IDAY newsletter - Fall 2014

IDAY

Newsletter Fall 2014

© IDAY-International aisbl

The role of African civil society in development projects in Africa

Features

Raising voices for Education in Africa

Day of the African Child 2014 Interview with Abigail Disney Yaguine & Fodé - 15 years after

Welcome !

Get in touch with IDAY Visit our website www.iday.org and subscribe to our newsletter: info@iday.org

Regional Assemblies The Regional Assembly scheduled for West Africa has been postponed until early 2015 due to the Ebola epidemy. IDAY strives to bring together all stakeholders and reprograms a Regional Assembly in the region.

The Regional Assembly planned for East Africa will be held from October 27 to November 1 in Burundi.

More information will follow for the practical arrangements, meanwhile do not hesitate to contact IDAY by sending an email to info@iday.org.

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The Chairman’s view

info@iday.org Index 2 - The Chairman’s view 3 - News from IDAY-International 4 - International Day of the African Child 2014 5 - Interview with Abigail Disney 6 - The role of African civil society in development projects

With the support from King Baudouin Foundation

About IDAY IDAY-International is an advocacy network of African civil associations working in the education field.

IDAY-International fights for the rights of every young African to get full access to quality education by encouraging a positive and sustainable dialogue between the African civil society and their governments.

Development is the process by which one enhances the capacity to determine one’s own future.

This implies that the government respects people’s fundamental rights so that they can fully exploit their own potential. It also involves the absence of uncertain impediments, like for instance conflicts or prevailing diseases that reduce people’s confidence, for they can safely invest in their own and their children’s future.

For foreign aid -a basically uncertain factor- to support this process, it must remain discreet and foster the local capacity to take things in their own hands.

This requires a true revolution in the way this aid is organised.

IDAY-International 19, rue des Jambes - 1420 Braine-l’Alleud - Belgium Responsible Publisher: J-J. Schul Editor in chief / Graphic Designer: L. Fourmentin Phone: +32 (0)2 385 44 12 - lfourmentin@iday.org Bank account: IBAN - BE 93 5230 8026 6767 BIC - TRIOBEBB (TRIODOS).

IDAY p. 2 / Fall 2014

Jean-Jacques Schul President - Founder of IDAY-International www.iday.org

News - IDAY International

Europe

For an active remembrance of Yaguine & Fodé “Esteemed members and leaders of Europe, we in Africa appeal to your solidarity and your kindness. Help us, we are suffering terribly in Africa, we have problems and there are gaps in children’s rights.”

With these words starts the letter found on Yaguine & Fodé’s dead bodies, two young Guineans hidden in the landing gear of Sabena Airlines airplane in 1999.

Fifteen years later, the “Framework for Yaguine & Fodé’s Message” and its partners organized Friday 1st August a film projection “Africa Paradise” and 2nd August a Memorial day at the Embassy of Guinea and at Brussels Airport. After one minute of silence in front of a bouquet of flowers, white roses were distributed to people with a flyer explaining the message of Yaguine & Fodé.

The aim was to pay tribute to these two young victims and reactivate public interest around the lack of respect of the fundamental rights of the African youth’s future.

Team

Europe / US

New faces for IDAY-International: a new Project Director – Audrey Laviolette, a new Administrative Assistant – Brigitte Brogniez et a new Communication Officer (till the end of Dominique’s maternity cover) – Louis Fourmentin. IDAY regrets to inform the departure of Marie Deridder by 19 September.

In partnership with the King Baudouin Foundation United States (KBF-US), related to the Fondation Roi Baudouin, IDAY is proud to communicate on the birth of the “IDAY American Funds”. This funds will help our American friends to participate in IDAY’s international growth.

IDAY-International team is available to all IDAY members in order to strengthen the network’s synergy.

For further information, please visit www.kbfus.org and www.iday.org.

“From teacher to teacher” – A teachers training programme by IDAY-Kenya IDAY-Kenya has identified a major deficiency in schools in Kenya: the lack of well trained teachers. To address this dysfunction, IDAY- Kenya has established a team of teachers trained and recognized in their discipline.

