As part of the “Life skills and economic empowerment of adolescents in cocoa-producing communities” project, Inades Formation and its partner Aflatoun organized, from May 23 to 25, 2023, in Abidjan, a training workshop for facilitators on how to run the “COCOA FOR GOOD” and “AFLAYOUTH” curricula in cocoa-producing communities in Côte d’Ivoire. This course was the third of its kind.
From May 23 to 25, 2023, the third training workshop for facilitators and relay facilitators of the “Life skills and empowerment of adolescents (young people) in cocoa-producing communities in Côte d’Ivoire” project took place at the Clarisse Sisters monastery in Aboboté, Abidjan.
Organized by Inades-Formation and Aflatoun, the workshop had two main objectives:
- Helping participants to take ownership of the two curricula, Hershey Cocoa for Good and AflaYouth.
- Train participants-facilitators in learner-centered participatory methods through the transfer of social, economic and financial life skills.
The aim was therefore to strengthen the technical and pedagogical skills of local facilitators, recruited and identified within communities and other development players, so that they could conduct direct and indirect training activities and mentor young people in the project’s beneficiary communities.
The workshop was opened by the SG of Inades-Formation, Mr. Sena Adessou. It was led by Aflatoun master trainer M. BA Ibrahim, according to Aflatoun’s training methodology based on the principle of “learner-centered teaching”. This method promotes mutual learning between trainer and facilitator. He was assisted by Inades-Formation in taking account of the project’s specific features in the workshop proceedings.
The workshop was attended by 25 people, including local facilitators, members of cocoa cooperatives from the three communities (Aboisso, Abengourou and Soubré), members of Inades-Formation and other stakeholders, including the representative of Côte d’Ivoire’s Ministry of Economy and Finance, in charge of financial education.
The themes addressed during the training included the perception of the environment in which young people in communities evolve as an opportunity, the perception of money and its management, gender, while highlighting the predominant role played by women in rural and urban communities, the creation of lucrative businesses and the search for employment.
To promote the concept of social and financial education for adolescents (young people), Aflatoun International has developed three Aflayouth curriculum manuals covering social and financial skills (Book 1), employability skills (Book 2) and entrepreneurial skills (Book 3). On the basis of these three manuals, and to take into account the project “Life skills and empowerment of adolescents (young people) in the cocoa-producing communities of Aboisso, Abengourou and Soubré in Côte d’Ivoire”, a fourth specific manual constituting the “Hershey Cocoa for good” program (curriculum) was designed. Hershey Cocoa for good” program (curriculum) has been designed, based on contextualized themes appropriate to the project, extracted from the first three manuals.
These four manuals formed the basis of the training workshop on program management techniques. They are also the facilitators’ manuals for their work training rural youth in the project’s beneficiary communities.
Let’s recall that the project “Life skills training and economic empowerment for adolescents (young people) from cocoa-producing communities in Côte d’Ivoire” has been implemented by the Inades-Formation General Secretariat and Inades-Formation Côte d’ivoire (field operator) since 2021. It is carried out with the financial support of the Jacobs Foundation and the technical partnership of Aflatoun International.
The project aims to address the (self-paying) employment challenges faced by young people in cocoa-growing communities by providing them with the social, financial and entrepreneurial skills to create their own income-generating opportunities and improve their livelihoods. It involves a total of 1,167 young people, 38.14% of them women, from ten (10) communities in the departments of Abengourou, Aboisso and Soubré. These young people, organized in 39 small groups (clubs or Associations Villageoises d’Epargnes et de Crédit, AVEC), are coached on topics relating to social and financial education, entrepreneurial skills and their world and community. The support system relies on facilitators in the various project zones to help implement the program through the lessons and modules contained in the four manuals.
In addition to this thematic support, learning is put into practice through the promotion of savings and credit activities within the clubs, and training in the creation of income-generating activities (IGAs).
Mr Mama Mounbagna, General Secretariat
Koffi Alla Hervé, Inades-Formation Côte d’Ivoire
