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The establishment of an African YMCA Leadership Academy in Togo, West Africa, is a bold step forward for the movement, as the Academy is the first of its kind in the African YMCA history.
“There is huge need to provide continual concentrated and relevant certified training for staff and volunteers in the movement to ensure that our strategy and programming meets the changing needs of youth development work,” said Simon Lazarre Badiane, Executive Secretary: Leadership & Organisational Development, Africa Alliance of YMCAs.
“By providing this training we are not only ensuring staff and volunteers are personally and professionally equipped to meet our shared vision, but we are also contributing to the creation of African knowledge systems.”
The Academy itself is a result of a contractual agreement between the Africa Alliance of YMCAs and the Togo YMCA. Seed money for renovations for the dormitories of the Togo YMCA buildings, where the Academy will be housed, was provided by YMCAs of New York and Charlotte.
Certificated courses, which will be offered to civil society organisations and individuals as well as the YMCA staff and volunteers, will include various key focus issues relevant to youth development work. The following are being considered: Advocacy and civic engagement, Conflict transformation & peace building, Gender, Human rights, Reproductive health & HIV/AIDS, and Environment & climate change. Diploma courses will include youth and social work, leadership and programming and fundraising.
The ultimate goal is to offer relevant degree courses at and through the Academy. “While the Academy’s primary focus will be on training, it will also be open to use by civil society and church groups for meetings, camps and workshops. In this way, the Academy will not only meet a market need, but will also ensure sustainability.”
As part of a leadership strategy, it is envisaged that there will be YMCA Leadership Academies serving Southern and East African countries to complete the West African Academy.
Renovation work will begin soon and we will keep you updated on progress.
By: Gil Harper, Africa Alliance of YMCAs
In the run-up to Togo’s presidential elections on 4 March 2010, many of her citizens hold a collective breath of fear and anticipation as Togo’s history has been marred by electoral violence and human rights violations.
Yet there is also hope, according to opinion leaders in Sokode who have been part of a civic engagement pilot project.
Aimed at creating a safer Togo, 60 traditional, religious and other community opinion leaders were trained to engage with their constituencies in 12 local communities.
“The focus was on the values and democracy, unity, social cohesion and a culture of peace. This was particularly important and well-timed for the period preceding the presidential election,” said Franck Gafan, Programme Director, Togo YMCA.
Commenting on the training, Chief of Barrière community, El Hadj Tchagodomou, said, “As community leaders, we learnt that a real citizen has to regularly look for information, and to strengthen social cohesion by searching for ways to reinforce capacity of each community member to communicate with others. We also learnt that freedom must be understood first of all in terms of the respect of laws ruling society. This is why my freedom to expand information of sensitisation, and my ideas and opinions do not allow me to practice slander, denigration or to invite people to violence. We need to change our mindset.
Through public forums and community dialogue these leaders reached a total of 5 000 community members from October to December last year.
“Based on our plan developed during the training, we conducted restitution sessions and organised sensitisation events in our community of Barrière, Sokode. The population found the messages very realistic when applied to their everyday lives. They promised to disseminate the message amongst themselves at all levels of the community for peace and solidarity that enables development,” said Tchagodomou.
Funded by the US Embassy in Lomé, it is hoped that this project will have some impact on the election, if only for the communities in which it was run.
Election campaigning began this week, on 16 February 2010. There has been much controversy linked to this election, which is being run by Independent National Electoral Commission (CENI), comprised of representatives of the ruling party, parliamentary and extra-parliamentary opposition, civil society and the administration.
First there was the issue of the president of CENI, a member of the extra-parliamentary opposition, who was unable to perform his tasks adequately as the parliamentary opposition refused to work with him. He was then replaced by a representative from civil society by consensual election.
Then there was the single round of voting system (a 2002 constitutional amendment) which caused hot debate and tension in the electioneering. A surprise turn of events occurred when opposition party leader Glichrist Olympio was unable to make the deadline for candidacy as he could not travel back from the United States for the required medical review due to a health issue.
Current President Faure Gnassingbe Eyadema came to power amidst much controversy when he was co-opted after the death of his father, President Gnassingbe Eyadema in early 2005. Due to international pressure he stepped down but was then elected two months’ later in what the opposition said was a rigged vote. According to the United Nations, about 500 people died in the political violence surrounding this poll and around 40 000 Togolese fled to neighbouring countries. Although Togo’s political parties agreed to form a transitional government of national unity in 2006, the opposition was excluded from government when the ruling party won the parliamentary elections in 2007.
President Gnassingbe Eyadema seized power of Togo in a 1967 coup and served for 38 years, surviving boycotted elections, those deemed unfair, violence surrounding election run-ups and results, and a protracted general strike in the early 1990s.
Initially scheduled for 28 February 2010, the election will now take place on 4 March 2010.
