Benin

Projects in Benin
Agriculture
SUSTAINABLE
AGRICULTURAL SYSTEMS
The purpose of the
Sustainable Agricultural Systems (SAS) project is to increase food security in
Beninese communities, whereby 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. This will
be achieved by the following four goals:
Goal 1: Increase
productivity and diversity of household food production;
Goal 2: Households
increase consumption of nutrient-rich foods;
Goal 3: Increase
households’ income through agriculture-based income generating
activities
(IGAs);
Goal 4: Increase
households’ capacity for personal money management.
SAS Volunteers are
involved in the following activities:
• Promoting best agricultural 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 and creating clubs at the school level related to food security;
• Providing training and management advisory services
to food security related individuals
and groups on business planning,
marketing, added value, product, and service quality, basic
financial management, 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;
• Promoting community and school gardens for food security and potential income
generation.
Education
EDUCATION
In line with the Ministry of Education’s
priorities, the purpose of the TEFL project that Beninese students, teachers
and the community as a whole will gain access to personal, professional and
academic opportunities through English.
Goal 1: Improve
Teaching
Goal 2: Increase student success
Goal 3: Improve the school community
TEFL Volunteers in Benin have the opportunity to 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.
A TEFL Volunteer's
primary duties will entail:
• Developing lesson plans and teaching as many as
200 students (not all in one class) so that
they will be prepared for the
following year of study and the national examination
• Designing lesson plans and team-teaching with
host country national (HCN) teachers on a
weekly basis
• Submitting lesson plan two weeks before your
site visit and teaching observation
• Participating
in six (6) Online Learning Community (OLC) discussion sessions
• Motivating
students to learn English and introducing creative thinking techniques and
integrating important themes such as malaria, food security, hygiene and
sanitation, in
and outside of class
• Helping
students find ways to put into practice their English skills in daily life
• Developing
and introducing new texts, materials, and teaching aids based on locally
available materials affordable to the school and the students
• Participating
in weekly faculty meetings, grading tests and supervising students
• Creating
and facilitating an English club in the secondary school and facilitating
extracurricular activities, involving students’ participation in school
improvement
projects and implementing at least one activity or project per
academic year
Health
RURAL COMMUNITY HEALTH
The purpose of the
Rural Community Health Program is to assist Beninese individuals and
communities in improving their overall health and well-being through disease
prevention and health promotion activities. This program focuses on two main
goals:
Goal 1: Maternal, neonatal and child health, with a
focus on nutrition;
Goal 2: Disease prevention and healthy practices –
specifically hygiene and sanitation, malaria,
HIV/AIDS and promotion of
reproductive health with adolescents and youth
All Health Volunteers are expected to conduct the following activities during their two years of service; while these activities are required, Volunteers are encouraged to work with their community partners to tailor the activities to the needs of the community:
• Developing community support groups to address specific
community health issues by
identifying, training, and following up leader
mothers; and
• Implementing the peer education curriculum Amour & Vie (Love & Life) in developed
by
international NGO PSI to address youth health issues.
Many Volunteers also conduct the following activities in conjunction with their support groups and Amour & Vie groups:
• Working with health care professionals to better
define and promote balanced nutrition
among pregnant and breast feeding mothers
and children under the age of five;
• Providing malaria education to young people and
influential community members so that
they will initiate local action aimed at
behavior change;
• Assisting with the organization of village-based
immunization and baby-weighing
sessions;
• Providing health education focused on nutrition
and disease prevention (HIV/AIDS,
malaria and diarrhea);
• Assisting your community with better use of
water and sanitation tools and promoting
behavior change ;
• Working with local groups to create or improve
gardens providing increased sources of
nutrition;
• Working with NGOs to develop sustainable
projects in the community.
President's Malaria Initiative
BENIN AGAINST MALARIA
The Benin Against
Malaria (BAM) committee was established in 2013 and falls under the scope of Peace
Corps/Benin Rural Community Health’s framework. BAM aims to provide support to
P.C. Volunteers to help
them better serve their communities and to implement countrywide initiatives to reduce the
burden of malaria that is experienced by the people of Benin. The present BAM Committee consists
of 10 volunteers and is lead by a third-year volunteer. Malaria prevention is considered
cross-sectoral and all volunteers can participate in disease prevention and the
delivery of projects
throughout their communities.
Partnerships
The malaria program
receives technical and financial assistance from the President’s Malaria Initiative, and
works with the National Malaria Control Program (NMCP) to ensure all activities meet national
criteria and policy. BAM is also supported by the Stomp Out Malaria in Africa initiative, who
provides critical support and feedback on project planning and implementation. Volunteers and P.C.
Staff attend Stomp conferences and trainings, where participants from 14 countries focus on
malaria related interventions and implement those practices in their countries and communities of
service.
Areas of Interventions
Benin Against
Malaria supports volunteers and the Beninese in adopting evidence-based
practices to reduce the
burden of malaria. Community members are mobilized through trainings, workshops and activities
allowing for improved access 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.