These teachers have volunteered to offer their free time to train their colleagues working in the slums. This pilot project has already been at work in six schools and was attended by nearly 250 people. The results are very promising: the parents are delighted and made more donations to schools; teachers are more motivated than ever and people are increasingly willing to participate in this trainings. The project will now be extended to other categories involved in education: students (how to pass the test?), parents (how to monitor and help their child in school?) and head teachers (financial management, human resources, etc.).

If you wish to support this project, contact IDAY-Kenya via the Project Bank on our website: www.iday.org.

www.iday.org

Africa Advocay initiative in Kivu / For a quality education for all IDAY-Kivu DRC listed a series of proposals to improve the education sector in the DRC. Written in partnership with representatives of committees of parents, school administrators and several other actors of civil society, this document is aimed to be massively disseminated and to provide a basic ground for other IDAY’s member countries to ensure that the rights and freedoms to education are guaranteed and respected everywhere.

For more information, please visit our Facebook page or www.iday.org

IDAY p. 3 / Fall 2014

Day of the African Child 2014 The International Day of the African Child is for IDAY a dedicated time to bring people together and ensure that the voice of civil society is heard by a constructive dialogue with the authorities.

In spirit of the march of young South Africans in 1976, members of IDAY commemorate this event every year on the theme of the right for quality education for all, especially for the most vulnerable and neglected groups.

The celebrations of the Day of the African Child 2014 allowed many IDAY coalitions to provide relevant perspectives on issues related to education. Based mostly on the theme of the African Union “A child friendly, quality, free and compulsory education for all children in Africa”, some countries gave further guidance on these commemorations either by focusing on specific themes (such as disabled children, school gardens, etc.) – or by conducting outstanding actions (projection of the film “African Youth for Africa” at ZIFF festival (Zanzibar), public demonstration of 2500 people and many others events).

IDAY-International is proud to share with you all these actions undertaken by its members.

Kenya There are more than 150 million disabled children worldwide and 4/5 are found in developing countries where they lack of support and structures.

Nigeria

IDAY-Kenya managed to gather some 250 participants at the Day of the African Child - dedicated to children with disabilities.

Tanzania

For three days, from June 13 to 16, IDAYNigeria prepared and participated in a panel discussion and an assessment of the plantation of Artemisia-annua with participating NGOs, as well as a press conference so that health and access to education for all is assured.

From June 14 to 16, IDAY-Tanzania has conducted several outreach activities in 15 schools to promote school gardens and to increase access to anti-malaria treatments.

In addition to these awareness campaign, IDAY-Tanzania assured the projection of the documentary “African Youth for Africa” at ZIFF festival (Zanzibar International Film Festival).

DRC Cameroon On June 17 in Yaounde, IDAYCameroon held a full day of national debate on four themes related to education: the implementation of the Dakar agreement for education for all, the post-2015 Agenda, the decentralization of the education system, the issue of gender in schools and the education of vulnerable children.

IDAY p. 4 / Fall 2014

Togo

In Kinshasa, two action days were held: on June 7 to raise awareness in 5 schools and 20 participating organizations and on June 16 with a national-debate.

In Kivu, a conference and debate brought 150 representatives together, including Ms. Minister of Gender who pledged that the government will continue to support the efforts of civil society organisations.

In Tsévié, IDAY-Togo conducted two action days: on June 24 with a tour of the participating schools and on June 26 with a public march of 2500 people.

www.iday.org

Day of the African Child 2014 - IDAY IDAY-Belgium organized an action day in Pari-Daiza zoo, followed by a discussion with the authorities and the ambassadors to make education for all a priority and to strengthen the role of civil society in Africa.

IDAY-France organized an exhibition and a concert followed by a panel discussion on “Can leisure activities contribute to education for all? “.

IDAY-UK was able to hold a speech in the British House of Commons on the subject of “Education for All in Africa”.

