BENIN'S G/TIP PROJECT PROPOSALS

UNCLAS SECTION 01 OF 02 COTONOU 000096 SIPDIS SIPDIS G/TIP FOR JANE SIGMON AF/W FOR DANA BANKS E.O. 12958: N/A TAGS: ELABPHUMSMIGKCRMBN SUBJECT: BENIN'S G/TIP PROJECT PROPOSALS REF: 07 STATE 161278 ¶1. Post has the pleasure to submit four project proposals for G/TIP ESF and INCLE funding for FY 2008. While Benin is a Tier 2 country with a government firmly committed to the fight against trafficking in persons (TIP),Beninese children continue to be victimized by traffickers. The proposals selected by Post will provide health care for trafficked girls, publicize the anti-trafficking laws among police officers and other law-enforcement personnel, create boarding schools for trafficked children, raise community knowledge of trafficking and facilitate the re-integration of trafficked survivors. The institutions in question have the capacity to implement programs, which will directly aid trafficked children and strengthen the systems, which fight against TIP in Benin. -------------- -------------- Silesian Sisters: Medical Services for 1,000 Girls -------------- -------------- ¶2. The Silesian Sisters of Don Bosco, prior recipients of G/TIP funding, submitted a project proposal for a one year project requesting $35,724 in funding, and titled "Provide medical and mental health services to 1,000 (one thousand) trafficked girls in a year". The edited abstract follows: "The proposed project is an answer to the dire need of health and mental care for the trafficked girls in the market of Dantokpa. The Silesians Sisters propose to create and manage an infirmary that will offer free basic health treatment to at least 1,000 girls in a year. There will also be weekly sessions with a psychologist and general awareness sessions on prevention and hygiene. 24 awareness sessions will be provided for at least 500 concerned adults to improve their understanding of the health and mental needs of the children. The project will be part of a broader program that the sisters are implementing in Dantokpa to help trafficked girls and therefore the activities will be sustained even after the project is complete." -------------- -------------- ABAEF: Publicizing Benin's Anti-Child Trafficking Law -------------- -------------- ¶3. The "Association Beninoise D'Assistance a L'Enfant et a la Famille" or Beninese Association of Assistance for Children and Families (ABAEF) submitted a project proposal for a 15 month program requiring $39,181.62, and entitled "Support Program to the 
Implementation of the Law Against Child Trafficking in Benin". The edited abstract follows: "Wiser for their experience in child's rights training, ABAEF analyzed the main causes and consequences of child trafficking in Benin, namely the exploitation of children in child and sexual labor. ABAEF raised awareness of the need and obligation of traffickers' repression, the assistance and protection of legal rights of child trafficking victims and their witnesses. ABAEF came to conclude that it is necessary to enhance technical capacities of the child protection actors for an effective implementation of the laws. This will serve to deter traffickers and protect victims and witnesses. The current project targets the professionals and officials in charge of the implementation of child trafficking laws. These professionals are judges, police officers, immigration agents, labor inspectors, social workers, child protection personnel, NGOs and the general population. The program aims at putting practical tools at the disposal of those professionals. The activities targeted should lead to the promulgation of the law of 2006-04 on child trafficking in simplified terms for the general public, and a train-the trainers session about the texts and to the elaboration of didactic materials such as pamphlets and practical guides on the legal steps towards reinstituting rights of victims and assuring the protection of witnesses. Those tools will be publicized at the work place through briefing sessions on the work environment at borders, police stations, immigration, labor inspection and social services... They will also be put at the disposal of other stake holders and populations during public sessions in some areas in the country and some zones that are at risk. For these activities, trainers will help to get the information out and disseminate material to local stake holders who did not participate in training." -------------- -------------- Sanctuary of Moses: Village for Trafficked Children -------------- -------------- ¶4. The NGO Sanctuary of Moses requests $499,802 for a project entitled "Economic Support Funds (ESF) for Sanctuary Village Primary/Secondary School & Homes in Adjohoun and Trade/Technical School in Kpomasse". This project will build upon Sanctuary of Moses's prior smaller project to fund the construction of schools with adjacent dormitories to care for children in need of care after they have been rescued from trafficking environments. The