Project to develop and promote academic success in the Nyassia district

Socalux is an association created in 2016 which aims to achieve academic success for all children in the Ziguinchor region.

To do this, the organization supports children in 3 areas:

The “school scholarship” component

The “health at school” component

The “pedagogical support” component.

Context

In Senegal, keeping students in school is a challenge. Indeed, the repetitive failures of children, the poor perception of the usefulness of school by the heads of the family, and housework often push young people to stop school. Learning conditions are also reasons that push young people to abandon their studies, especially girls. Indeed, access to quality latrines is not democratized in all schools. Thus, it is possible to see girls dropping out of classes because they cannot have adequate menstrual hygiene. In addition, the proportion of schools with access to electricity was 23.7% in 2016. Some schools do not have a fence strictly speaking and this represents nearly 62.5% of establishments.

This is why as part of this project, it will be important to support students in maintaining their efforts by subsidizing their tuition fees, and supporting them with academic reinforcement courses and the distribution of school supplies.

The mission

General objective: Contribute to the improvement of school performance in the Ziguinchor department

Specific objective: Improve learning conditions in the Nyassia district

Expected results and activities

Result 1 –Children in Nyassia district significantly improve their academic results

Activities

Identify the beneficiary children

Grant school scholarships

Organize educational reinforcement courses

Organize computer initiation sessions

Organize days of excellence

Organize performance monitoring sessions

Organize awareness sessions on selected themes for young people and parents (pregnancies in schools, importance of keeping children in school, etc.)

Result 2 –The skills of children in Nyassia district on reproductive health are strengthened

Activities

Organize awareness sessions in focus groups and talks on menstrual hygiene management

Organize awareness conferences on early and unwanted pregnancies

Organize awareness sessions on the importance of sex education

Result 3 –The organizational development of the Socalux association is strengthened

Activities

Organize organizational strengthening sessions on specific themes (administrative/financial, project management, monitoring/evaluation, etc.)

Organize workshops on updating SOCALUX basic texts (Statutes, Internal Regulations, Procedures, etc.)

Beneficiaries

The project will directly affect 100 young people. These are young people from rural areas who either have a high level of academic performance, or who are in a vulnerable situation. Thus, they will benefit from subsidies thanks to their merit or because of their precariousness.

Beneficiaries will be selected from partner schools. Indeed, at the start of the project, young people will be chosen based on a preliminary survey. The selection criteria will be defined upstream by Socalux.

Also, the project will benefit 1000 students and 200 parents during awareness sessions on different themes. These are students from different schools in the area as well as parents.