Turning victims into victors

Guinea has experienced extremely slow economic growth due to years of conflict, uncertain leadership, and weak fiscal policies and governance.  While we can’t change the pattern of history, we can protect the most vulnerable members of society – the children – from having to bear the brunt of it.

Education is one of the most primary rights that children have.  But many children in Guinea are not in school or are not given access to an education of equal quality to their peers. We work with the government, non-governmental organizations and communities to give both boys and girls and even those currently excluded from the formal education system equal chances at receiving a quality education.

We have implemented quick-impact Early Childhood Development programs to provide a strong education foundation. Our approach includes both building and equipping centers to teach the children as well as training families about child protection and development practices. To date, 340 children, age three to six, are attending school in our centers and we’ve gone into 537 homes to educate families about how to protect their children and motivate their development.

In the area of child protection, we help rebuild local systems to function as avenues for addressing protection issues and to help build accountability within communities.  But the most important part of our child protection initiatives is training those who come in contact with the children.  With support from UNICEF, local organizations’ staff is trained to respond appropriately to children’s needs.

The first step toward a healthier population in Guinea is educating the community.  Working with the Ministry of Health, we’ve brought important knowledge, including information about HIV and AIDS, to local health workers and have hired and trained 128 community volunteers to help disseminate that knowledge within the community.  And we also work to make health services affordable for people to take advantage of them. 

But we don’t wait for people to become sick to help them. To help communities in Guinea live healthier lives, we’ve also provided four water systems and 320 latrines and distributed 935 insecticide-treated bed nets to families.

We are giving the children of Guinea knowledge, health and safety – the foundations for a secure future.