Burkina Faso / Combating violence against children: FEJ-PEFJ project activities have officially begun

It's now official. The activities of the Fonds enfants et jeunes/protections des enfants et formations des jeunes (FEJ-PEFJ) project have been officially launched.

On the morning of Tuesday October 29, 2024 in Ouagadougou, Soumèla Sakho, Director of Cabinet at the Ministry in charge of Humanitarian Action, officially launched the activities of the Fonds enfants et jeunes/protections des enfants et formations des jeunes (FEJ-PEFJ) project. This five-year project will be implemented in several regions of the country, namely the Plateau Central, South-West, Boulgou and Gourma provinces in the East.

The FEJ-PEFJ, it should be remembered, is a project set up by the Federal Republic of Germany, in collaboration with the State of Burkina Faso and the beneficiaries, to the value of over six billion CFA francs. It aims to improve the protection of vulnerable children in the intervention zones, as well as the training and economic empowerment of young people.

According to the national coordinator, Amidou Sehoné, this is an instrument of German-Burkinabè cooperation aimed at combating violence against children through professional integration. This workshop," he says, "was therefore organized with the various key players to discuss structuring projects to integrate the project's target children on a socio-professional level. But beyond these children," continues the coordinator, "there will also be women. In other words, the mothers of these vulnerable children, who will also be integrated in such a way as to have a significant impact on the household. This, he explains, will ultimately lead to the empowerment of the target households.

But how will they do this? Mr. Sehoné explained that there is a grassroots dynamic at work, i.e. at the level of the technical services, which will be based on a community approach to provide the list of vulnerable children to be cared for in this project. According to Jan Meise, first advisor to the German cooperation agency, this project is a continuation of some twenty years of intervention and commitment in the sector, working alongside communities and certain vulnerable groups.

Source: lefaso.net