Photo: Community leaders during Togo YMCA civic engagement pilot project
 - Youth at a camp during the reintegration phase
By:Eric Sallah, Communication Consultant, HCHR, Lomé, Togo
Judiciary procedures in Togo are very slow due to the lack of appropriate and sufficient number of magistrates and judges with adequate means to handle cases. Further, many families do not have financial means to hire lawyers for young people in conflict with the law. Thus many young offenders spend extended pre-trial detention time in prison. On 25 March 2008, only 20% of detainees in Lomé prison had been sentenced.
Ineffective organisation and lack of materials lead to ‘loss’ of folders during prosecution. In prison, detainees are plagued by idleness as there are neither recreational activities nor training programmes, except in the women’s section in Lomé prison. Moreover, the absence of reintegration programmes increases the risk of re-offending.
This is the context in which Togo YMCA initiated the justice and rehabilitation of young offenders’ project in August 2005. Working in Lomé and Atakpamé prisons and Brigade pour Mineurs (a detention centre for children), this project was implemented in partnership with Y Care International which mobilised the necessary resources from YMWCA (KFUK-KFUM) Sweden.
Due to their low economic status and power, most families cannot hire lawyers for the youth in conflict with the law. Through the project, the YMCA provides legal support for these young people under 25 years of age. The main focus is to prepare them for reintegration after they have completed their sentences. The YMCA has been providing in-prison training opportunities in hair dressing and barbering, and silkscreen printing.
The project also provides literacy activities for those who did not have the opportunity to go to school or who dropped out early.
Health is a priority due to insufficient medicine and so the project supports the prisons’ health service by providing medicine. To prevent sexually transmitted diseases, YMCA-trained peer educators work with fellow inmates, educating them on sexually transmitted infections (STIs), HIV and hygiene. Various recreational games are also provided through the programme.
In order to facilitate reintegration after release, they are provided with psychological support. During detention, the YMCA plays an important role of mediation between the youth and their families. The aim is to involve members of the family in assisting the youth who suffered pre-prison circumstances as well as during prison, and to work together to enable the young people to prepare for their future.
After prison, a new life starts... For better reintegration, camp activities are regularly organised for young people in the reintegration phase. Their parents are also often gathered together for exchanges of experience, information and psychological support.
Follow-up visits assess the progress made by the beneficiaries and help to manage any conflict between the youth and their parents, as well as the youth and their trainers.
Impact of the project
In-prison activities helped to release at least 150 young people who spent many months in prison for petty crimes. Lost folders were miraculously found again. Professional training reduced idleness and quarrels in detention centres. Detainees acquired understanding on hygiene.
By the end of the project activities, the following results were achieved:
- Legal support: 240 reached (24 female, 216 male)
- Literacy: 316 reached (33 female, 283 male)
- Sensitisation on hygiene and counselling on STIs/HIV: 1036 reached (89 female, 947 male)
- Academic and professional training: 280 reached (73 female, 207 male)
- Total reached: 1872 (219 female, 1653 male)
Previously marginalised, young people who received legal support have started living honest lives. Disappointed parents have started trusting their children again. They even decided to form a support group and have reported that they are feeling more positive about the future of their children.
Bali is a young man aged 22, who never met his father and whose mother passed away. He was convicted of possessing stolen goods. During detention, he benefitted from the recreational activities conducted by YMCA, and the legal support he received resulted in his release. Before coming into conflict with the law, Bali had completed training in carpentry, and during the reintegration phase the YMCA gave him a starter kit with which he opened his own business. “If I did not meet YMCA in prison, I would take example on bad behaviours of criminal people in jail. Besides, I would be jobless upon release because during my detention all my work tools were stolen. I thank you for the toolkit you provided me,” he said.
When this project ended recently, a new initiative was developed: ‘Justice and rehabilitation of young people and children in conflict with the law or at risk’. The new project, which began this year, took into consideration the terms of reference and learnings of the completed project and new components were added. In the new project, it is implicitly noted that the effects of the ending one will be reinforced.
The leadership of the YMCA wants to tackle new challenges now, such as prevention of delinquency, which will necessarily involve socio-professional reintegration for young people and street children. To draw the attention to the importance of promoting and respecting the basic rights of young people, YMCA networks with five other NGOs. Together we are organising a wide-scale advocacy campaign for better justice for young people. This will involve ex-offenders who will be trained, and participate in the leading youth group in charge of the advocacy activities intended to sensitise authorities and communities. It will be a good opportunity to disseminate the Child Code which is ignored by the community at large.
Another innovation concerns the development of a Code of Conduct to be applied in prisons. There will also be the formation and training of in-prison legal clubs. Members of these clubs will use the peer education approach to sensitise their fellow inmates on their rights and obligations. They will be able to assist their inmates in writing their applications to judges and will help in selecting those whose cases are being delayed and who need legal support.
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18-year old Ibrahim is in form 4 of junior secondary school in Lomé. Born into a poor polygamous family, he stated: “My mother disappeared when I was 4 years old and since that time I haven’t seen her again. My father is alive but does not care for me. I live with my grandmother – mother of my mother.”
