A career counselling project completely changed the atmosphere in Hlain Tharyar School. Teachers say that there is hardly any bullying anymore, and a parent’s evening changed the pupils’ future.
Primary education normally takes nine years in Myanmar – unless a child has to repeat a grade. The ninth grade is offered only in government-run schools, and families have to cover school fees for enrolling their children in them.
Some cannot afford to pay. These families can access free education in monastic schools, available for children in grades 1–8. There are 1,600 monastic schools in Myanmar. They follow the national curriculum but are funded with donations and by regional councils.
Although monastic schools are cost-free, they cannot offer a primary school completion certificate. Many children never get a chance to complete the ninth grade.
But careful planning is required to get children even to that point. Dropping out of school is common in Myanmar. When families move, their children’s education is interrupted and may even end altogether. Poverty is the main reason: children are often needed to contribute to their family’s livelihood. About 70 per cent of children complete primary school grades 1 to 5.
A large number of students spend more than five years in primary school, which means that there are pupils of varying ages in the final grades of primary school and in middle school.
Pupils and teachers have to leave their shoes outside the classroom.
Amidst these challenges, there is much demand for career counselling professionals. They have been educated in Myanmar since January 2018 when Finn Church Aid’s (FCA) project began. The objective is to include career counselling in Myanmar’s national curriculum.
The career counselling and guidance project involves three monastic schools and two government schools in Yangon, the largest city in Myanmar.
Career counsellors gained the trust of pupils
The Hlain Tharyar School on the west side of Yangon has 445 students and 18 teachers. Two of the teachers have been trained as career counsellors. All in all, the project has trained 17 teachers as career counsellors in Myanmar
In addition to training days, the career counsellors received mentoring from volunteers of the Teachers Without Borders network. To further support their work, they will receive a guidebook in the Burmese language with a wide range of concrete guidelines, classroom activities, and useful information.
Career counsellors give group lessons for pupils in grades 5 to 8, four times a month, on top of the teachers’ other lessons. There is also private counselling, even for younger pupils. Career counselling and guidance is not yet in the curriculum.
Impressed with the benefits of the program, the school administration has allocated a space especially for confidential discussions between the career counsellor and the pupil.
Acting Principal U Zaw Min Oo and grade teacher Daw Thidar Aung both provide career counselling. They say that thanks to career counselling, five students who were dropping out of school last term decided to stay. Their classmates also had an influence on getting one of them to return to school.
U Zaw Min, the Acting Principal of Hlain Tharyar School, gives career guidance and counselling lessons four times per month to students in grades 5 to 8.
The career counsellors have shared the skills they acquired during the training with other teachers. These skills include positive methods in group management, student-centred teaching methods and agency for team spirit.
According to them, there have been attempts to improve the atmosphere of the school before but this work has brought about real change.
“We used to experience things like bullying and disruptive behaviour at school. Now we have a calm environment, which makes learning easier and enables teachers to concentrate on teaching,” teachers Daw Wah Wah Khaing and Daw Su Su Hlaing say.
Involving parents is a crucial step for the youth’s future
Supported by the training from FCA’s project, the career counsellors U Zaw Min Oo and Daw Thidar Aung organised a parents’ evening for the parents of eighth-graders. The principal of the school, chief abbot Venerable Sandarwara, held the key position as the convener of the event.
The pupils had prepared their own statements, expressing their hopes to be able to attend a government school for grade nine, the final school year. At the parents’ evening, the parents were asked to show their support for the continuation of their children’s education by taking a step forward in the school hall – nearly all of the parents gave their permission.
This means that their children are allowed to finish primary school and secure themselves an opportunity for a better future.
Text and photos: Hanna Päivärinta
The writer worked as a Teachers Without Borders volunteer in spring 2020.
Finn Church Aid has ongoing CGC projects in Cambodia and Myanmar. The implementation of the project is supported by the volunteers of the Teachers Without Borders network.
Finland is now in a position to lead on continued support to education for displaced children to ensure a more peaceful world. Finland is also in a unique position to more actively connect education in emergencies with vocational education – the two must go together if we are to break the vicious circle of displacement and disparity.
Each year in November, the World gets its school report card. This year is no exception.
The 400 page long Global Education Monitoring Report (GEM) from UNESCO in Paris has collected data and analysis on where each country is on its way to meeting the Sustainable Development Goal number 4 (SDG4) on education and development.
Although the world overall gets better and more coordinated at meeting the many challenges, the report also reveals how far we still are behind the goals, and the amount of work needed over the next decade to be where we want to be in 2030.
The report looks at all countries, analysing their data on school systems and education financing. It focuses both on the countries that provide aid assistance to education and those receiving it.
