One-line solution summary:
Heal and Prevent trauma in Internally Displaced young women and girls through Quality Education and Training
Pitch your solution.
- Barriers that prevent Internally Displaced (ID) young women and girls from reaching key learning milestones
- Our solution consist of prioritizing schooling for internally displaced young women and girls by investing in high quality education opportunities tailored to their needs. Equally, CEFONEV provides psycho-social services in a bid to boosting their morals and providing them with a better mindset for learning
- According to MIT SOLVE, 132 million girls world- wide are out of school, 52 million in sub- Saharan Africa alone. In Cameroon the situation is more alarming with the series of conflicts it has been experiencing in the past years. Scaling up this solution globally will strengthen the world’s economy up to the tune of 30 trillion dollars if every girl got quality education within 12 years thus increasing literacy level and reducing inequality. This will lead to more stable and resilient societies
What specific problem are you solving?
-Difficulties to access quality education by ID young women and girls in their new abode
- Due to the mass exodus of persons from the conflict hit zones in Cameroon, majority of our young women and girls are faced with enormous challenges one of which is the obstacle they face to access education in their new abode.
This problem is a major one as most of our internally displaced young women and girls are left in the cold (low literacy level) thus provoking the rise in juvenile delinquency and deviant behaviors. Child abuse, child exploitation and sexual harassment are also on the rise therefore, leading to the fall in the moral and living standards in the communities. Globally, 132 million girls are out of school portraying gender in balance, and a subsequent fall in the world earnings to a tune of 30 trillion dollars.
1,751,875 people are displaced in Cameroon (UNHCR, 31st march 2020).
-Factors contributing to this problem related to our solutions are; the experience of displacement, financial pressure, loss of documentations, social tension and discrimination, child abuse and child exploitation.
What is your solution?
Our solution consists of prioritizing schooling for internally displaced young women and girls by investing in high quality education opportunities tailored to their needs. Equally, CEFONEV provides psycho-social services in a bid to boosting their morals and providing them with a better mindset for learning.
This solution dubbed “school in a bag”; Constitutes the provision of didactic learning materials and school fees packaged and delivered to the ID young women and girls. It also entails recovery and issuance of loss documents, providing alternative learning structures such as evening classes, home classes, providing education in the language they understand, feeding, health care, extra-mural and special training programs on income generating activities for those with financial burden.
As part of the solution, CEFONEV intends to advocate for the rights of ID young women and girls as per UNSCR 1325 on education and capacity development of women and girls.
Who does your solution serve, and in what ways will the solution impact their lives?
- This solution is meant to serve internally displaced young women and girls in Cameroon.
- It will increase their literacy level, prepare them for job opportunities and enhance their potentials
- To better understand their needs, we have built an equal and active partnership with the ID young women and girls by ensuring that they participate in identifying and addressing their priorities. Again, we engage them through participatory assessments and in decision making on program design and implementation.
- This solution will expose the ID to learning opportunities thus bringing significant economic, social and health benefits to them and their host communities. It will also foster cohesive societies and is a vital tool in fighting prejudice, stereotypes and discrimination. The solution also has the potential to address some of the causes of displacement and prevent future crises through improved livelihood opportunities and the support it offers to socioeconomic development of these internally displaced young women and girls.
Which dimension of the Challenge does your solution most closely address?
Reduce the barriers that prevent girls and young women—especially those living in conflict and emergency situations—from reaching key learning milestonesWhat is your solution’s stage of development?
Growth: An organization with an established product, service, or business model rolled out in one or, ideally, several communities, which is poised for further growthIn what city, town, or region is your solution team headquartered?
Yaounde, CameroonWho is the primary delegate for your solution?
Sylvie Afor Achi
Which of the following categories best describes your solution?
A new application of an existing technologyDescribe what makes your solution innovative.
This solution is peculiar in that, the IDPs are an integral part of the decision making. In most cases, solutions concerning IDPs are being implemented or put in place without their consent. By taking part in the decision making process, they better feel their plight and quickens the solution process. Also, our solution is peculiar in that we accommodate and care for desperate ID young women and girls. As we all know providing shelter for the homeless is an important aspect in nation building and social co-habitation. Involving them in the decision making process is occupying their minds and educating them thus reducing crime wave, abuse of any form and avoiding the feeling of nostalgia
Describe the core technology that powers your solution.
The solution dubbed ‘’School-in-a-Bag’’ is an innovative approach that CEFONEV is using to tackle barriers preventing the ID young women and girls from reaching key learning milestone in conflict zones and emergency situations in Cameroon. This approach has proven to be more stable, resilient and is paving the way for these ID young women and girls’ education. CEFONEV packages in this bags didactic learning material such as exercise books, text books, pens, pencils, mathematical sets, rulers, calculators, small boards for kids, chalk etc. and distributions to these vulnerable persons from conflict and emergency situations. Accompanying this bag is financial support for feeding, health care and tuition
Provide evidence that this technology works.
A similar approach has been used successfully by many organizations including UNICEF
Please select the technologies currently used in your solution:
What is your theory of change?
