A future for my children

In October 2022, UNICEF received a generous contribution from McGovern-Dole funding, through an UN-to-UN Transfer Agreement signed between the WFP and UNICEF on October 17, 2022, for a period of 4 years (October 1, 2022, to September 30, 2026).

One of the expected outcomes was the capacity strengthening of parents.

In addition to this activity, particularly in the Lékoumou Department, the capacities of 5484 parents (3310 women and 2174 men), including 2815 indigenous parents (1682 women and 1133 men) and 2669 non-indigenous parents (1628 women and 1041 men), have been strengthened on parenting education with the support of UNICEF and in collaboration of the Association of Women Educators for Development (AED) which has been selected for the organization of these training sessions.

This support was offered to enable these parents to better monitor their children's learning and to participate effectively in the quarterly and annual meetings of the school management committees of primary schools in the Lekoumou Department.

Ngoto is a happily husband and father of 5 children. He and her wife, Gertrude, have 5 children, 2 boys and 3 girls. He lives in Moussanda, an indigenous village, neighborhood of Sibiti.

“My little boys are 6 and 8 years old and go to school in the Moussanda neighborhood of Sibiti. I have been informed by the head of the district that a training session was being held for parents on how to monitor their children's schooling.”

I never get the chance to go to school and I know that my life would have been different if I had been to school. I would like to offer this chance to my children.”

In the Republic of Congo, the education gap between indigenous peoples and the rest of the population is critical. In some parts of the country, an estimated 65% of indigenous children of primary school age are out of school.

Indigenous children constitute the least educated social stratum in Congo. 1 in 2 indigenous adolescents (12–15 years) does not go to school. In fact, 65% of indigenous adolescents aged 12 to 15 are not in school, compared to 39% in the general school-age population. Based on the observation of non-enjoyment of this universal right of access to education guaranteed by the Convention on the Rights of the Child by indigenous children, and faced with the generalization of illiteracy within this social stratum, the Local non-governmental organizations (NGOs), with the support of technical and financial partners in the education sector including UNICEF, have implemented alternative approaches to non-formal education since 2008, through, among others, ORA schools ( Observe-Reflect-Act), which facilitate the access of these indigenous children to formal schooling systems.

I was selected by the organizers, and I participated in this training, with the other Indigenous and non-Indigenous parents who have children in school.

In Sibiti, indigenous and bantou children go to the same school. In other departments like Likouala or Sangha, indigenous have their “own” school.

Indigenous children are taught by their own elders in their mother tongue. These schools are supported by UNICEF.

“This training taught me how to follow up with my child while attending school, which I have never done before this training. I am ‘able now to say that this support will enable me to monitor my children's learning and to participate effectively in the meetings of the school management committee of my children school.

I never found the utility of sending my girls to school because my wife needs help at home, but by taking this training I just realize that boys and girls have the same rights, and I have to send my girls to school too to give them a brighter future.