Finland has the means and the technical know-how to do so, and this would not only help ensure the right to quality education. It would also contribute to a much more stable world in an age of mass displacement and in a reality where the gap in transition to secondary education is especially large for refugee children and where few have the right skills to enter the labour market and therefore break out of a vicious circle of displacement and disparity.
Refugees and displaced children are the key to meeting SDG4
The report sets out the challenges with this large and growing population, and maps trends and debates on how progress is made, providing the international community with recommendations.
This is especially important for Finn Church Aid (FCA), because we work in some of the most difficult country contexts, where refugees and displaced persons are a major part of the population we try to assist.
Uganda has one of the world’s largest refugee populations as well as one of the most progressive policies on rights for displaced persons. Myanmar on the other hand has forced more than 700 000 people across the border into Bangladesh, a country which is understandably weary of integrating such a large new population into already fragile national systems. In Somalia and Eritrea a lot of people are either internally displaced or they left their home country after years of unrest or challenging political situation.
FCA works with education in all of these countries. Today’s crises are long and protracted, resulting in extensive periods of displacement and disruption. Because of this and a range of policy and financial barriers that may prevent refugees from accessing national education systems, displaced populations are five times less likely to attend school than other children and youth.
UNHCR estimates that only 61% of refugees attend primary school, compared to 91% at the global level. Only 22% refugee adolescents receive a secondary education, compared to 84% around the world.[1]
The new GEM report goes on to make the all-important link between ensuring the right to education for displaced populations and achieving the wider SDG4 goal for development.
Integration into national education systems
A major recommendation is for the inclusion of refugee children into national systems of the host countries – of which most are in the Global South, such as countries like Uganda and Bangladesh.
This is the best and most sustainable way forward to ensure quality education and avoid creating large parallel societies or refugee camps, in which people are caught for years and years with neither hope of going home nor integrating into the host countries.
Without integration and hope, there is a very real danger that war and instability continue and spread. Unfortunately, there is still a lack of political will for addressing this issue.
Only a little more than half of the 25 refugee host countries, who according to UNHCR have the biggest populations and needs, actually allow refugees to integrate into national systems.
One country that is on the forefront is Uganda, which for instance allows refugees from Chad, DRC and South Sudan the freedom of movement and gives them a piece of land, among other things.
This is in part due to a far-sighted regional collaboration of seven East African countries that have come together on a commitment to inclusion in education, as expressed in the Djibouti Declaration.
However, what is needed in Uganda, and in the many other countries that draw up impressive policies, is a greater support from the international community, better accountability and improved monitoring systems to prove that the good intentions are actually translated into action rather than just staying at a policy level.
Finland and its EU partners can help support and encourage the host countries to do so through collective and coordinated political and financial action, as well as through technical support on key issues like the important connection between education, youth and the labour market in the host countries.
By Peter Hyll-Larsen INEE Advocacy coordinator, seconded by FCA
Growing up in Uganda’s biggest slum can label a person for a lifetime. Last week, 95 youth celebrated their graduation from Katwe’s Skills Center in Kampala, showing what can become of them when given a chance.
The air around the dusty field in the thick of Katwe’s slum area is bursting with excitement. White tents have been raised for a crowd of hundreds of viewers, including the 95 graduates from Katwe’s Skills Center.
They have completed their yearlong courses in photography, electronics and hairdressing, and are today dressed in their finest wear, including yellow robes and graduation hats. Finn Church Aid, The Finnish Ministry for Foreign Affairs and Muslim Youth Development Forum have supported their studies. Representatives from the local police authorities are also present to witness the students’ big day.
“This is sending everyone a message not to judge a community as a whole before you give them an alternative way of life”, says Ahmed Hadji, Team leader of the Muslim Youth Development Forum.
Youth yearn for a chance to prove themselves
Katwe is Uganda’s biggest slum area and widely known as a notorious haven for criminality, prostitution and recruitment of extremist groups. The reputation labels the community as a whole.
22-year-old Kaweesi Ramadan says it was impossible to find work before. Not only because
Kaweesi Ramadan, 22, (middle) says that from this day on, he is going to walk proudly on the streets of Katwe to show an example to other youth of what they can become.
he never had the chance to go to school, but also because he grew up in Katwe. His upbringing already deters employers.
“I had to do things that people do when there is nothing else. I stole people’s phones and used drugs”, Ramadan says.
Ramadan was at rock bottom when community leaders approached him about the training. He managed to leave his former life behind and powered through a yearlong education, specialising in electronics.
Project administrator Diana Akunda explains that the project also aims to connect the students with officials and police with the intention of letting them understand that change is possible.
“We invited local authorities on Friday sessions to witness the progress and at least make sure that they remember the faces of these youth who are determined to earn a living through work”, she says.
