Projects in Benin

Sustainable Agricultural Systems (SAS)

The purpose of the Sustainable Agricultural Systems (SAS) project is to increase food security in Beninese communities, so households have enough nutrient-rich foods to eat throughout the year, sufficient income to access available food, and the economic stability and resilience to achieve long-term food security. Volunteers and their counterparts collaborate to address the following four goals:

1. Increase productivity and diversity of household food production
2. Households increase consumption of nutrient-rich foods
3. Increase households’ income through agriculture-based income generating activities (IGAs)
4. Increase households’ capacity for personal money management

SAS Volunteers and their counterparts are involved in the following activities:

• Promoting community and school gardens for food security and potential income generation
• Promoting best cultivation practices and improved production techniques
• Encouraging conservation and transformation techniques to increase the value added to harvested crops
• Training and coaching students in secondary schools and women’s groups on entrepreneurship related to food security
• Providing training and management advisory services to community groups and individuals on business planning, marketing, added value, product and service quality, basic financial management, and accounting, etc. 
• Helping individuals and groups of producers conduct feasibility studies, business plans, project design and management, development of action plans, saving schemes, and yearly budgets
• Training groups on small animal husbandry

Education

In line with Benin's Ministry of Education’s priorities, the goal of the Teaching English as a Foreign Language (TEFL) project is that Beninese students, teachers and the community gain the English skills needed to access academic and professional opportunities. TEFL Volunteers are middle/high school English teachers who co-teach English classes alongside Beninese teachers, as well as supporting English learning of community members outside the school.

Objectives related to teachers

• Increase capacity of English teachers to use English and general teaching skills.
• Increase the capacity of teachers to use teaching practices in the classroom that benefit both girls and boys.
• Increase English proficiency of English teachers (as measured through use of classroom procedural English).

Objective related to students

1. Increase achievement of students in English.

Objective related to learning environment and community

1. Increase the ability of the community to support students’ access to learning.

TEFL Certificate program

TEFL Volunteers in Benin participate in the Peace Corps TEFL Certificate program, an externally validated credential based on 120 hours of training and two years of supervised teaching experience, including practice teaching and multiple classroom observations with feedback. Beninese counterparts who co-plan and co-teach with Volunteers are eligible to earn a certificate in classroom practice (CICP) if they complete the requirements.

A TEFL Volunteer's primary duties include:

• Team teach 4 or 5 middle or high school English classes of 40-70 students with a Beninese co-teacher, including teaching lessons, grading tests, and supervising students
• Co-plan lessons that align with the national curriculum
• Complete TEFL Certificate program requirements (this includes participating in six online learning community discussion sessions and submitting lesson plans in advance of being observed teaching)
• Motivate students to learn English and introducing creative thinking techniques
• Integrate important themes such as malaria, food security, and hygiene and sanitation, in classroom lessons, clubs, and other activities
• Help students find ways to put their English skills into practice in daily life
• Develop and introduce new texts, materials, and teaching aids based on locally available materials that are affordable to the school and the students
• Participate in weekly faculty meetings and a teacher community of practice,
• Create and facilitate an English club in the secondary school and facilitate extracurricular activities, implementing at least one activity or project in addition to teaching per academic year

Health

Rural Community Health

Volunteers in the Rural Community Health program collaborate with community health workers or community health organizations to improve community members' health and well-being through disease prevention and health promotion activities. This program focuses on two main goals that are aligned with Ministry of Health priorities:

1. Maternal, neonatal and child health, with a focus on nutrition;
2. Disease prevention and healthy practices focused on adolescents and youth—including hygiene and sanitation, malaria, and reproductive health.

All Health Volunteers are expected to collaborate with their Beninese counterparts to conduct the following activities during their two years of service:

• Develop community care groups to address specific community health issues by identifying, training, and following up with leader mothers; and
• Implement the peer health education curriculum Amour & Vie (Love & Life) to promote youth health.

Many Volunteers also conduct the following activities in conjunction with their care groups and Amour & Vie groups:

• Work with health care professionals to better define and promote balanced nutrition among pregnant and breast-feeding mothers and children under the age of five
• Provide malaria education to young people and influential community members so that they will initiate local action aimed at behavior change
• Assist with the organization of village-based immunization events and baby-weighing sessions;
• Provide health education focused on nutrition and disease prevention (such as malaria, diarrhea, and STIs)
• Encourage healthy water and sanitation practices and promoting behavior change
• Work with local groups to plant or improve gardens to provide increased sources of nutrition
• Work with community health organizations to develop sustainable health projects in the community.

Benin Against Malaria

BAM was established in 2013 and falls under the Rural Community Health program framework.

Malaria prevention is considered a priority for Volunteers in the Health, Education, and Agriculture sectors in Benin, and all Volunteers are encouraged to organize malaria prevention programs in their communities. The Benin Against Malaria (BAM) committee supports Volunteers in the local implementation of national initiatives to reduce the burden of malaria in Benin. The BAM Committee is led by a third-year Volunteer, with the participation of Volunteers in all three sectors.

BAM supports Volunteers and the Beninese people in adopting evidence-based practices to reduce the burden of malaria. Community members are mobilized through trainings, workshops and activities related to malaria prevention tools. Such activities include: supplemental bed net distributions, youth outreach and school campaigns, behavior change and media campaigns, social marketing and personal finance activities, intermittent preventative treatment during pregnancy and infancy, assistance to health center professionals related to diagnosis and proper treatment adherence, and the promotion of early and active detection of malaria.

The malaria program works with Benin's National Malaria Control Program (NMCP) to ensure all activities meet national criteria and policy.