IBC wants to empower youth to become protagonists of their own life and to provide them the necessary skills to face the everyday challenges of their lives. The youth are encouraged to contribute actively to more peaceful, just and inclusive societies, as many personal stories confirm.
Gisèle Kibongui, a life skills facilitator in Congo, states: “It is a real pleasure to see how young people engage in the project and understand the relevance of the issues. Life Skills help them to cope with peer pressure and keep themselves safe from the drugs and alcohol that destroy many lives.”
Part of the life skills education is also the training of peer educators who serve as potential role models for their peers. The peer educators become ambassadors of the project and are able to accompany their peers within organized “life skills clubs” who are linked to the participant schools of the project, or to neighbourhood committees or churches. These life skill clubs are “training” space where the youth can practice their life skills, debate, prepare theatres, songs, dances, do sport activities and live in a healthy and positive environment. It keeps the children and youth off the streets and away from alcohol and other drugs after the school.
The project in its essence wants to build a new generation of youth who have not only healthy lifestyles without alcohol and other drug consumption, but also a life free from violence, a life dedicated to the achievement of gender equality and contributing to a more peaceful, just and inclusive society!
Thank you for supporting this project over and over again! We are grateful for everything you give.
The first ever IBC Youth Connect Event took place on 2.3.2023 with over 50 registered participants! Youth Connect is a new online forum for under 25s that seek to bring together youth from around the world to share the actions of the International Blue Cross. Young people who are involved with Blue Cross activities around the world had the opportunity to network and connect with each other. During the online event, young people got the chance to collect ideas for youth collaboration within International Blue Cross.
In groups, they had time to brainstorm and discuss what IBC youth can do together internationally. They reflected on the following questions:
What does it take to get youth engaging?
What does it take to connect young people around the world (mainly online, but also in person)?
What does the collaboration mean?
What do you want to think and talk about? What topics are you interested in?
12 young representatives from Chad participated in Youth Connect. The event enabled young Chadians to connect and interact with other young people from around the world and learn how to build a positive and healthy future free from alcohol and other drug harm. Participants are now equipped to positively impact their communities!
It was such a joy to meet young people who are committed to make a difference and drive the youth agenda forward! Thank you for supporting projects like this with your donation. Let’s bring youth together, offer different ways to connect and make their voices heard! Thank you for everything you give.
Many young people in Togo worry about the future. Will they find a job after graduating from school? Will they be able to afford to start a family? With 41 percent of the population under the age of 15, the population in the West African country is very young. This is where the Life Skills Program of the International Blue Cross (IBC) comes in. It opens up spaces for young people to discuss their questions and fears.
Life skills trainings are participatory. Young people learn about the risks and consequences of alcohol and drug use. They discuss how to deal with peer pressure and what they can do to make good decisions even in difficult situations.
Jérémie (14) says: "The Blue Cross has helped me to understand myself and life better. I became more self-confident and realized that every person is valuable and unique. I have learned to control my emotions and anger. The courses have strengthened my conviction and motivation to never resort to drugs and not to solve problems with violence."
A central approach of the IBC program is the training of multipliers, so-called peer educators. This year alone, eight new life skills clubs have already been established. They take place after school and are organized independently by the peer educators. In contrast to regular school lessons, the young people in the clubs interact at eye level: in addition to quizzes and debates, plays are rehearsed or even a soccer tournament is organized once in a while. Peer educators often act as role models. They can report from their own experience, for example how they have managed to give up alcohol and drugs and how this has changed their lives for the better.
Thank you so much for everything you give to support young people in Togo, and help to change their lives!
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IBC implements a gender transformative approach to its work on gender justice and prevention of sexual and gender-based violence (SGBV). Data collection from our external evaluation of 2020 shows that among our beneficiaries' risk behaviours, gender-based violence is the most common, followed by other sexual risk behaviours, alcohol and drug use. Furthermore, substance use and increased levels of violence, mainly SGBV are deeply linked, which has been confirmed by various studies. Alcohol consumption increases violence in the public and private space. There exists a “growing recognition of the role of alcohol in violence against women, particularly in the family. The relation between all forms of aggression and alcohol use is enormous and unequivocal ».[1]
In order to transform gender relations and break gender stereotypes IBC runs life skills sessions on the topic of gender. In 2021 a total of 8040 youths benefitted from the sessions accros our three project countries Chad, Togo and Congo. One challenge that our local partners are facing, is that young girls face more restrictions and limitations to take part in the activities of IBC. It is difficult to involve girls in the activities on a regular basis, due to other commitments in the households and some of the parents don’t want them to participate:
“At first, I was hesitant to allow my teenage daughter to leave the house to go to the Generation 5S club from time to time. Today, I have been reassured that she has made the right choice of her extracurricular activities; after all I have seen, I am now reassured and convinced that her exemplary behaviors are partly due to the lessons she received at the Generation 5S project!" Parent of a peer educator in Congo.
More prevention activities with parents are needed to reinforce their knowledge and skills but also to reinforce their trust in the partner, for them to allow girls to take part in the activities, without any restriction. In order to reach sustainable change it is inevitable to involve parents. Once children and youths show positive behaviour change related to alcohol and other drugs and violence, it is difficult for them to fully adapt their behaviour if at home they are still stuck with "old" patterns such as being victims of violence, discrimination and neglect. IBC has therefore focused more on involving parents and has organized sessions about positive discipline (non-violent education), education based on dialogue, mutual trust and open communication.
In order to reach more parents and involve them in sustainable change, we need your help. Our Life Skills Sessions in Congo, Chad and Togo can only take place because of generous donors. Thank you so much for everything you give!
[1]p.12 Global status report on alcohol and health, 2018, World Health Organization
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