GRUPPO PER LE RELAZIONI TRANSCULTURALI

Non Formal Education (out of school) Activities for

Vulnerable Youth in Bosaso

Report
July 2012
BOSASO

GACMO WADA JIRBAY WAX KU GOOYAN- TOGETHER WE CAN

Introduction and Background

During the summer period (from June to August) each year, extreme heats and soaring temperatures
force thousands of families out of Bosaso to seek recluse in relatively cooler areas and neighboring
towns. During this period, however, most families from IDPs, refugees/asylum seekers and vulnerable
host communities stay behind due to their inability to raise the necessary transportation costs.
The departure of greater sections of the populations as well as closure of schools and most social
services further increases the prospects of idleness and the risk of drug abuse and other social
malpractices among the youth.
In recognition of the above challenges, participants from the Education Cluster and the Child Protection
Working Group in Nairobi, formed “the Non-formal Education Working Group” to investigate the need
for recreational activities in Somalia during school holidays and, if there was a need, to design an
intervention. The need to explore summer activities was also validated by Focus Group Discussions held
in May by GRT and its partner UNHCR on GRT’s education intervention whereby students, parents, CECs,
and teachers requested summer NFE activities. In response to the perceived need, the NFEWG, in which
GRT is a member, devised and circulated a questionnaire to parents and teachers involved with 10
organizations and agencies working across Somalia to measure their interest and to collect
recommendations for activities.
The responses from the questionnaire indicated large support for recreational activities citing school
performance, idleness and criminal acts as reasons why parents were in favour of summer activities for
their youth. Recommendations for activities included sport activities and education related activities.

Based on the above outcomes, GRT designed a pilot NFE programme consisting of sporting tournaments
and education debates for 80 youth (40 girls and 40 boys) between 13-16 years old from IDP, host, and
Ref/AS communities in Bosaso where GRT has a well established and equipped psychosocial centre.

Objective

Improve the integration of the children who hail from different communities and settlements in
Bosaso and provide physical and education activities during the off-school months so as to enhance
psychosocial and cognitive skills and to reduce CP incidents amongst youth.

Process of Identification and Role of Facilitators

Youth and personnel to facilitate the activities were selected for participating in the activities using the
following criteria:

Selection criteria for youth:

1. Youth between 13-16 years old;
2. Willingness to participate in the tournament and consent from parents or
guardians;
3. Youth who are remaining in Bosaso during the summer; and
4. IDPs, host community and Ref/AS.

In total, GRT identified 80 youth based on their psychosocial vulnerabilities and social exclusion which
included 50 IDPs (25 Boys 25 Girls), 20 Ref/As (10 Boys and 10 Girls), and 10 Host community (5 Boys
and 5 Girls).

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The majority of the youth hailed from the following 4 settlements in Bosaso:

1. Balade
2. Absame A
3. Biyokulule and
4. Bariga Bosaso

The activities were facilitated by three facilitators and supervised by the GRT Child Protection
Coordinator. Facilitators’ role included:

1) Football Facilitator- was performed by a football coach and a GRT psycho-social recreational
facilitator. His role included guiding the male participants and serving as referee for the football
competition.
2) Jump rope Facilitator- was performed by GRT psycho-social recreational facilitator. Her role
included guiding the female participants and serving as referee for the jump rope competition.
3) Education Debate Facilitator – was performed by a teacher from Garissa School where GRT
enrols Ref/AS students for forma education. The Education Facilitator prepared lessons,
conducted lessons, and managed the debate process.

The Program

As already briefly mentioned, the sport component of the NFE activity comprised of football and jump
rope competition, while the educational competitions involved debates on academic knowledge on
topics that included:

 Importance of education,
 Child rights, community integration,
 Hygiene promotion; and
 Conflict management.

Due to cultural imperatives and gender requirements,

boys and girls had to be separated with football being
exclusively for boys and jump rope for girls. The
education competition was coeducational with boys
and girls participating together in the same room.

The activities took place in the month of July, 2012 and were conducted in GRT’s main psychosocial
centre in Bosaso two days a week during twice a day. Modest refreshment was provided to participants
throughout the training sessions and the tournaments.

Sport activities took place every Wednesday

and Thursday from 8:00am -10:00am and
Education activities took place every
Wednesday and Thursday from 8:00am -
10:00am.

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For the activities, the youth were grouped by gender and into two groups (Group A and B with each
group comprising of four teams), totalling to 16 teams with 8 teams of boys and girls. Each team
consisted of 5 members

Names of teams (BOYS)

Group A Group B
Toroboro New Galeeyr
Hilaal M.Tooyo
Bosaso Wadajir
Hormuud Biyokulule
Names of the teams (GIRLS)
Group A Group B
Balade A Bariga BSo C
Balade B Bariga BSo D
Bariga BSo B Absame A
Bairga BSo A Abow B

The teams were first trained on the activities were afterwards made to compete in a tournament that
lasted for over two weeks.

In the end, four teams (one from boys and one from girls) qualified for the finals of the tournaments in
which one team from the boys’ side and another from the girls’ emerged as winners with the other two
qualifying for the runners’ up positions. An elaborate closing ceremony was held whereby different
stakeholders including parents, community education committees and GRT officials participated in the
ceremony in which winning teams and the runners up were given awards and medals.

Final Qualifying teams

Group A ( Boys and Girls)
Football and Education Debate 1 team Bosaso qualified
Jump Rope and Education 1 team Bariga Bosaso B
Debate qualified
Group B (Boys and Girls
Football and Education Debate 1 team new Galeeyr qualified
Jump Rope and Education 1 team Absame A qualified
Debate
The Victors!
Football and Education Debate Bosaso
Jump Rope and Education Absame A
Debate

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Achievements

 80 youth from different communities in Bosaso participated in a single tournament. This was
instrumental in community integration and peaceful co-existence
 Enhanced skills and sportsmanship among youth who would otherwise have been locked out of
such opportunities
 Improved the physical, mental and interpersonal skills of the youth involved who are at risk to
child protection incidents in Bosaso
 Increased the knowledge and awareness of participants on such crucial topics like hygiene,
community integration, and importance of education
and child rights.
 Awards comprising of trophies and medals were given
to winners and runners up. This raised the morale of
those children and increased their sense of optimism
in life.
 Each participant requested that the activities be held
again next summer and during break of January.

Challenges

• Delay in implementation of activity due to delay in release of funds for refreshments and
supplies. The delays caused the activities to be condensed into 4 weeks from 6 weeks.

Recommendations

On the basis of experiences dawn and lessons learnt from this activity, the following recommendations
are made;

 Longer term planning for the program is essential. If possible, it should be factored in the initial
programme design of a broader intervention so as to have it better structured, planned and
funded.
 Due to the realities of the weather in Bosaso during the summer, it is essential that sufficient
refreshment and transport services be planned for participants
 More similar events and also time is needed in the future so as to effectively engage children. So
as to better promote community co-existence and integration, traditional elders, other
community opinion leaders and representatives from the local authorities should be invited to
witness such events
 Plan for post-event surveys to establish the extent to which the events were helpful among
participating youth and the larger community.

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