Children of Peace |
About 70 percent of the population in UNHCR refugee camps is under the age of 17, nearly two-thirds of these children are of school age. The war has interrupted their normal education. Funded by the EU Children of Peace Award we are implementing Accelerated Learning Programs (ALP) and safe school environments in Ajoung Thok, Batil and Kaya refugee camps
Project Overview
Teach and Protect
The development and education of refugee children has been severely disrupted. Forced to leave their homes, often unaccompanied and traumatized, children and youth are in danger of being exploited through forced labor, early marriage and recruitment into armed forces. Some children have lost their families and are in need of foster care. Many of them have not attended school for years.
LWF is setting up classrooms, providing safe school environments and introducing Accelerated Learning Programs (ALP) for over-age learners who have missed most of their primary education.
The program also focuses on child protection by setting up mechanisms to identify children at risk, raising awareness and training teachers and focus persons in counselling. We are organizing child rights clubs, help desks and education on children's rights.
Children need space to deal with their experiences of violence. Creative sessions help them to voice their fears and to teach them how to reconcile and solve conflicts peacefully.
- Education in Conflict
War and conflict in South Sudan have interrupted the children’s normal education, resulting in a high level of illiteracy. To make up for lost time, older students join primary school classes. This leads to overcrowding and high drop-out rates.
- Accelerated Learning Program (ALP)
The Accelerated Learning Program (ALP) is an intensive program for the most disadvantaged refugee students. It is designed for overage learners, giving them the chance to access educational and life skills and to advance quickly to age-appropriate levels.
- Protection and Safety
By participating in the ALP, students are also made aware of the dangers of armed conflict and issues surrounding violence and protection. Through their school they have access to child/youth protection mechanisms. LWF establishes child-friendly spaces.
- Education for Peace
We help children to deal with the experiences of conflict and displacement. In organizing creative sessions, we use games, drawings, poetry, artwork and group discussions to give them an opportunity to voice their fears and experiences with violence.
Children of Peace Facts
EU Children of Peace
About the Donor
The EU Children of Peace initiative is a lasting legacy of the Nobel Peace Prize that the EU received in 2012 for its achievements in peace on the European continent. EU Children of Peace is supporting a severely neglected sector: education in emergencies. The initiative funds humanitarian projects for children in conflict regions, providing them with access to schools where they can learn in a safe environment, as well as with psychological support to heal their traumatic war experiences.
Over 28,000 children benefitted from the EU Children of Peace projects implemented in 2013. In 2014 the initiative is supporting over 80,000 conflict-affected children worldwide with education.
Bashir’s Goal: A Doctor in the Nuba Mountains
In March 2014, Ayman Butros Bashir, 17, enrolled in the LWF accelerated learning program (ALP) in Ajoung Thok refugee camp, Unity State, South Sudan. Through the program supported by the EU Children of Peace initiative, 3,500 young Sudanese refugees in Yussif Batil and Kaya refugee camps (Maban county, Upper Nile State) and in Ajoung Thok can learn in a safe environment, integrating child protection and support to deal with the traumatic experiences from war at home.
Bashir and his colleagues fled imminent attacks on Koda village in Kordofan State in May 2013. He recalls his journey to safety— trekking for hours in the forest and hiding from aerial attacks; heavy rainfall; waiting for two days without shelter on a river bank until the water subsided so they could cross over; falling sick mostly from malaria; and witnessing two children die. In Ajoung Thok, Bashir lives with his 19-year-old brother Jafar and their neighbor Abas. He is confident of a bright future with the education received through the ALP teaching. “There are not enough doctors in Nuba Mountains. That is why I aim to become a doctor in the future,” Bashir adds.
All Photos: LWF South Sudan/Birhanu Waka
27 June 2014
Ayman Butros Bashir in Ajoung Thok refugee camp, Unity State, South Sudan.
Ayman Butros Bashir (right), participates in an ALP class at Ajoung Thok refugee camp, Unity State, South Sudan.
Mary Abdella Angalo, 16, lives in Ajoung Thok refugee camp with her elder sister Sara and two teenage cousins, all from Buram county in South Kordofan, Sudan. She is one of the 320 ALP students in Napata Primary School, which is supported by the LWF and the EU Children of Peace initiative.
Mary Abdella Angalo says the education facilities at the ALP schools are “very good and the teachers are very supportive.” She wants to become a nurse in the future and help her communities in the Nuba Mountains.
Walid Awad Majir and other students during an ALP class session in Ajoung Thok refugee camp, Unity State, South Sudan
A teacher with students in one of the ALP classes supported by the EU Children of Peace initiative and the LWF in Napata Primary School in Ajoung Thok, Unity State, South Sudan.
Students outside Napata Primary School, Ajoung Thok, Unity State, South Sudan.
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