Children's media takes off in Togo
The Multimedia Center in Sotouboua, Togo allows children to chat with their peers in other countries.
August 3, 2006
Content provided by Messan Azanlekor, Program Unit Manager, Plan Togo
What do children in Togo do after school?
In the communities where we work in Togo, household incomes are often below poverty level and children spend a great deal of their time working at home and in the fields. Extracurricular activities are few and far between.
When we asked the children what they'd like to do, the answers came flooding in! Children wanted to express themselves and to preserve and reinforce their rights.
Today, with a little help from the adults around them, the children are busily interacting with the world around them:
Young Great Reporters
Multimedia Center
Radio Techniques Training Center for Children (CEFRET)
Young Great Reporters
This project began in 2003 with 10 children, six in primary school and four in junior secondary school. They were selected from more than 350 candidates to help create a club of children journalists.
Today, children participating in this club receive training in photography, drawing, writing and interviewing. With these skills, they cover official as well as cultural activities in the two provinces of Blitta and Sotouboua.
To date, the Young Great Reporters have interviewed visiting ministers, representatives from central administration, the Judge and the Police Chief on a number of issues, including examining what efforts are being implemented to stop child trafficking in their provinces and how children’s rights are being promoted. The young reporters have also covered a wide range of cultural events, including researching and printing a handbook on the World Cup and contributing to the finalization of Togo’s national code for children.
The Young Great Reporters has been such a success that the Atakpame Program Unit duplicated the project in 2006 and a third program unit will be duplicating it this coming year in 2007.
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Multimedia Center
Thanks to a grant from a French hotel company, ACCOR, Plan Togo opened its first multimedia center in Sotouboua in 2004. While less than one percent of the population of Sotouboua has electricity, the Multimedia Center allows children and youth to learn about computers, the internet and the like. To date, 48 adults and 750 children (10 of whom are now assistant trainers) have been trained.
Thanks to this media center, children from Togo are now able to chat with children from France and Ireland on topics such as children’s rights and child trafficking.
Also, public information sessions have been held with the public (400-500 people typically attend) to keep them up to date on world events they would otherwise never hear of, such as the tsunami, Hurricane Katrina, the food crisis in Niger, the earthquake in Pakistan, etc.
Kpatcha, a young assistant trainer, said: “I would like to see this multimedia center open its doors to non-educated children too because they also have the right to information.”
Another youth said, “The Multimedia Center is a successful project. It contributes to opening the windows between the population of our province and the world.”
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Radio Techniques Training Center for Children in Togo (CEFRET)
CEFRET opened its doors on 16 June 2005 with the help of Plan Netherlands and APCD (Association Peuples-Culture-Développement), a development organization based in Sotouboua. The first center of its kind in Togo, CEFRET is dedicated to training children on radio broadcasting and interviewing techniques.
In addition to learning how to express themselves in public and on the radio, children can also attend courses in singing, dancing, sketching and theater. The center is also equipped with band instruments for music lessons.
The ambition of CEFRET over the next several years is to coordinate all of Plan Togo’s children’s media projects, including the radio clubs, the journalists clubs and the Multimedia Center.
Back to top
What do children in Togo do after school?
In the communities where we work in Togo, household incomes are often below poverty level and children spend a great deal of their time working at home and in the fields. Extracurricular activities are few and far between.
When we asked the children what they'd like to do, the answers came flooding in! Children wanted to express themselves and to preserve and reinforce their rights.
Today, with a little help from the adults around them, the children are busily interacting with the world around them:
Young Great Reporters
Multimedia Center
Radio Techniques Training Center for Children (CEFRET)
Young Great Reporters
This project began in 2003 with 10 children, six in primary school and four in junior secondary school. They were selected from more than 350 candidates to help create a club of children journalists.
Today, children participating in this club receive training in photography, drawing, writing and interviewing. With these skills, they cover official as well as cultural activities in the two provinces of Blitta and Sotouboua.
To date, the Young Great Reporters have interviewed visiting ministers, representatives from central administration, the Judge and the Police Chief on a number of issues, including examining what efforts are being implemented to stop child trafficking in their provinces and how children’s rights are being promoted. The young reporters have also covered a wide range of cultural events, including researching and printing a handbook on the World Cup and contributing to the finalization of Togo’s national code for children.
The Young Great Reporters has been such a success that the Atakpame Program Unit duplicated the project in 2006 and a third program unit will be duplicating it this coming year in 2007.
Back to top
Multimedia Center
Thanks to a grant from a French hotel company, ACCOR, Plan Togo opened its first multimedia center in Sotouboua in 2004. While less than one percent of the population of Sotouboua has electricity, the Multimedia Center allows children and youth to learn about computers, the internet and the like. To date, 48 adults and 750 children (10 of whom are now assistant trainers) have been trained.
Thanks to this media center, children from Togo are now able to chat with children from France and Ireland on topics such as children’s rights and child trafficking.
Also, public information sessions have been held with the public (400-500 people typically attend) to keep them up to date on world events they would otherwise never hear of, such as the tsunami, Hurricane Katrina, the food crisis in Niger, the earthquake in Pakistan, etc.
Kpatcha, a young assistant trainer, said: “I would like to see this multimedia center open its doors to non-educated children too because they also have the right to information.”
Another youth said, “The Multimedia Center is a successful project. It contributes to opening the windows between the population of our province and the world.”
Back to top
Radio Techniques Training Center for Children in Togo (CEFRET)
CEFRET opened its doors on 16 June 2005 with the help of Plan Netherlands and APCD (Association Peuples-Culture-Développement), a development organization based in Sotouboua. The first center of its kind in Togo, CEFRET is dedicated to training children on radio broadcasting and interviewing techniques.
In addition to learning how to express themselves in public and on the radio, children can also attend courses in singing, dancing, sketching and theater. The center is also equipped with band instruments for music lessons.
The ambition of CEFRET over the next several years is to coordinate all of Plan Togo’s children’s media projects, including the radio clubs, the journalists clubs and the Multimedia Center.
Back to top
