By Christine Musaidizi | Program Manager
Quarterly Project Management Report
School scholarships for vulnerable youth project
(1st November – 31st may 2011)
Children’s Voice Project
Project Name:
School Scholarships for Vulnerable Youth
Project program goal and outcomes:
Contributing to the provision of a education, safe , healthy environment for vulnerable streets children living in the township of Goma
Project Number
# 5947
Project Location
Goma, North Kivu Province , Eastern DRC
Target Population
Direct beneficiaries: 384 orphans, unaccompanied children and other vulnerable children living in the streets of Goma town and in its surrounding communities, families, authorities, young and children.
Focal problems identified
Vulnerable children on the street
Many children are living on the street because of the political, economic and social problems. They are abused and neglected and have little or no literacy skills.
- Provide a safe environment to street children
- Provide family reinsertion and following up
- Provide vocational training in mechanic, cooking and masonry
- Provide to read and to write
- Provide health support and potable water
- Provide some basic toys and educational resources
Duration of Project
14 months
1-September-2010 to 31-December-2011
Funding Information
Total Funding Received to Date:
$ 2 477
Remaining Goal to be Funded:
$17 523
Total Funding Goal:
$20,000
Funding source(s)
GLobalGiving
Report Contact persons
Program Manager
Christine Musaidizi Mut.
christinemusaid@hotmail.com
Mobile: +243818888706
or
Center director
Richard Kabala Ntumba
kabalantumba@yahoo.fr
Mobile: +243998786874
A2. Narrative summary of progress
DRC is a country of severe conflict. The last democratic election in 2006 and agreements with militia have provided some stability. In Goma, eastern Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC), the orphaned and vulnerable children have no system of social support apart from families and communities.
Basic Government social services are almost non-existent. Many orphans are stigmatized due to the possibility that they have been soldiers, have been raped or accused of witchcraft. Most are unable to continue school and many have never been able to afford to go at all.
In addition, the years of contact conflict including tribal conflict has caused the death of many family members and traumatized the children who bore witness to many of the atrocities. This conflict has also led to a shift in population towards the “safer” urban areas. This has increased the economic vulnerability of families who are forced to leave their farms and livelihoods.
Many children are more vulnerable in urban areas to exploitation, including sexual exploitation such as child labor and prostitution. Due to the economic difficulties and the stigmatization of many of these children, most families are unable to take on the responsibility of caring for orphans, even if they are linked to their previous communities. Many of these children are forced to earn a living by begging in the streets, being involved in early marriage or sexual exploitation, having their labor exploited and suffering from violence, illnesses and malnutrition.
In the town of Goma several hundred vulnerable orphaned and vulnerable children with themselves and exposed to all forms of violence and do not attend school.
Children’s Voice provides a safe place for children to receive informal schooling, vocational training and find the time to play, under the supervision of facilitators.
At the beginning of the current project, an assessment conducted identified the need of the children as being the following;
- Access to a save environment to street children
- Access to family reinsertion and following up
- Access to read and to write for young from 9 to 14 years old
- Access to vocational training for those up to 14 to 17 years old
- Access to health support and potable water
- Access to some basic toys and educational resources
- Child rights training for parents, guardians, police, authorities and children
The project, whose implementation began in September ’10, seeks to contribute to the care of 250 orphans, unaccompanied children and other vulnerable children living in the streets of Goma town giving them a safe protective environment and improving their health.
A3. Activities
Children’s Voice offers:
formal schooling, vocational training, counselling, medical care and family mediation and reinsertion.
1.Formal Schooling: children ages 9-14 years old are accepted into an accelerated primary school where they complete two years of curriculum within one year.
2.Vocational Training: youth ages 14-17 years old who have not gone to primary school are accepted into a vocational training program accompanied with literacy courses.
Children in the 2 centers
Class
Girls
Boys
total
Level N1a
58
59
117
Level N1b
48
58
106
Level N1c
31
28
59
Level N2a
71
61
132
Level N2b
39
31
70
Level N3
39
45
84
Tailoring
69
2
71
Mechanic
3
34
37
Cooking
14
2
16
372
320
692
Further, a total of 12 social agents and workers of the Children’s Voice Virunga and Bujovu centers were trained on the education of orphaned and vulnerable children and how to support those victims in psychological care. In addition they have received indepth trainings on the Convention on the Rights of the Child and child protection which guides them as they interact with children at the centre.
Many of children attending the Children’s Voice centre have benefited from basic medical assistance. Further, children in the centre have also received sensitization on HIV/AIDs. School age children and young adults have been sensitized about how HIV/AIDS is contracted and what preventative measures can be taken against it.
2476.59
Bank charges
5
School supplies
732
Children clothes and school uniforms
420
Vocational training equip & material
735
Medication
180
Cleaning products
180
Total
2476.59
2366.95
Balance not used on 31 may 2011
109.64
The children attending the Children Voice Learning Centre since august and started school program on 6st September 2010. They have greatly benefited from the training and school materials. A child who received states as follows;
Daniel evidence
“I have twelve. After my parents died, I and my sister were living with my grand-mother. She died on 29th April 2011. Now I live with her friend, Aunt Furaha. I enjoy being at school in Children’s Voice centre. This is my last hope. I want to continue to university and to become a lawyer or a doctor and assist children in DRC,” says Daniel, level I, Bujovu center.
Some photos of children’s activities in Viruga and Bujovu centers
I would like to sincerely thank our donors for this generous donation through GlobalGiving to the School Scholarships for Vulnerable Youth. Every donation helps ensure that we can continue helping our community.
Thank especially to:
Heather Pfahl
Rebecca Klein,
Zachary Larson-Rabin,
Jamison Jordan,
Margaret Rawson,
Izzy Hirson
Natalie Rossouw
Anita Yombo
Rori Kelleher
Jesseca Mcneill
Eric S Kotila
G Wallace
Nzinga Maddox-Salaam
Therese Rosenfeld
John Glover
And those who did not give their names!
I hope you will be around during this project. You are welcome in Goma, in Democratic Republic of Congo.
I know there are a lot of other ways you could have spent this money, but you believe in our cause, so you chose to invest it in our project. Because of this investment, I want you to feel like part of our team. We're in this together. I want our success to be your success.
Until our project is fully funded, we will be sending you regular reports about our work. You'll know what your donation has helped fund, what accomplishments we have achieved and what our current needs are.
I hope you find this partnership valuable and worthwhile. I know the economy is tough, so thank you for investing your hard-earned money on our cause. Please consider telling your friends and family about our project - share the link on your blogs or social networks, use the tell-a-friend feature on the project page to email your network, or just bring us up in conversation. You know your friends and family best, so use your own words - tell them why you chose our project and what it means to you.
Thank you again for all you have done to help this cause.
Conclusion
I know you have many ideas and suggestions how to do much better to help these children. Do not hesitate to give us you proposal. We are running this project together. I would like to see all of you in our centres. Sure it is possible. Please tell me how you think we can work together to attract wider support for this project.
Be blessed,
Christine Musaidizi
Program Manager
Children’s Voice
Goma, DR Congo
Tel. +243818888706
Email.christinemusaid@hotmail.com
http://children-voice.org/
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