West and Central Africa
In West and Central Africa the volume of FCA’s staff was 53 and the main partners were Réseau des Médiateurs, Serving Humanity for Empowerment and Development SHED.
"If we had been able to get an education earlier, we wouldn´t be illiterate now. Before, I didn´t know how to write my own name, but now I do. That feels wonderful."
Nafissa Yaya, 45,
Central African Republic
In LIBERIA, Finn Church Aid worked to improve the operation of the legal system and especially the rights of those arrested, who are in a vulnerable position. Together with local partners, FCA offered legal assistance to prisoners and training for prison staff, the police, representatives of the judiciary, religious and traditional leaders and the general public.
We promoted interaction between the local and national levels by raising local concerns and suggestions to the level of national dialogue.
FCA and its local NGO partners established networks with human rights actors both in Liberia and internationally. Some of the issues they singled out include crowded and poor prison conditions, prolonged detentions without trial, the need to accelerate legal processes, and zero tolerance for female genital mutilation.
This work had such an effect that it was mentioned in the recommendation report of the UN Human Rights Committee. Among other things, it was recommended that an ombudsman should be recruited to every prison.
A total of 109 police and prison guards, 430 prisoners, 45 religious and traditional leaders, and 12 members of the judiciary participated in the two-year project. Indirectly, the project benefited some 210 000 people in the Bong, Nimba, and Lofa Counties.
In CENTRAL AFRICAN REPUBLIC, Finn Church Aid is engaged in peace work and is developing the country’s education system together with the local Ministry of Education.
In a country recovering from civil war, FCA distributed school supplies to 39 230 children and reconstructed 28 class rooms during 2018.
FCA supports parents’ associations to encourage commitment to their children’s education. In 2018, FCA carried out an awareness raising campaign on the importance of education with special emphasis on sending girls to school. The campaign targeted 70 parents.
More than half of the population in Central African Republic are illiterate. Therefore, FCA supports also literacy training for adults. In Bozoum, a city located in the north-western part of the country, FCA and the country’s Ministry of Education collaborated in training 21 literacy teachers who then arranged literacy education three times a week. This education targeted illiterate women. A total of 450 women participated in the teaching that began in September.
The prolonged conflict has made making a living uncertain. In the prefecture of Ouham-Pendé, FCA arranged small entrepreneurship training, involving 168 participants. In addition, FCA supported the members of 22 parents’ associations in making a living so that they could buy their children school supplies.
FCA fostered the dialogue between various religious groups and was involved in arranging peace mediation training in five different prefectures. A total of 253 people participated in this training, after which they were supported in their peace mediation work.