Togo

AGSP/Togo At a Glance:

• Program Start Date: February 2005
• Academic Focus: Junior Secondary School
• Academic Year Start: September
• Number of Local partners: 1
• Number of Scholarships to Date: 2,392 (Girls: 6,339 Boys: 1,119)
• Number of Schools: 12
• Number of Mentors: 10
• Geographic Focus: Western region

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Basic Information

• School year calendar: September – July
• Target areas of assistance are Plateaux, Centrale and Savanes regions
• This semester, visits have been conducted to Danyi and Amou prefectures in the Plateaux region; Tchamba and Tchaoudjo prefectures in the Centrale region and Oti and Kpendjal prefectures in the Savanes region.
• World Education has relationships with three local organizations: PAHCS for implementation in the Plateaux, ADIFF for implementation in the Centrale, and SIRAIB for implementation in the Savanes regions respectively.
• Agreement dates: September 2007 – August 2008

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Program Overview

In Year 1 the AGSP in Togo provided 1360 scholarships through RENOPEF to girls in the Plateaux, Centrale and Savanes regions. The program has been implemented with assistance from a Local Consultant, Mr. Albarka Aboukerim. In Year 2, World Education partnered with three NGOs in Togo: Programme d'Aide Humanitaire aux Cas Sociaux (PAHCS), Association pour le Développement Intégral de la Femme et la Jeune Fille (ADIFF), and Structure Institutionnelle de Recherche Action et d'Appui aux Initiatives de Base (SIRAIB). The partners reported enormous success in distributing 1,319 scholarships to primary school girls, as well as initiating mentoring activities. In Year 3, the three NGO partners PAHCS, ADIFF, and SIRAIB were equally successful in distributing 1,824 scholarships to primary school girls. In Year 4, communities rejoiced with the addition of boys to the program. NGO partners distributed a total of 2,955 scholarships, 1,836 to girls and the remaining 1,119 to boys. With the boys' expansion of the program in year 4, scholarship numbers increased considerably. A total of 2,955 (1,836 for girls and 1119 for boys) were distributed.

Scholars are selected through a transparent process which increases accountability and inclusiveness. School selection was done through the establishment of a prefectorial committee, where all local education stakeholders are represented. Scholar selection started with NGOs sending selection forms to the AGSP schools for the school directors to send out to parents. The directors contacted the parents to verify the information on the forms and to talk to them about the scholarship. The forms were then returned to the NGO that convened a general assembly where scholars are finally selected after all the forms were reviewed based on the established selection criteria. After the selection of scholars, NGOs and local education stakeholders worked together to identify scholars needs.

Scholarship items procurement was also done through a transparent bidding process. The scholarships packages are comprised of school supplies, books, food items, and transportation. There are currently 147 mentors in Togo. Mentors have been actively involved in monitoring the scholars' academic and social achievements. Mentoring activities focus mainly on continued sensitization campaigns on child trafficking, early marriage and other practices that negatively impact girls' education. Some mentoring activities included: holding one–on–one meetings with girls to exchange on education matters and diseases; NGO monitoring of clubs against HIV/AIDS and other sexually transmitted diseases; radio broadcasts on gender equity; continued educative talks on the following themes: rights, duties and responsible parenthood; how to prepare and handle school exams etc…; and talks on girls' education delivered by Peace Corps' Associate Director and AGSP focal person, Mrs. Rose Kpomblekou during her visits to some project sites.

Mentors have been actively involved in monitoring the scholars' attendance as well as their academic and social achievements. Mentoring activities focus mainly on continued sensitization campaigns on child trafficking, early marriage and other practices that negatively impact girls' education. Some of the activities that have taken place include:

• Holding one–on–one meetings with girls to exchange on education matters and diseases
• NGO monitoring of clubs against HIV/AIDS and other sexually transmitted diseases
• Radio broadcasts on gender equity
• Continued educative talks on the following themes: Rights, duties and responsible parenthood; how to prepare and handle school exams etc…
• Talks on girls' education delivered by Peace Corps' Associate Director and AGSP focal person, Mrs. Rose Kpomblekou during her visits to some project sites

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Exemplary Practices

Practice: Formal Collaboration with AGSP Partner NGOs

Bi–monthly team meetings are organized for the three partner NGOs in Togo: PAHCS, ADIFF, SIRAIB and facilitated by AGSP Country Consultant, Mr. Aboukerim Albarka.

• Mr. Albarka and NGOs describe these collaborative meetings as very beneficial in solving local issues with AGSP implementation. The meetings are scheduled at the beginning of the year and coincide with bi–monthly financial reports. NGOs also do strategic planning for the next two months' activities.
• The three NGOs share and discuss current practices, with data collection and entry on FieldLink, scholarship disbursement, budget management, communication issues, community participation, as well as collaboration with state services and other NGOs operating in the same regions and sectors. The focus is on actual practices in relation to the NGOs' established work plans, and NGOs collaborate in evaluating discrepancies, reflecting on problems and reasons for gaps, and discussing recommendations and solutions.

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