The project promotes women and girls as agents of change to enhance their own well-being and the well-being of their communities, with a view to abandon harmful practices such as child, early and forced marriage, and female genital mutilation in four regions of Senegal (Tambacounda, Kolda, Kédougou and Sédhiou). This is achieved through the Community Empowerment Program (CEP), which focuses on gender equality and human rights, and offers classes on Peace and Security. Project activities include: (1) providing training to facilitators and supervisors on how to run classes and non-formal education programs in communities; (2) providing training to women and girls on human rights, democracy and good governance, health and hygiene, as well as literacy and numeracy, peaceful conflict mediation, and women’s leadership and participation; (3) providing training to local governing bodies on their roles and responsibilities, human rights and gender-sensitive budgeting; (4) conducting sharing and training seminars on gender-related issues with religious and local leaders; (5) holding inter-village meetings on topics such as human rights, harmful practices, and gender equality; (6) conducting social mobilization campaigns in communities, in addition to youth forums, on human rights and gender equality issues; (7) broadcasting radio programs on human rights and gender equality issues; (8) establishing Community Management Committees and Peace Committees, and training them on their roles and responsibilities, human rights, child protection, peaceful conflict mediation, project management and leading social mobilization to promote gender equality; (9) sharing project results with communities, local governing bodies and departmental committees on child protection throughout the project cycle; and (10) providing funds for income-generating activities for women. The project directly benefits 6,300 women and girls, and 2,700 men and boys, through CEP classes, as well as 6,300 women and girls, and 2,700 men and boys through classes on Peace and Security. The project indirectly affects the lives of more than 50,000 women. By the end of this project, 200 communities are expected to have publicly committed to abandon harmful practices, and safeguard the rights of women and girls.