“ A child friendly, quality, free and compulsory education for all children in Africa “

Specific Themes IDAY-Guinea-Conakry – “Education challenges in periurban areas” IDAY-Kenya – «Breaking the barriers on inclusive education» IDAY-Mauritania – « The right to education for children living with a disability » IDAY-Ghana – « Quality Education - The Role of Government – NGO post-2015 Agenda »

African Union theme IDAY-Gabon, IDAY-Rwanda, IDAY-Uganda, IDAY-Benin, IDAY-Burkina Faso, IDAYTogo, IDAY-DRC , IDAY-Cameroon, IDAYInternational, IDAY-UK

IDAY-Tanzania – « Promoting quality education for our children trough better anti-malaria prevention » IDAY-Nigeria – « Working together to achieve quality education for our children - a Panacea for development »

Benin

Ghana

IDAY-Benin for its part commemorated the African Day Child with a sub-theme on “Artemisia Annua.” A panel discussion of 120 participants took place with the presence of the representative of IDAY-Senegal.

Bringing together more than 110 participants, the National Education Forum, in which IDAY-Ghana strongly contributed, helped shed light on the actions taken in the field of education in Ghana in 2014 with the construction of 50 schools by the government and another 23 by the World Bank. Moreover, IDAY-Ghana and its partners have submitted to the government a press release of 13 recommendations which will be considered by the authorities in the development of future legislation.

Visit www.iday.org and our Facebook page to follow news from IDAY-coalitions.

See you next year to commemorate the International Day of the African Child 2015.

To participate and/or support these projects, please contact IDAY-International: info@iday.org

www.iday.org

IDAY p. 5 / Fall 2014

Credits : photo by Robin Holland

Interview / Abigail Disney Miss Abigail Disney is a filmmaker and a philanthropist. Her longstanding interest for themes related to women and peace became a reality with the realization of her first film, “Pray the Devil Back to Hell.”

She persevered in this direction by co-creating the successful documentary series “Women, War & Peace,” which put light on the role of women in situations of conflict resolution. Through the intercession of the King Baudouin Foundation, IDAY- International had the honor to ask her several questions about her vision of philanthropy related to development and especially the solutions brought by local civil society organizations. Here are her -well informed- views on these subjects.

Here comes my first question: How did you come to make a distinction between “charity” and “problem solving philanthropy”?

After many years in philanthropy I have come to believe that very often the work of “doing good” stops with the good intentions of the funder. Good intentions are wonderful, of course, but if they result in a school being built where water is more necessary then they do more harm than good. Increasingly it seems to me that if we are to be helpful we really need to challenge ourselves to go one question further, and be harder on ourselves, and to understand the difference between charity which ultimately only gratifies the giver, and philanthropy, which attempts to genuinely change the living circumstances of the recipient with full respect for their dignity and human potential.

How important for you are local actors (civil society, local women organizations) in development processes in Africa?

Nothing good will ever happen until local actors are fully respected and deferred to in development processes anywhere. It is only the local actors who know what the priorities are, and what local nuances might interfere with even the best development plans. It is incredibly heartening to see that more agencies and governments are increasingly bringing an understanding of this fact to their work around the world.

IDAY p. 6 / Fall 2014

How would you explain to foreign donors how best to help local people in their fight to get their basic rights respected?

This is a hard thing to figure out. When we respect the basic rights of local people it is because we respect them enough to truly come to know them. This takes time and of course physical presence. Most foreign donors cannot take the time to know local people well. So we must learn to differentiate between all the potential surrogates and third parties who can act in our stead. We must learn to know the difference between a big NGO or agency that speaks well about its work but maybe doesn’t necessarily really bring respect and dignity to the way they treat local actors and another kind of group that might not be a slick or well packaged, that might not have a great advertising budget or a loud presence on the web, but takes the time and energy to defer to the wishes of local people.

How did you succeed in gaining attention on such a complex issue as women in war and peace situations? Do you have a secret recipe? What could organisations like ours and our local members learn from your experience?