project COTONOU 00000096 002 OF 002 has a three year timeline for completion. The edited project abstract follows: "Statements published on the United Nations Children's Fund (UNICEF) website, supports the need for a Sanctuary of Moses (SOM) project. It says in part "trafficking in children is a global problem affecting large numbers of children. Some estimates have as many as 1.2 million children being trafficked every year. There is a demand for trafficked children as cheap labor or for sexual exploitation. Child trafficking is lucrative and linked with criminal activity and corruption . . . trafficking always violates the child's right to grow up in a family environment. Large numbers of children are being trafficked in West and Central Africa, mainly for domestic work but also for sexual exploitation and to work in shops or on farms and nearly 90% are girls." Since the founding of SOM in June 2004, it has provided service with a dedicated and clear purpose of helping children rescued from traffickers and slavery in West Africa. The goal of SOM projects is to provide after-care services, education, homes, schools, supportive services, and hope to more than 800 children, in Benin, who suffer the scourges of slavery and have no hope for tomorrow. Additionally, the Sanctuary curtails trafficking by empowering families through micro loan allocations for mothers to establish enterprises that help support their families. Since June 2004, SOM has adopted a primary and a secondary school both with dormitory facilities in the village of Akpali Kpevi, Ze which operates as a refuge for child victims of trafficking and it has a population growth from 87 to 270. The Sanctuary Village Projects proposes to utilize funding to house, educate and protect nearly 800 child victims through the development of two additional villages located in Adjohoun and Kpomasse designed to house a maximum population of 500 child victims at the two sites." -------------- GRAPAD: Community Action for Child Protection -------------- ¶5. The Groupe de Recherche et d'Action pour la Promotion de l'Agriculture et du Devolppement or Group for Research and Action for the Promotion of Agriculture and Development (GRAPAD) submitted a request for $338,221 dollars for a three year project which aims to raise awareness of trafficking among community members and create a sustainable, community-level, system to prevent trafficking. GRAPAD was international NGO World Learning's partner while World Learning implemented its recently completed G/TIP funded project in Benin. The project is entitled "Community Action for Child Protection in the region of Agonlin, Zou Department, Benin". The edited project abstract follows: "The project, Community Action for Child Protection - Agonlin, ACPE-Agonlin, will use the knowledge and lessons learned from the G/TIP funded pilot project ACPE. ACPE was implemented in a sub-region, or commune, of Benin called Ouinhi, and the proposed ACPE-Agonlin would extend the project into the neighboring region of Agonlin. The goal is to mobilize local participation for the eradication of child trafficking and the worst forms of child exploitation in the region of Agonlin. Over a period of three years, project activities will focus on attaining the following four objectives: i. To raise the consciousness of parents, guardians, religious leaders, community leaders and children on the effects of child trafficking and child exploitation; ii. To establish a sustainable system at the community level to prevent child trafficking as well as offer efficient assistance to recuperated trafficking survivors by working within indigenous and existing frameworks; iii. To facilitate the socio-economic reinsertion of returned trafficking survivors as well as survivors of child exploitation; iv. To continue to improve upon institutional collaboration in order to synchronize the various efforts to combat child trafficking. The approach consists of and relies upon baseline research that will be used to promote institutional collaboration within the region/department of focus. The target communities, through capacity reinforcement, will take initiatives to alleviate the socio-economic obstacles contributing to child trafficking, both in the households and community at-large. These efforts will be reinforced and supported by local officials and civic leaders. Such initiatives translate into small grants activities managed by community-based committees, which are approved of and supported by a commune-based committee and financed by the project. The strategy proposed is to give value to the participative community action approach, employed and improved upon during ACPE. There will also be a strong collaboration with community radio stations in the region. The direct beneficiaries of this communication strategy will be trafficking survivors, parents, and/or guardians, religious leaders, civic leaders as well as the local committees and commune-level committees." BROWN