“When I see the youth today and compare with what they looked like at the start, I’m the happiest person.”
Training builds mental character
The training requires a lot of discipline from youth who never went to school, and who have to wait to earn money until after the training is completed. Nambalirwa Babirye, 22, says she was extremely shy when she joined, but after finishing her training as a hairdresser, she feels more comfortable socially.
Nambalirwa Babirye, 22, (middle) celebrates becoming a hairdresser. Her dream is to start a saloon for celebrities.
“I grew up with a single-mom and had to quit school after the first grade because she could not afford it. I am so excited about finally learning skills that I already started teaching children what I know”, she says.
“I want to improve children’s lives, and personally I dream to start a saloon for dressing celebrities.”
Ramadan has learnt to repair electronics and create innovative technical solutions in an environment where creativity is much needed due to the lack of money. At the graduation event, another student displays a fully working helicopter he’s built during the training. The photography students have also decorated the venue with breath taking pictures.
Graduated electricians receive a toolkit worth 50 US dollars to help set up a business, while photographers and hairdressers are supported in establishing studios, saloons and spas.
“From this day, I will be walking proudly on the streets of Katwe to show what we all can become when given the chance to prove what we are capable of”, Ramadan says.
After a round of musical performances and inspirational speeches, the student’s receive their diplomas and cut the graduation cakes. Plenty of flowers are handed out, and when the speakers start blasting hit music, all 95 students spontaneously start dancing and singing along. The atmosphere is electric.
“This is the first time they celebrate something. There’s been years of negative attention for them, but now it is positive. I am so excited about this”, Hadji says.
Pibor was long known as the Wild West of South Sudan because of cattle rustling and age-set fighting. The effects of peace processes supported by FCA have enabled the town’s market to flourish and opened the people’s eyes to livelihood opportunities.
Et ole hyväksynyt markkinoinnin evästeitä nähdäksesi videon.
The rays of the evening sun caress the town of Pibor and inhabitants are washing themselves by the river at the end of a hot day. FCA’s finance administrator Moses Ludoru greets passers-by on his evening walk. His easy laughter is contagious.
Ludoru is a familiar sight to locals, as his evening walk has become routine during peacetime.
”I want to stretch my legs and see what people are doing. There is so much new development here,” Ludoru describes.
Women are digging the soil together. More and more are planting vegetables. Pibor’s marketplace is buzzing with people buying food and other items from the sheet metal shacks and clay huts. At a youth club, children are playing a football game on the television.
”Before, nothing was grown here, and we brought our food all the way from Juba. Now we can buy our food here,” Ludoru explains.
Young people fight each other for influence
Pibor is the main town of Boma State, nearly 400 kilometres east of the capital Juba. Boma used to be part of Jonglei State that has long been among the most restless regions in South Sudan.
Ludoru’s work began quite literally with an empty desk. Armed men had cleaned out the previous office premises down to the chairs and desks when he settled in Pibor in early 2016. Organisations had evacuated their employees.
The conflict was a sum of many parts, like poverty, food shortage, prevalence of guns, and struggle for power. When Ludoru arrived, the fighting was between the opponents and supporters of the governor at the time.
“Before FCA started building reconciliation, people in conflict were more likely to reach for a gun than to engage in dialogue,” says Ludoru.
Pibor is home to the Murle people, characterised by a hierarchy based on age-sets. Boys are born into a specific age-set distinguishable by name, colour and scar patterns traditionally made on the skin. One generation has an age span of 10 to 15 years.
Traditionally, there comes a time for each generation to become decision-makers for their people, but since the war, the traditional rhythm has been compromised.
”Young people who have fought in wars at a young age want to have more influence and they might use violence to achieve it,” says Ludoru.
Cattle rustling fuelled the violence
We stop at a tea room at a sheet metal shack serving strong-flavoured ginger tea. A group of around 20-year-olds stand near the building. Their leader, Bollein Daki, has a bullet wound in his elbow.
Simon Ngago (on the left), Allan Mau, John Kikir and James Golla are part of the Lango age-set. For them, peace means the freedom to move without fear, and that children can go to school without worrying. Photo: Liselott Lindström
Daki represents the Kurenen age-set, or youngsters around 15 to 25 years of age. The Kurenen separated from the slightly older Lango age-set. Before that, the Lango had separated from the Bothonia age-set. The rifts among the youth have been deep.
Bloody fighting ensued, forcing the Kurenen to retreat out of town. If Daki and his friends had shown their faces at the marketplace back then, the result would have been at least a fight.
”The fighting made farming impossible, and innocent people lost their property”, says Daki.
