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>View discussions about this entry Country: Benin
Organization: AUTRE VIE
Year the initative began (yyyy) - 2000
Project URL: http://www.ong-autrevie.org
Positioning in the Mosaic of solutions
Describe your program or new idea in one sentence. - Poor and illiterate young men get a professional training, learn to read/write in the local language, work in cooperative micro enterprise
What makes your initiative uniquely positioned to create change in your community? - The program aims at reinventing solidarity and sharing spirit in the society. Thus, since 2000, we have been working towards mobilizing skills of professional training centers and local opportunities in order to effectively respond to the personal aspirations of destitute young men.
Through our mobilization campaigns for a more reliable society, we intend to rescue hopeless souls, especially destitute young men by: - giving the chance of getting a professional training - getting a host family in the community they live in order to allow them attend the training in very comfortable conditions - giving them language learning courses in reading, writing and calculating in the local language - initiating them to entrepreneurship - and finally helping them get equipped and establish their own workshop or business The program is intended to advocate social development, alternative education, solidarity and sharing spirit, promotion of the rights of the youth, exploitation of local opportunities, promotion of local development, cooperative entrepreneurship and promotion of new employment. Describe how you organize and carry out your work? - The activities are performed by a dynamic team which is mainly in charge of the identification of destitute young men, the mobilisation of host families and training centres, the professional, training enrolment, monitoring of the young trainees and their establishment after the completion of the training. Identification of destitute young men, host families and training centers.
• Establishment of our community representatives in charge of identifying destitute young men • Sensitization of the populations about the benefits of the program • Reception and listening of the young destitutes • Organization of sensitization campaigns to the training centers and hosting families • Signing the agreements relating to the functioning principles of the program • Meeting for the approval of the inquiries made on the host families • Settle of the young men in their host families Enrolment of the young men in training centers (start of the training) Mobilization of local opportunities. • Donation of cloths, food and apprenticeship equipment in favor of the young What is your plan to scale and expand your innovation into your community and beyond? - Monitoring of the young trainees (Periodical visits in the training centers and host families to assure of the good living and working conditions of the young men)
• Meeting of the young trainees every two weeks • Meeting of the heads of training centers and host families every three months • Periodical social advising session of the young men by an educational psychologist. Language learning and entrepreneurship • A team of educational advisors teach the young apprentices how to read, write, calculate and manage in the local language. Certificates giving ceremony following a successful three years training What other resources, institutional, or policy needs would be necessary to help sustain and scale up your idea? - - gathering young men into small enterprises
- letting the small enterprises take over the program in other regions of Benin by identifying and training other destitute young men. - organizing training workshops for the heads of training centers and host families especially on the rights of the youth. So we need means to establish and equip those micro enterprises, train the heads of training centers and host families on the rights of the youth and finally produce a documentary in order to popularize the innovation. Describe your impact in one sentence, commenting on both the individual and community levels. - This program helped many young men get new employment, satisfy the daily needs of their families and contribute to the development of their localities.
What impact has your work achieved to date? - Thanks to the program, 1072 young men got rescued from poverty, unemployment, illiteracy, juvenile delinquency, rural exodus, trafficking of human being, clandestine immigration, and are now contributing to the economic growth of their areas.
What measure do you use to gauge your impact and why? - We gauge the impacts of the program according to the goals, activities and expected results previously set in the plan of the program including the number of identified young destitutes, the number of those who have completed their training, the number of those who have established and the intended effects on their communities. Therefore, the program has helped reduce remarkably the rate of unemployment on the national level and also promote the rights of the youth in Benin.
How is your initiative currently being financed and how would you finance further expansion and/or replication? - The initiative is currently being financed by the contributions of the members of our organization, donations and subsidies of some organizations.
Provide information on your current finances and organization: - a. annual budget
b. annual revenue c. sources of revenue (please provide percentages if known) d. number of staff (full-time, part-time, and volunteers) 2005 2006 2007 F CFA US$ F CFA US$ F CFA US$ Annual Budget 17,272,300 22,370,000 35,368,512 Annual Revenue 15,278,600 21,375,270 31,979,250 Sources of Revenue Subsidies and donations 9,372,500 14,720,000 24,780,275 Our Contribution 5,906,100 6,655.270 7,198,975 Number of staff Full-time Part-time volunteers Total Who are your potential partners and allies? - - Association of Benin Artisans
- Association Femme Solidarité Bénin - Association Solidarité Coopératif avec les Enfants d’Afrique, France. - Host families - The Government of Benin Who are your potential investors? - - Société des Transits Touré
- Association les Crayons de Couleur, France. What is the origin of this innovation? Tell us your story. - Destitute children and young men represent 80% of Benin population and are the most occupied and open to a great development change, but due to the crucial lack of support, they engage themselves into things that are prejudicial to the sustainable development of Benin.
The situation now is very bitter, poverty is disproportionately increasing in towns and countrysides because of the lack of support to very talented young men who are unfortunately left alone, for one reason or the other, by their parents. Due to such living conditions, the hopeless young people grow up poor and are exposed to problems like rural exodus, juvenile delinquency, HIV/AIDS, child trafficking, child enslavement in exchange of money. There is therefore a need for finding strategies that can help face and solve effectively all those problems, which are source permanent poverty. So it is useless pretending to build a peaceful and democratic society without a real commitment for the improvement of the living quality of destitute children and young men. Please provide a personal bio. Note this may be used in Changemakers marketing material. - Romuald Djivoessoun is the Executive Director of the NGO Autre Vie and also the author of the innovation mentioned above. He was born on August 21, 1972 at Ko-Ayidjèdo, in Ifangni township of Oueme region of Benin. After his studies in Benin, Senegal, Côte-d’Ivoire and Italy, Romuald became a Development Administrator, an Educational Advisor on the rights of the child, and a Social Promoter with many attestations and certificates.
In the wake of Benin national reconciliation conference that involved all the civil society and political forces in 1990, Romuald Djivoessoun, as a former destitute young man, decided to achieve his wish of helping other destitute young men, and in 1996, he created an organization called “Autre Vie” , intended to help young men come out idleness, poverty, illiteracy, unemployment, juvenile delinquency ; through a strategy of solidarity, sharing, mobilization of local opportunities, he aims at promoting and protecting the rights of those young people and impulsing local development. From 1996 to 2006, Romuald is the author of many publications and Contact Information:
Romuald Djivoessoun
Founder and Director of “Autre Vie” AUTRE VIE (NGO focusing on the protection and promotion of the rights of the child, youth and women. ) Discussions about this entry |
Program of Apprenticeship, Training and Language learning of Destitute Young Men
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Could you please give an example of the kinds of small enterprises that you work to start? Also, perhaps you could link some of your youth up with Youth Venture - an initiative of Ashoka. Check it out: http://www.genv.net/
Thanks
Dana Frasz
Changemakers
>we need means to establish and equip those micro enterprises....
what enterprises are you thinking of ?
regards
jacky foo
Children's Village and Vocational Centre (CVVC), Kenya
http://www.changemakers.net/en-us/node/3940
Hello Romuald,
We are excited to have your entry in the competition. Can you please tell us more about the impact of the program on the Youth, on the community and on society? Do you have any stories you could share of youth that have been through your program?
Thanks
Dana Frasz
Changemakers