I think that I have mostly been very very lucky!! But I had worked for many years with small, local women’s organizations, so when I heard the story of the Liberian women, and the other stories in Women, War and Peace I knew that they contained all the ingredients of a film that would illuminate these otherwise poorly understood issues. The first challenge was to make a strong, compelling, emotionally gripping film--the hardest challenge of them all!! And I succeeded in doing this by working with enormously talented people like our director, GiniReticker. And then I used every connection and relationship I ever had to make sure the world knew about the film. Once I had done all of that, the film did the rest of the work for me!!

www.iday.org

Interview / Article About the importance of involving African civil society in development projects in Africa

Since the 1970’, the need to get local actors to participate in development projects financed with outside aid is no longer questioned. This approach still calls for questions regarding the way it is applied with numerous donors, for instance, still giving their preference for a foreign supervision if not management of the project. Such attitudes can be likened to a form of neo-colonialism, have a tendency to paralyse local initiatives and result in very high costs that strongly limit the replicating the activity. Allowing local organisations to develop their own programmes is also hindered by some donors’ tendency to fix regional or sector priorities that make it difficult to obtain funding for proposals that correspond to local priorities rather than to the donors’ preferences.

The question is not whether to imply the African civil society in development projects but rather how, at what level and for which activities ?

The literature on the foreign aid efficiency and experience in project financing shows that development is an endogenous process (one cannot develop someone else, it must come first and foremost from himself). Hence, intercultural exchanges are indeed beneficial for the aid recipients only if they retain full control of these exchanges. The identification, implementation and management of development projects must remain entirely controlled by the local partner. It must effectively be their project.

The local civil society is usually in the best position to identify the real problems, often ignored by foreign agencies; proposed solutions are well integrated in the local socio-cultural environment. Local populations easily identify themselves with the issues raised, projects are sustainable and the failure rate is low. Finally, these solutions are usually much cheaper and compatible with available local resources, thereby facilitating adoption and replication of the project throughout the country, inducing effective change.

When it comes to social service projects promoting basic human rights (education, health, water, food) the central implication of the local civil society finds its justification also elsewhere. In these areas, local governments carry first responsibility and, as demonstrated by the Nobel Price winner, Professor Amartya Sen, no equitable and sustainable government policy can be identified and implemented without the active participation of local civil society.

“ Donors can only tackle real problems and bring about sustainable solutions with the active and lead participation of the local civil society ” Furthermore, foreign donors’ tendency to substitute themselves to failing governments, result first and foremost in the governments’ withdrawal from their responsibility as shown by the economists Buchanan (1997) and Gibson (2010). The phenomenon is called “The Samaritan’s Dilemma” : it encourages the aid-recipient government to withdraw funds from fields which they know will attract foreign assistance, as, for instance, in basic services.

This finding resulted in the recommendation by the Global Campaign for Education to give priority to campaigns to advocate changes rather than to implement actual service supply projects. It has also been demonstrated that well managed advocacy campaigns, especially those involving the parents of children in the target group are the most efficient way to keep children in education. Advocacy campaigns can only be conducted credibly when dialogue exists between governments and local civil society representatives. Social progress in Europe and in the USA was achieved by this process.

To summarise, donors can only tackle real problems and bring about sustainable solutions with the active and lead participation of the local civil society. Civil Society should always remain at the centre of all development projects.

Bokolisi Centre in DRC www.iday.org

IDAY p. 7 / Fall 2014

Provide training and a future for the Invisible workers

Domestic Project

in Rwanda (Centre Cladho)

Who are these domestic workers?

What does IDAY?

Many children and young people in Uganda, Rwanda, Burundi, Kenya and DRC are involved in domestic work, a job that exposes them to nearly slavery conditions, multiple forms of psychological, sexual, physical violence and denies them access to education.

Since 2010, IDAY coalitions in East and Central Africa advocate for the legal recognition and training of domestic workers. The regional program of IDAY-network addresses the legal, economic and social aspects of ensuring the rights of domestic workers.

The International Labour Organization (ILO) considers domestic work as one of the worst forms of child labour. Young domestic workers are one of the largest groups of abused children and yet they are generally ignored by politics.

In which countries?

Why and how to support these actions?

IDAY attaches great importance to vulnerable children and youth excluded from education systems and offers a holistic approach to quality education for all in Africa.

To support these projects, visit the website IDAY www.iday.org in “Projects Bank.”

The “Stop violence against children and young domestic workers in East Africa and the DRC through regulation and education” is a three-year project implemented in East Africa (Burundi, DRC, Kenya, Rwanda and Uganda) since November 2013.

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