Ibrahim made this statement during a camp for young people in the reintegration phase, post their prison service. Lacking parental care and role-models, he said that he developed “deviating behaviour”. He would go out at night, refusing to attend classes at school during the day. As a juvenile, he was arrested because he committed sodomy on another minor.
During his stay in Brigade pour Mineurs in Lomé, he met the psychologist of the YMCA and received support from him. “Through the intervention of the YMCA, I got rid of bad friends and don’t go out in the night. Now I don’t get ashamed of myself any more, even at school. The YMCA paid my school fees and stationery.
This year I was the best student in my class.” His grandmother is very proud of him because he is a regular student. Before he met the YMCA, Ibrahim did not have a birth certificate. Through the project, he now has one.
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By:Franck Gafan, Programme Director, Togo YMCA
Although Makilawe Kehira, a 24-year-old ex-offender from Togo, was unable to attend the United National Human Rights Council due to visa restrictions, his story was still told. (see Youth Justice update article)
He is currently preparing for the A level diploma. A remarkable achievement as he has faced many obstacles in his life. His mother passed away when he was a baby and he grew up with his father and step-mother. Relations with his father are not good. In 2007, he was arrested for robbery and spent 11 days at police station before he was transferred to jail. In prison he came before a magistrate after a month but the trial only started 9 months later. On the 12th month he was sentenced to detention for 8 months, thereby losing 2 academic years.
In prison, Makilawe met staff from the Togo YMCA who assisted him by providing legal support through lawyers, psychological support and family mediation. When he was released the YMCA continued to help him go back to school.
Presently Malilawe is still benefiting from YMCA project. But he is also giving back – he contributes during beneficiary group meetings and camps as a resource person. He shares his story and experience as well as his ambition and commitment in order to encourage others.
Togo YMCA has recently started a new project which focuses on the justice and rehabilitation of young offenders and young people at risk. One of the actions to be taken is a campaign / advocacy to promote juvenile justice. Makilawe is one of the ex-offender committee members who will be leading the campaign groups. After training they will work with other young people to develop advocacy strategies and actions to be implemented for the promotion of their rights.
Photo: Makilawe, second from left, participating in a workshop on advocacy organised in Lomé and conducted by YCI staff.
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Togo is the latest in a series of African countries that have been selected by the YMCA family to engage in a GOP process for Movement Strengthening. The Global Operating Plan (GOP) is a tool developed by the YMCA movement to help YMCAs grow stronger. In June this year, Togo YMCA staff and volunteers, international partners and representatives from the Africa Alliance and World Alliance met in Bagbe, Togo, to undertake an institutional diagnosis of Togo YMCA and draw up a roadmap to get the organisation back on its feet.
Once the strongest and most stable movement in the African continent, thanks in part to an internationally recognised community development and education programme, Togo YMCA has gone through several years of hardship and leadership crisis. It has now regained its harmony, and with staff and volunteers working hand in hand to bring the YMCA back to its former glory. “There is no turning back. With GOP, the international YMCA family is offering us a unique chance and we have to grab it,” explains David Sanvee, President of Togo YMCA.
During several days, volunteers and staff of the Togo YMCA went through a long and arduous process of identifying problems and challenges faced by the movement. Once all participants agreed on the issues to tackle, first approaches to resolve these issues were developed.
“This process is not easy and oftentimes very painful as there is no hiding from facts. And yet, it is very encouraging when you come to the point where everybody agrees about what needs to be done,” says Frank Gafan, Director of Programmes from Togo YMCA.
At the end of the process, everybody agreed on a first six-month roadmap to tackle a series of priority issues such as the revision of the governance agreement, membership development and a financial turnaround strategy. It should be noted that Togo YMCA has an agricultural training centre and considerable land reserves. These assets, if properly harnessed, can provide a sound financial basis for the organisation.
No matter which part of the world they are based, YMCAs are now invited to subscribe to the new Country Focus Group, a group that will accompany and support the GOP process of Togo YMCA with expertise and resources during the years to come. The YMCAs of Canada, Germany and the USA have already expressed their interest in being part of this group. Others will hopefully follow.
Togo is one of the youngest nations on earth. Children below the age of 15 form about half of Togo’s 6 million people, young people between the ages of 15-24 about 17%. Structural adjustment programmes by the IMF and World Bank, price drops in raw materials and a long disengagement by international donors have seriously affected the national economy and adversely affected Togo’s population.
“In this context, where young people are craving opportunities for a better life, the YMCA’s mandate to empower young people couldn’t be more relevant,” concludes Assogba Michel Kouassi, head of mission, who has been specially recruited by Togo YMCA to lead the reform process of the YMCA.
Togo is the seventh GOP focus country in Africa, after South Africa, Zambia, Sierra Leone, Ghana, Gambia and Ethiopia.
Simon Pluess, Executive Secretary: Organisational Development, Emergency Response, World Alliance of YMCAs.
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