The conflicts usually start with cattle rustling. Raising cattle is the main form of subsistence in the area, and the number of cattle is a symbol of status. Young adults need cattle in order to marry and start a family.
The dowry sets a man back at least 50 cows. In a poor region, many decide to steal what they need, and the food shortage has also encouraged looting.
Previously fights were resolved using sticks as weapons, but the war increased the number of firearms in the region. “The consequences were ugly”, says James Golla from the Lango age-set. The fights could grow to involve thousands of people.
”We even lost parents in the crossfire, as our mothers and fathers tried to stop the fighting,” Golla reminisces. ”The violence stopped food transports, and everybody suffered.”
Livelihoods strengthen peace
Daki and Golla reconciled the disputes between their age-sets in a peace process last year. The reconciliation was inspired by the FCA-supported peace between the tribes of Boma State and the peace between Boma and the neighbouring Jonglei State.
The banks of the Pibor river are busy in the late afternoon. Photo: Liselott Lindström
In late 2016, FCA gathered the Murle of Boma and the Dinka of Jonglei for a peace meeting for the first time. The tribes reached a historic agreement on peaceful coexistence. The people of Boma State were granted permission to use the route to the capital Juba through Jonglei, making movement and trade easier.
40 leaders in key positions took part in the process between the states, and over 90 percent of those involved reported being satisfied with the results.
Boma State has about 200,000 inhabitants. Last year, FCA gathered the Murle leaders of the state to reconcile their differences on political appointments in the state leadership. Traditionally, the disputes have led to fights for which the parties involved have recruited young age-sets.
The strength of the peace was put to the test when a new governor took office again at the turn of the year – this time, under historically peaceful circumstances. For the first time in years, Boma State was spared any major violence.
”At first, I hated meeting the Lango, but now we are able to enjoy a meal together”, says Daki.
Peace would not be possible without increased livelihood and education opportunities, says FCA’s peace officer Stephen Drichi. Now, people are able to pursue their goals without fighting.
The age-sets have come together to learn skills such as fishing, baking and cooking. Now people from Pibor can find for instance fresh fish at the marketplace, in addition to dry food.
”We have also organised football tournaments for young people, with different age-sets playing together in mixed teams,” says Drichi.
An increasing number of children go to school
Before FCA arrived in Pibor, there were virtually no school buildings in the area, and education was not appreciated. The men made a name for themselves by fighting, and the women married underaged.
Work with education has opened the eyes of the Pibor townspeople to the significance of education, even for girls. Hellen Ajar (on the left) says that school is making her daughter Susan more independent and is giving her better opportunities to support the entire community. Photo: Hugh Rutherford
FCA has built several temporary learning spaces in the Greater Pibor area, and last May, five larger school structures were completed. In addition, FCA has trained 60 volunteer teachers.
The education project has reached over 4 000 children. The parents participate in the maintenance of the schools.
The improvement in education has encouraged parents to also send their daughters to school, in addition to boys.
Hellen Ajar sells tea at the Pibor marketplace and says that the youngest child of the family, Susan, 15, is allowed to continue with her studies all the way to university.
According to her, girls used to be brought up just in the hopes of cattle.
”Susan’s sisters married young, just like I did at 14. There have been men asking about Susan, but I have told them no,” says Ajar.
Education also strengthens peace. It increases the opportunities for work for children and youth and affects the survival of their families and communities. Young people are also offered peace education, providing them with tools for reconciliation and dialogue. In the reconciliation meetings themselves, the tools are a practical asset.
According to Drichi, conflicts that arise can be dealt with quickly.
”The next step is to prevent all dangerous situations, but that requires long-term work,” he says.
”The longer an individual person sees peace, the harder that person will work to maintain it.”
Text: Erik Nyström Photos: Hugh Rutherford and Liselott Lindström
New report published by the Berghof Foundation synthesises the insights from an exploratory study on the youth space of dialogue and mediation, primarily based on case studies in Myanmar and Ukraine, along with reflections from Abkhazia, Georgia and South Ossetia. FCA’s Development Manager, Matthias Wevelsiep, has contributed in the making of the report.
In an endeavor to offer insights on ‘youth space of dialogue and mediation’, conflict contexts in Myanmar and Ukraine were explored in the report. People in their youth phase were conversed with, along with people who have passed beyond this phase of life, allowing them to reflect on their own youth and on their observation of (and interaction with) the work of young people.
As a follow-up to the UN Security Council Resolution 2250, the report makes a thematic contribution to the Progress Study on Youth, Peace and Security, aiming to stimulate a much-needed discourse on youth contributions to dialogue and mediation.
Finn Church Aid (FCA) handed over twelve classrooms to the government authorities in the Greater Pibor area in late May. FCA ensures quality education through training teachers and involving parents.
