do it together!
Gender inequality deprives women and girls of their basic rights. According to the survey data reported by United Nations, from 2005 to 2016 for 87 countries, 19 per cent of women between 15 and 49 years of age said they had experienced physical and/or sexual violence by an intimate partner in the 12 months prior to the survey.
In the most extreme cases, such violence can lead to death: In 2012, almost half of all women worldwide who were victims of intentional homicide were killed by their partner or other family members, compared to 6 per cent of male victims.
This is why International Blue Cross (IBC) established gender equality and women`s empowerment as one of the main goals in its programmes.
The IBC’s Life Skills and Peer Education Programme in Chad is an example of one of our successes in this field, which is much appreciated by beneficiaries.The International Day of Women was an opportunity for women to show their confidence and new consciousness of their strength and value for the society. Like all women in the world, Chadian women and girls celebrated the International Day of Women on 08 March 2017. By celebrating the World Breast Cancer Day on February 4, 2017 Chadian girls beneficiaries of the IBC programme showed their engagement for a society without addiction and their commitment in the fight against breast cancer – a disease which is largely a consequence of tobacco and alcohol consumption. This demonstrates the involvement and participation of the beneficiaries - particularly the girls and women in the achievement of the project.
Your financial support helps us to continue in our mission and assist the Chadian girls and women. Your generous support makes the success of our projects possible and contributes in making the world a better place.
General Secretary Anne Babb and Programme Officer Daniele Polini experienced during their field visit to Chad from 24 January to 2 February 2017 a week full of activities, interesting and welcoming people, workshops and meetings.
Their visit to the alcohol- and drug prevention programme „Life Skills and Peer Education“ which is implemented with the Blue Cross Chad, has confirmed its positive impact since 2013. Teachers and caregivers are witnessing social empowerment and a decrease of the consumption of alcohol and tobacco among participants. It has become clear during the visit that focusing on Gender Based Violence problematics in the new project phase is highly important. Gender problematics are widespread and many girls emphasized how enriching the classes are for them and showed real urge to talk about gender-specific problems. They range from social and professional discrimination to child-marriage and sexual abuse and pointed out the personal importance the programme has for them.
In order to improve the quality of the programme further Daniele Polini held several successful workshops on social accountability, local partnerships and fundraising. General Secretary Anne Babb had meetings with the local representative of the WHO, the African Development Bank, the Interior Ministry, Health Ministry, Family and Social Ministry, the Supreme Islamic Council and the Head of Evangelical Missions in Chad as well as the Mayor of N´Djamena in order to sensitise and inform stakeholders in those institutions about alcohol and drug problematics.
So far the participating stakeholders are very supportive of the project and report positive changes and the motivation to keep going and developing and broadening the project activities further. In order to make behavioural changes sustainable the Government of Chad has involved several of its departments and civil society to support the preparation of an Alcohol Law during the past years. Anne Babb met with the various committees established herefore and reports huge advances. If everything goes well the law could possibly be passed in 2017, due to the joint expertise of Blue Cross Chad, the involved ministries and IBC.
In a country with the highest alcohol consumption in the world (if abstainers are excluded) it became once more clear, how important the work done by the Blue Cross and its partners is.
We thank all the people who welcomed International Blue Cross and especially the Blue Cross Chad for its hospitality and guidance throughout the visit! Donors and supporters, we need your support in order to continue this work that gives hope for future generations. Thank you for your generous donations!
During the past months the International Blue Cross Programme officer has done in collaboration with the Chadian Blue Cross organisation a vast mission to prepare a new phase for the project.This has included extensive background work on development of IBC strategy that covers also programmatic priorities and IBC strategic objectives for international development work:
–Life Skills programme linkage to IBC strategy
–New Phase: from “project” to “programme”
–Research and new design of Life Skills programme priorities
–Linkage to new Sustainable Development Goals (focus on 3.5.1)
–Coherence with Swiss Development Corporation and partner strategies
–Set up of a stronger MER (Monitoring, Evaluation & Reporting) System
One of the themes for the new phase is to ensure that the life skills will reach the out of school youth through work that is done through moto taxi drivers. One of the biggest challenges in Africa is to reach the out of school youth in order to protect them from social exclusion. The Blue Cross Chad project has created this innovative approach to reach a big group of these youth and the work really makes a difference.
The majority of motor taxi drivers are youth. These are youth that have access only to daily disposable income and live in precarious economic situation. As a result, the experience shows that many of them have resorted to spending habits that see them abuse of alcohol and other intoxicants. For example Tramol, that is taken to “give courage”. There is a lot of peer influence in the group and that is boosting up the usage of Tramol in the target group. The community is partially aware of it but there is weak mobilisation at the community level and this is not able to address the issue. Nevertheless, among this target group the use of strong liquor in sachets has become a growing concern. It is not unusual to see riders with a small sachet in their pocket. This social acceptance is something that the CBT project seeks to redress. This is done through life skills sessions that are run at the motor taxi stations. This work really makes a big difference to ensure safer driving habits and safer communities. We tahnk you for your continues support that enables us to receive the co-funding for this project. We still have a funding gap for 2017 and your support really makes a difference!
We will be visiting the project at the end of January and we look forward to sharing more news with you in our return.
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