Select the key characteristics of your target population.
Which of the UN Sustainable Development Goals does your solution address?
In which countries do you currently operate?
In which countries will you be operating within the next year?
How many people does your solution currently serve? How many will it serve in one year? In five years?
Current number: 500 people
In one year: 1000 people
In five years: 5000 people
What are your goals within the next year and within the next five years?
We plan to provide quality education and psycho-social services to 2500 ID young women and girls within a year and 12500 in five years
As the saying goes, educating a woman is educating the family and thus educating the nation. The impact created by this solution is envisaged in the increased literacy level of ID young women and girls. This will lead to improved livelihood opportunities for these persons and also guarantee their economic development. Social ills such prejudice, stereotypes, discrimination, crime wave, abuse rate, forceful and early marriages and stigmatization of IDPs is curbed thereby fostering a cohesive society.
We plan to attain these impact goals through the provision of didactic learning materials and school fees packaged and delivered to the IDPs. We also engage in the recovery and issuance of loss documents, psycho-social assistance, feeding, health care, extra-mural and special training programs on income generating activities for those with family burden. As part of the solution, CEFONEV intends to advocate for the rights of ID young women and girls as per UNSCR 1325 on education and capacity development of women.
At CEFONEV, team work has remained our modus operandi. That is why we believe in partnering with stakeholders both nationally and internationally for these goals to be attained. This solution has also put in place an inclusive and a participatory approach in which IDPs are highly involved in both the development of this solution as well as it implementation.
How do you plan to overcome these barriers?
- Financial barriers:
-Inadequate funds to provide quality education for IDP young women and girls
-lack of funding
- Technical barriers:
-Inaccessibility to conflict areas due to insecurity
-Limited staffs
- Difficulty in tracing IDPs
- Legal barriers:
-loss of documents (identification)
-administrative bottlenecks
- Cultural barriers:
-language
-stigmatization of IDPs
What type of organization is your solution team?
NonprofitHow many people work on your solution team?
- Full-time staff 06
- Volunteers 14
How many years have you worked on your solution?
Three years
Why are you and your team well-positioned to deliver this solution?
CEFONEV has been working on this solution and other related issues for the past three years. This has enabled CEFONEV team gain experience in handling and addressing community related issues. CEFONEV has a well-qualified and experienced staff who before joining this solution has been working on designing and implementing education and humanitarian activities in hostile and marginalized communities. In our drive to addressing problems related to education, we have involved the ID young women and girls in seeking for solutions they face. We are currently working with resource persons in education while taking into consideration the views and prescriptions of ministries of education, international and local education technical services (partners).
What organizations do you currently partner with, if any? How are you working with them?
Care for all Cameroon
Once a Mum Always a Mum (OMAM)
Women’s Federation for World Peace (WFWP)
Ministry Of Territorial Administration (MINAT)
Ayah’s foundation
Ministries of Basic Education, Secondary Education, Higher Education, Employment and Vocational Training,
Most of these organizations are our partners and we work with them through a memorandum of understanding. our over riding state institutions give us guide lines, technical orientation and support, a well defined code of conduct which we strictly implement. We equally receive institutional support through advocacy on young women and girls' education.
What is your business model?
Do you primarily provide products or services directly to individuals, or to other organizations?
Individual consumers or stakeholders (B2C)What is your path to financial sustainability?
CEFONEV currently runs a farm project of which the proceeds constitute our principal source of generating funds to finance our projects. Apart from this farm project, we equally organize fund raising activities through which resources are generated for our projects. Fund raising activities are carried out twice a year. We are equally open to receiving financial grants from national and international partners. CEFONEV also acquires some of it revenues through philanthropy. Membership contribution is another source of revenue. To curb excesses in carrying out our activities on spending, expenditure stream-lining, accountability, transparency in the use of funds, rigorous financial management and stringent budget allocation constitute key practices within CEFONEV.
Why are you applying to Solve?
We apply to solve to become a “solver team” member. As a member, we shall be able to sell our initiative or solution of providing education to girls and young women from conflict zones and emergency situations.
Though this project is huge with lots of challenges and needs intervention at different levels by different stakeholders, one of the barriers requiring Solve intervention is at the level of finances which consists of providing school fees, didactic material for learning and the economic responsibilities for the IDPs. Solve can also help us overcome this challenge by exposing this solution to Solve community network of peers, funders and experts.
In which of the following areas do you most need partners or support?
What organizations would you like to partner with, and how would you like to partner with them?
We will like to partner with organizations and bodies that share our vision as well as those that support our course like; UNHCR, UNICEF, OCHA. KIVA, MIT Faculty or Initiatives, Care For All, MINAT, MINEDUC, MINESEC, MINDEF, AYAH FOUNDATION, etc. WE will like to partner with those that share our vision for technical and resourceful contribution to our project. Also, partnership with those who support our course. However,a memorandum of understanding (MOU) would be a precondition for the partnership
Solution Team
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Solution Name:
CEFONEV