Stella Boyoi teaches mathematics to children in the newly built classroom. Photo: Kajasuk Jackson
Finn Church Aid and local authorities completed a mayor achievement in the education of children in the Greater Pibor Area with the handover of five classroom blocks, consisting of twelve classrooms.
The project’s aim was to improve access to quality education in most remote communities in Pibor and Gumuruk, locations that were marginalised and neglected for long due to conflict.
In addition to the classrooms, FCA trained 88 members in Parent-Teacher Associations to support school functions, 10 county education staff in management and 60 volunteer teachers in pedagogy and psychosocial support. Thanks to public awareness campaigns, the project reached 4 106 children.
Stella Boyoi is one of the newly recruited volunteer teachers in Langachod Primary School. According to Boyoi, there were no good school structures in Pibor in the past.
Parents are now encouraged to send their children back to school after a long period of instability.
“Before, children were learning under trees and ran home whenever it started raining”, she says.
Safe and inclusive education for girls and boys
Boyoi believes that the brand new classrooms themselves, with benches and desks, attract children to participate in lessons and help them stay attentive throughout the school days. FCA has provided exercise books, chalks and chalkboards, as well as incentives for the volunteer teachers to ensure quality education.
Parent-Teacher Associations play an important part in managing the schools. The members received agricultural tools, seeds and trainings to generate income and thus support the schools financially.
Mary Paul, 11, says she feels safe in the new school block in Langachod. Photo: Kajasuk Jackson
Boyoi hopes that families also send their daughters to school. In the local culture, it has been common that parents expect girls to do domestic work and marry at an early age.
Attitudes are slowly changing with improved access to education and the opportunities it brings for the future of the children.
“I decided to become a teacher because I want to change our community through education. As a woman, I also want to be a role model for all the young girls”, Boyoi says.
11-year-old Mary Paul is the second youngest of four sisters. Her eldest sister did not go to school, but Mary now has an opportunity to participate because the new structures are close to her home.
“I joined school because it is now near to my home, and I don’t have to fear to come to school alone”, she says.
Text: Kajasuk Jackson, Erik Nyström
Read more about Finn Church Aid’s work in South Sudan here.
FCA’s Youth on the Move -report encourages seeing young people all over the world as good and promising.
Have you ever sighed: Kids these days, or: What is the world coming to? Young people do not think like this. They look at the world ready to build their future, or with fear, without the opportunity to influence it. It is up to adults to decide how the situation of the world’s youth develops.
Right now, no one seems to know.
The world is undergoing big changes and is somehow out of place. Over the past two decades, there has been a great deal of progress. On the other hand, a new kind of instability is spreading, inequality is growing, streams of people are moving across borders, and the state of the environment is worsening. Human rights and the obedience to humanitarian law are strongly questioned. Trust in political and social institutions is declining.
In this changing world, there are 1.8 billion young people aged 15 to 24.
The percentage of young people is remarkable especially in countries with a great deal of poverty and uncertainty. Nine out of ten young people live in developing countries. The new FCA Youth on the Move report speaks particularly on the behalf of these young people. Youth have often been given little attention in aid work. It should not be like this.
Aid organisations must participate more in young people’s lives, listen to them, and renew their work to better include the youth. The new report provides suggestions on what the next steps could be.
Do not see youth as a threat
Youth are often seen as a threat. Society’s fears and hopes are projected onto youth. According to the FCA report, youth and young people’s activism should not be feared or constrained, but instead it should be seen how working on behalf of a cause develops responsibility and understanding.
Above all, youth should be provided with opportunities.
Youth means being in a constant movement. The movement takes place on the inside as well, as transitioning into adulthood turns the young person’s inner world upside down.
When young people are looking for education and an occupation, they are making big decisions. As opportunities for the world’s youth are not equal, for some youth means the acknowledgement of being disadvantaged and socially excluded.
Some of the world’s youth are on the move geographically, even across national borders. Ten percent of the world’s refugees are aged 15 to 24.
Refugee youth needs protection
The report emphasizes that refugee youth should be guaranteed protection and psycho-social support. For example in the large refugee camps in Bangladesh, FCA widens the possibilities for young women and teenage girls through education and protection.
Although acknowledging the rights of women and girls is a priority, men and boys should not be forgotten. Young boys in difficult circumstances need protection as well.
When the Syrian Hanani family fled from Syria to Jordan, they thought they would leave for a few weeks. Photo: Ville Asikainen.
”Give immigrants opportunities for personal development. It was hard to start from the beginning in a new country; I had no idea where to find work, or how and where to send applications.”
Response from the FCA Voices of the Youth questionnaire.
