Think Creative - Issue 2

Healing communities with education Nigeria // Education Crisis Response

mother, and other negative behav- iors, stemmed from his desire to no longer be treated as a young child. The promoters worked with the family to help them understand one another, opening up and estab- lishing more productive lines of communication. “They helped me to understand that he is growing up and that he’s entering adolescence,” says Án- gel’s mother Daisy. After a fewmonths of regular visits from promoters, Ángel is more respectful toward his parents, more helpful with household chores and doing better in school – all indica- tions that he has reduced his risk for falling in with a gang. The promoters, who are working with more than 325 families across the five municipalities, are just one piece of Proponte Más’ larger vio- lence prevention programming and are focused on youth at the lowest, or primary, level of risk. For youth at a higher risk level, the project turns to a more intensive family counseling model. Chief of Party Robyn Braverman says promoters serve as the first line of defense and can be crucial in keeping youth fromever getting close to jumping up to a higher level of risk for engaging with gangs. “Promoters have become lay counselors in their neighborhoods and are recognized for their innate skill sets,” she says. “Proponte Más is creating a unique model of in- tervention with the primary group of kids and strengthening the lay counselors’ capacity to intervene.” By organizing family promoters into community-based networks, like the four promoters in Tres de Mayo, Proponte Más is ensuring that families will continue to have support fromwithin their own neighborhoods long after the proj- ect’s formal end. “I’ve had a wonderful experience as a promoter, so much so that these families are my family,” says Karla, one of the promoters in Tres de Mayo. “Even if they tell me that they don’t need me anymore, I’m going to continue doing what I do because I want to help the community.” n

Education can be a source of healing and stability during conflict. At the height of violent extremists’ attacks in northern Nigeria, more than 2.5 million people were forced to flee their homes. With more than 1 million children among the victims, a clear path forward was needed to ensure learning continued in a safe environment. Over the last three years, the Nigeria Education Crisis Response (NECR) project has met this need by providing more than 80,000 displaced or out-of-school children and youth with basic

literacy and numeracy skills and psychosocial support in safe and supportive environments, called non-formal learning centers. The project was funded by the U.S. Agency for International Development and implemented by Creative Associates International, the International Rescue Committee, the Nigerian government and local nongovernmental organizations. As the project comes to a close, take a look at its positive impact on the lives of children and youth in northern Nigeria. n

NECR by the NUMBERS

80,000 + displaced children and youth empowered with basic literacy and numeracy skills and social emotional competencies

10,400+

1,400+

primary school teachers trained in five northeastern states: Adamawa, Bauchi, Borno, Gombe and Yobe

non-formal learning centers established in communities hosting displaced children and youth

1,100+

400,000+

non-formal learning facilitators trained in Social Emotional Learning in the classroom

students reached in formal schools with Social Emotional Learning in the classroom

30,000+

22,000+

adolescent girls and boys acquired market- oriented vocational skills

learners mainstreamed into formal schools, more than three times the project’s target

Photo by Erick Gibson

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