News

Congolese female bloggers go wild during the 16 days

What was the color of the 16 days campaign of activism to combat violence against women and girls in Congo? From November 25 to December female bloggers involved in “Take Back The Tech” campaign organizations, have blogged and covered the campaign activities. They talked about the violence experienced by women with disabilities, women journalists and the discouragement of women to pursue legal proceedings because of the slowness of the bureaucracy and also lack of funds. More at aidsrightscongo.org

ICT skills for women survivors of violence and women's rights activists

AZUR Development and the Women’s Networking Support Programme of APC (APC WNSP) have organized the first "Feminist Tech Exchange - FTX in Congo from 18 to 20 November2009 for women and adolescents survivors of violence, women's rights activists and journalists working to end violence against women and girls.

The FTX is an exciting meeting which enhances practical skills to use technology; discuss situations where information and communication technologies (ICTs) are used as a tool for perpetrating violence. The FTX is a component of global APC WNSP project of PARF APC 2 years entitled "Strengthening the strategic use of ICT by women to combat violence against women and girls”. The second FTX is held in Brazzaville in mid-February 2010. Stay tuned to this site to learn more..

290 Indigenous girls and boys can attend school this year

The announcement was made during the official launch of the project Access to education for indigenous children and youth in the Lekoumou province in October 2009 by the Executive Director of AZUR Development. This education project was born out of needs identified and expressed by project beneficiaries and their families during different surveys and interviews. It is being implemented in three districts of Lekoumou: Sibiti, and Mayéyé Komono. Various activities are undertaken:

1. The provision of school kits to 290 indigenous students attending schools in the areas of Sibiti, Mvouara, Makubi, Mayéyé and Komono.
2. Prices for best students during the school year based on their quarterly exams results.
3. The socio cultural and educational activities focused on raising awareness about the right to education in schools for indigenous children and youth.
5. Awareness of both indigenous and Bantu parents on the right to education for children.
6. Support for indigenous students’ parents in improving their income, especially through business related activities.

Improving access to treatment and incomes of HIV positive women in Bouenza and Lekoumou

In early 2009, AZUR Development had also received several requests for support, so we have decided to support income-generating activities for more than 70 women and their families who meet our criteria of vulnerability in Bouenza and Lekoumou. Two training workshops on psychological and social care for PLWHA, both indigenous and Bantu, were hold in Sibiti and Nkayi to set up a core group of peer counselors. Peer counselors are now trained on the ground and travel in villages to provide support. Talks, visits and home care are regularly organized in the two provinces

HIV/AIDS and Human Rights in Central and West Africa

The work of promoting and defending the rights of people living with AIDS (PLWHA), especially women; which began in 2008 with the regional workshop on the rights and duties of PLWHA; will continue in 2010. This new phase of the project specifically concerns the following countries: Congo, Central Africa, Benin, Congo and Togo.
The project aims to :

- strengthen the capacity of organizations of people living with HIV and AIDS organizations to promote and defend the rights of people infected by AIDS, especially women and girls;
- create awareness among people living with HIV/AIDS on their rights and duties contained in existing laws and texts, and

- contribute to the effective reduction of discrimination against people living with AIDS in hospitals and in the workplace, especially women living with HIV.

Many activities are directly involving and targeting HIV-positive women in the five countries.

125 Indigenous girls now literate

Since June 2009, 125 Indigenous girls aged between 6 to 20 years not attending school and living in indigenous camps in the Lekoumou province have enjoyed literacy classes and awareness on violence against women, HIV prevention and education on reproductive health. With support from V-day, AZUR Development purchased school materials, a motorcycle for transport of the teachers and organized literacy classes. The classes were taught by local teachers. The project was welcomed by Indigenous families and jealousy on the part of boys who were not targeted. The mothers were eager for their daughters. The directors of nearby schools were involved and helped in monitoring to ensure that the quality of lessons. You could read blog posts about this project at http://pygmiescongobrazza.blogspot.com

Web 2.0 for advocacy for the rights of people living with HIV/AIDS in Congo

For a year, we trained women and men living with HIV and AIDS activists to create blogs and write about the violations of their rights, to recount their experiences with the disease and also their nice stories and experiences. Others have learned how to make videos and we hope to finalize this year a meeting of bloggers on HIV/AIDS to raise their voices in the fight against stigma and discrimination.

Fight against malaria: a network of communicators for health was born in Pointe-Noire

During a training workshop on communication on malaria with media professionals held this 04 November 2009 in Pointe-Noire, the network of Communicators for Health has been presented publicly. The workshop aimed to discuss the technical issues around coverage of malaria; identify challenges faced by journalists in media coverage and propose solutions and also to define a program of short-term activity plan on communication on malaria for advocacy.

This project is a follow up to malaria advocacy project implemented by AZUR Development and members of the Réseau Sida Afrique in 9 10 African countries. News about malaria at: http://malariaafrica.wordpress.com/.

Capacity building of telecentre staff

Telecentres remain to this day the only places where communities have access to information and communication technologies (ICTs) at a low cost. However, these telecentres are experiencing several problems related to lack of competent human resources, the cost of computer equipment and internet and lack of funding.

In order to ensure transfer of knowledge, and overcome the difficulties faced by community telecentres Congo, a staff exchange project between community telecentres was implemented since April 2009 and supported by télécentre.org This project implemented in Brazzaville and Nkayi allowed the transfer of competencies in several areas including: marketing, resource mobilization, maintenance, accounting and finance.