Education is a privilege
Finn Church Aid works on behalf of young people in all its countries of operation. What do young people hope from us?
The respondents to the UN My World questionnaire, seven million young people from 194 countries, considered high-quality education, health care, occupational security, and good government to be most important.
Youth living in a poor and unstable environment are much more often deprived from education and work than those in a stable environment. Many of the youth in the most fragile circumstances never get to go to school, and have to work in the grey economy in order to make a living. For these young people, education is a privilege. This has been noted by the FCA employees working with former serfs in Nepal. Education has opened up a new life for these young people.
Towards employment
So far, the education efforts of the international community and aid organisations have focused on access to basic education; now it is about the time to invest in the education of young people over 15 years.
The right of youth to get (back) to school, occupational training and higher education must be guaranteed. States must allow work permits to youth who are on the move.
An official certificate of education must be provided for the youth, valid in the country of residence or the country the person returns to. For example, in Uganda, refugees are able to get an entrepreneur degree in a training collaboratively organised by FCA and the Finnish organization Omnia Education Partnerships Oy.
Study counselling, cooperation with employers and internships should be used to ensure the link between education and employment. In order to create unity and avoid confrontation, it is also important to take into account the youth of the original population who are at risk of social exclusion, like in Jordan and Uganda, where FCA trains both immigrant and local youth.
Youth soon to be the majority
All youth should have the universal rights to organise, assemble, express their opinion, move freely, and participate in societal affairs. In reality, in many societies these rights are not realised.
However, in many countries where FCA works, young people either are or will soon be the majority that cannot be ignored.
Youth are ready to take action against the global phenomenon known as the shrinking space of the civil society, if we give them the chance to participate as active citizens.
For example, in Cambodia, the FCA youth network Changemaker Cambodia campaigns on behalf of the importance of education, encourages young people to take leadership, and helps them to get their voices heard in a society where young people do not traditionally have much of a say in decision-making even regarding their own life.
In Myanmar, FCA organises workshops on peace work for youth from different ethnic groups. In Kenya and Somalia, young people from different groups are brought together by inviting them to take part in projects of small-scale entrepreneurship.
Is the potential of youth on the move utilised? Many of them want to work, get to know the original population, and take advantage of the opportunities in the new country.
It is not just a cliché to say that youth are the future. If we advocate for the rights of the youth now, they will be able to build a world in which we can all lead a good life.
Text: Ulla Kärki
Translation: Leena Vuolteenaho
Illustrations: Emmi-Riikka Vartiainen
Young people living in fragile conditions are not currently being taken into sufficient account in the field of humanitarian work and development cooperation. According to Youth on the Move, a report published by Finn Church Aid on 26 April, young people often tend to slip through the various forms of work and funding. Nevertheless, youth on the move are dynamic actors having enormous potential as builders of their own lives and societies.
“Civil society organisations should listen to young people more and reform their work to take better account of youth,” says Matthias Wevelsiep, Development Manager at the FCA.
“Currently, development cooperation, humanitarian aid and other such areas of work are unable to respond properly especially to the needs of Youth on the Move.”
There are about 1.8 billion people between the ages of 15 and 24 in the world today. Youth represent a large share of the population especially in countries with a great deal of poverty and uncertainty. Nine out of ten young people live in the developing countries. Young people also move increasingly from one place to another. In fact, 10 percent of the world’s refugees are 15 to 24 years of age.
Youth are on the move in more ways than one, moving from childhood into adulthood and through education and training to the job market. They also move in terms of geography either voluntarily or forced.
Refugee youth also have the right to education and livelihood
Through the report, the FCA wishes to foreground youth as active builders of their own future and the future of their communities and as enablers of change.
Especially in fragile situations, the transition of youth from one phase of life to another is interrupted and they may have to wait even for a long time to get on with their lives. Many of the youth living in difficult situations have to work in the grey economy in order to get by.
“We should be supporting young people’s access to education and training, offering them opportunities to continue with interrupted schooling,” says Wevelsiep.
“For example, youth in refugee camps should also be offered diplomas that make them eligible for further studies and employment both in their countries of residence and their countries of origin.”
“Before training, I had nothing”
Providing vocational training in the developing countries is of the greatest importance in terms of youth and refugee policies, as well as national security.
“In Uganda, we are arranging vocational and entrepreneur training for local and refugee youth,” says Wevelsiep. “Up to 73 percent of the young people who have completed their training either have found employment or have established businesses of their own.”
“Before training, I thought I didn’t have anything unique of my own. I was just like all the other girls. Now after training, I know how to do something not everybody else does,” says Daphe Nantesa, a 17-year-old from Uganda, who participated in hairdresser training provided by the FCA.
