Who are you trying to help? What issue are you trying to address?

Education in the DRC is not free, leading to many families giving priority to sending boys to school. Congolese culture encourages women to stay at home and look after the family, thus severely inhibiting their access to education and development opportunities.

FEDA conducted a needs assessment in 2007 involving community members, women, local schools and community leaders. Findings showed low levels of literacy for women and also that women wanted access to literacy. FEDA aims to meet the need for women’s literacy by establishing literacy centres where more than 300 women and girls (15 to 45 years) who did not have the opportunity to complete school can be trained, and by training literacy facilitators from the local community, 50% of whom will be women.

The establishment of women’s literacy centres will ensure that the cycle of female illiteracy is broken and that women have the opportunity to participate in social and economic community development.

FEDA sees literacy as a tool for empowerment, enabling women to take part in decision-making and believes that literacy is linked to key issues in people’s lives such as income generation, family health and conflict resolution.

What is your project and how will it help?

The main objective of the project is to promote female literacy and empower women to access development services to reduce poverty, tackle HIV/AIDS and women’s rights violations, and build peace. Specifically, the project aims to increase the literacy skills of 300 rural women and girls (15-45 yrs); to establish women’s literacy and resource centres in three villages; to train 20 literacy facilitators (4 from each village) on the integration of vocational training, life skills and conflict resolution into adult literacy provision; and to develop a set of literacy materials suitable for the target group.

This community approach to literacy will focus on the realities of people’s lives and will include vocational training, life skills education, conflict resolution, reproductive health, HIV and AIDS, and women’s rights.

Literacy facilitation will be in Swahili as the mother tongue, and the project will target the following 5 villages Kazimia, Kabogo, Kavumbwe, Nguma and Kikonde.

EXPECTED OUTCOMES
- Increased value placed on girl’s education and adult literacy
- Increased self-confidence and empowerment of women to bring about change in their lives, represent themselves, work collectively and participate in civic affairs
- Increased understanding of family and reproductive health, and HIV and AIDS
- Reduction in risky sexual behaviour among young people and empowerment of women to make informed decisions about their reproductive health
- Better management of family and local community conflicts
- Increased understanding of the status and important roles of women in the family and community, and the need to create opportunities for neo-literate women to step out of the household and involve themselves in vocational trades and business entrepreneurship

How can other people partner with you on your project?

Other people can partner with us by:
-Providing financial resources to help running the project
-Providing goods suitable for the project

Please detail the resources that you need.

-Equipment and materials for the project( Lap-top,printer,photocopy machines,binding machine, blackboard and printing books for literacy resources centers) 1250 Euro
FINACIAL REQUEST
-Project staff cost ( Project coordinator,literacy facilitators, vocational trainings facilitators) 2900 Euro
-Consultation meetings with community, villages leaders..in villages: 330 Euro
-Training of literacy facilitators: 1950 Euro
-Literacy classes facilitation : 950 Euro
- Materials for vocational trainings: 1200 Euro

-Communication cost for the project: 300 Euro
- Appreciation ceremonies for leaners: 300 Euro
- Monitoring and evaluation: 900 Euro
TOTAL FINANCIAL REQUEST: 9680 EURO – U$ 11,914

IN-KIND REQUEST FOR VOCATIONAL TRAININGS
-Computers
-Sewing machines
-Carpentry tools
-Lhter educational equipments
-