FCA arranges entrepreneur training in Jordan for Syrian refugees and local Jordanian youth. Meanwhile, at the refugee camps in Za’atari and Azraq, the FCA also offers recreational activities, such as English lessons, a circus school and soccer.
Youth between the ages of 18 and 24 in unstable situations need protection as well. They are no longer covered by child protection measures, but they have a high risk of becoming victims of abuse, violence or neglect.
Nevertheless, the FCA report insists that we should not focus merely on the problems of youth.
In the words of Matthias Wevelsiep, “The potential of youth for active and dynamic action should be recognised and they should be empowered to participate in societal decision making and building the future.”
The greatest fear of Muja Rose, a refugee from South Sudan, is that her daughter will starve to death. Uganda is at a breaking point in the throes of the biggest refugee crisis in Africa since the Rwanda genocide.
The children were playing when war found the family of 34-year-old Muja Rose in South Sudan.
Government soldiers arrived without warning in their hometown of Kajo Keji. They were immediately caught by surprise by a group of rebels. People were killed and their possessions were looted.
Rose’s husband was away, and in the crossfire, Rose made the toughest decision of her life.
”The only alternative was to run as fast as my feet would carry. I decided to take the children to Uganda,” says Rose.
Rose managed to take her own four children as well as two children who had lost their mother with her. She carried the youngest one on her back through the bush and stayed up all night to protect the children from wild animals. They had no food or water.
”The children were crying out of hunger and exhaustion. When we found a dry streambed, I tried to dig for water in the ground to have drinking water for the children.”
Food is a constant preoccupation
A year later, all the children are seated around a clay oven in the Bidibidi refugee settlement. The area, the size of Turku, has 290,000 inhabitants, which would make it the second biggest city in Finland after Helsinki.
The clay oven is located in the only shaded spot in the yard, and attracts others to seek shelter from the relentless sun. The aroma from the sizzling pot is familiar from any kitchen in the world: fried onions.
Rose chops a few eggplants from her vegetable garden and adds them to the pot, with 10-year-old Ayite stirring the stew.
”Once a week we cook eggplants, once okra, once vegetables. The remaining days we eat beans,” says Rose.
”The food has no variety and the children are sick all the time. They’re not getting all the vitamins they need.”
Food is constantly on Rose’s mind. Even though the demanding journey to Uganda has reduced the risk of becoming victim to bullets or rape, life is a taxing struggle to meet basic needs. She is not alone in this situation.
Over a million people from South Sudan have crossed the border to Uganda, almost all of them after July 2016.
Some refugees are lucky to have chicken that produce eggs. Most, like Muja Roses family, have left behind all their possessions when fighting broke out. Photo: Tatu Blomqvist
Taking care of the crisis costs about 560 million euros per year, but the international community has only met a third of the need. According to the UN, Uganda is at a breaking point. The refugees most feel this in the food rations that have been halved twice, says Bik Lum, regional head of UN refugee agency UNHCR.
The food aid delivered monthly includes beans, vegetable oil, salt, and maize meal. At the end of last year, the maize meal rations were cut from 12 kilos to 6 kilos per person.
”Some have risked their lives and gone to South Sudan to look for food in their abandoned homes,” says Lum.
One meal a day
Uganda, a country smaller and poorer than Finland, has despite its limited resources admitted all refugees into the country.
The Ugandan refugee policy is praised as forward thinking in the western world, since among other things, it guarantees everyone a piece of land to live on and cultivate. This does not mean that life in refugee settlements feels meaningful.
More land has continuously been cleared from previously unliveable bush, and growing things to eat is hard.
Rose’s yard is rocky, but as a woman with green fingers, she has managed to grow something. So has Wani Garanep, living in the neighbouring village, who participated in Finn Church Aid’s (FCA) cultivation training.
FCA has provided participants with seeds and tools. Sesame, okra, and tomatoes are growing next to Garanep’s clay hut. Since the ground is rocky, Garanep and his wife Kaku have learned to fill sacks with dirt. Onions and eggplants are growing in these sacks.
Wani Garanep’s family has managed to diversify their diets with vegetables after participating in FCA’s livelihoods training. Photo: Tatu Blomqvist
However, because of slashed food rations, the family has been forced to cut their daily meals from two to one. This goes for most of Bidibidi’s inhabitants.
”I would like to guarantee a good education for my children, but they can’t concentrate in school when they’re hungry, and they often come home before the school day is over,” says Garanep.
Garanep is a builder by trade. In South Sudan, he cut down trees and sold them as building material. The family could afford to eat meat.
Rose worked as a teacher, and the family had no shortage of food.
The hometown she left behind, Kajo Keji, was located in Equatoria, the breadbasket of South Sudan, known for its fertile soil. Before the war, the region was able to feed millions of people. Rose’s family had goats and chickens.
”When the children were hungry, they would pick fruit or cassava from our garden,” she says.
However, Kajo Keji is empty. Three quarters of the population of Equatoria have left their homes and Northwest Uganda is like one big refugee settlement that it takes hours to drive through.
Here, Garanep and Rose find it hard to find work with which to improve their families’ situation.
”Sometimes when the children are really hungry, they ask me ’mom, can’t we go back home to South Sudan so that we could eat.’ It’s hard to explain to them that there is still a war going on there,” continues Rose.
Life as a single parent is tough
After the meal, things get more active in the yard. With 13-year-old Gire and 9-year-old Diko in the lead, the children dig out a skipping rope. With great enthusiasm, Ayite counts her skips in English. This makes her mother happy.
They are more eager than usual because there are visitors, she explains. When the children are quiet and too tired to play, it is time to worry, she says.
Gire and Diko are not Rose’s own children, but after their flight together, they sleep together with Rose’s children.
”Sometimes they ask me where their mother is. Once the war is over, we will return to look for her.”
Life as a single parent is especially hard in the refugee settlement. Over 60 percent of the refugees in Uganda are under 18 years old, and most of the adults are women. When women and children fled, men took part in the fights – some forced, others voluntarily – or died in the conflicts.
In Rose’s yard, it is evident that she has to keep an eye on more than a dozen children, with barely no other parents in sight. Rose often worries about how long she will manage if the situation is prolonged.
”I miss my husband. I don’t know whether he’s alive or dead. I haven’t heard from him since we had to run away,” she says.
During the interview, Rose mends the trousers of her youngest child, 3-year-old Wani. They have to be taken in at the waist once again. Rose is most worried about 10-year-old Ayite, who has gone down from 25 kilos a year ago to just 19 kilos.
Being underweight makes Ayite vulnerable to disease and malnutrition.
”If she loses more weight, I might even lose her,” says Rose.
Text: Erik Nyström, photos: Tatu Blomqvist
This year, 60 percent of the funds collected in the Common Responsibility Campaign are directed to the Finn Church Aid disaster fund. Read more about FCA in Uganda here.
Despite increasing attention to the severe refugee situation in Uganda, the international community has done little to ease the crisis as it reaches a grim milestone. This is what’s going on.
1. Uganda is home to more refugees than any other country in Africa
With 1,3 million refugees by August 2017, Uganda hosts one of the largest refugee populations in the world. The reason behind the severe influx is the conflict in South Sudan. Each day an average of thousands of refugees have crossed the border to Uganda since fighting re-erupted in the capital Juba in July 2016. Within the region, Uganda has received the highest number of South Sudanese refugees, now one million.
The number of internally displaced people included, four million South Sudanese have left their homes, and this makes it one of the largest refugee crises globally. Only Syria and Afghanistan are producing more refugees.
2. An overwhelming majority of the South Sudanese refugees are women and children
More than 85 percent of the South Sudanese refugees in Uganda are women and children, who have traveled by foot to escape a devastating civil war. According to their stories, adult males – brothers, fathers and husbands – have been killed, captured or recruited by armed groups. Opportunities for education and livelihoods are therefore extremely important for this refugee population.
61 percent of the South Sudanese refugees who have arrived since July 2016 are children under 18 years old. Having access to protective and quality education is an essential part of the rehabilitation process for these children whose childhood has been cut short through horrific experiences while fleeing their homes. The provision of education to these children does not only give them hope for a better future, but it also affirms them that their futures are worth believing in.
3. Uganda is at a breaking point
Uganda has one of the most progressive refugee policies in the world. After registration, refugees have the right to study, work, set up enterprises and move freely within the country – all the same rights as native Ugandans apart from the right to vote. Refugees also receive a plot of land at the refugee settlements for cultivation.
But Uganda is also one of the world’s poorest countries. The pace of arrivals has been tough to keep up with, and the UN has warned that Uganda is at a “breaking point”.
4. Uganda needs international support to maintain its transformational refugee policies
Uganda needs the support of the international community to keep . The UN Refugee Agency UNHCR says it needs around 570 million euros to ensure minimum humanitarian standards are met properly, but this far it has received only 17 percent of it.
The funding gap delays projects like providing permanent shelters by months and people are vulnerable to changing weather conditions. Children attend schools in temporary tents, easily taken down and destroyed by high winds and rains. Food rations have been cut several times and creating new plots for farming is an enormous task as new settlements open.
Text: Erik Nyström
Finn Church Aid supports education and livelihood opportunities for refugees in Uganda. Read more about our work here. Read an interview with Uganda’s refugee commissioner here.
