By; Manoah Kikekon
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| Volunteers at Workshop, organised by MAEJT Nigeria, in conjunction with ISS-WA |
MAEJT Nigeria (Association of Working Children and Youths), in collaboration with International Social Services, West Africa (ISS-WA), has organised a three-day workshop for the coordination team and members (case workers) on how to identify and address the challenges of vulnerable children.
Association of Working Children and Youths is a branch of the Mouvement Africaine Enfant et Jeune Travailleur (MAEJT) (French). An organisation responsible for vulnerable children on the move from one West African country to another. Carried out the workshop with ISS-WA under the umbrella of West African Network (WAN)
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| Team visited NAPTIP to strengthen the relationship between NAPTIP and MAEJT Nigeria. |
The workshop is to re-educate the 22 participants from 7 states, (including 3 North, 2 East, and 2 South West states) of Nigeria on how the network works, how to identify vulnerable children, talk to them, and address their challenges. know who to contact if the child is returned to his country.
Speaking at the workshop held at Fadesh Hotel, Badagry, Lagos State, Nigeria, on October 5 2023, Odushola Oluwatunmise, the National Delegate of Nigeria for the Association of Working Children and Youths (AWCY), said, "This has been an opportunity for me to meet people across West Africa and exposed me to some knowledge I wouldn't have had.
"ISS is an organisation creating networks in West African countries. It has highlighted its terms, stating that it addresses 80% of transnational and 20% of national cases of child migration.
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| The team visited Baale Azangbeme to advocate for ending child trafficking and ask for more protection for children on the move along the international seme border, Badagry Nigeria. |
"We hope to help the children on the move in Nigeria and West Africa, we can only help those we can because the number is high." She said.
Podayi Philemon, case manager at MAEJT, who conveys identified victims to their home town, said, During 2022, I was able to return three Nigerian girls to their hometown; some were identified in Ghana and others in Burkina Faso.
He said other young people like that are all over the West African region, and the organisation is trying its best since child migration can't be stopped.
The organisation provides life support for the returnees to stabilise them and stop them from moving around. "Not all children on the move are trafficked; some move voluntarily for various purposes, either for economic reasons or to visit relatives. And this should be done with consent or their guidance," he said.
Mamadou Sarr, the country supervisor and regional technical advisor at ISS-WA said, "This migration flow is very high in West Africa, and because the people along the region are similar in various ways, a Nigerian will still feel at home in the Benin Republic.
"We have supported more than 80,000 children on the move who returned to their country or reintegrated, and we have trained up to 10,000 in west Africa. We have also helped ECOWAS better address the challenge of children on the move.
”MAEJT is our strategic partner with various grass-roots associations in the communities who help us identify children on the move and help with background tracing," he added.
Abena Yamoah, who work at International Social Services West Africa: Over the years, there have been gaps in Nigeria that need to be filled. Every country has an organisation that calls for the need to protect children on the move.
"A lot of Nigerians are being identified outside the country, but when it comes to tracing their families, evaluating them, or during their return, we really do not have the connection, and that's why we are here to strengthen and expand the network."
She said, The ECOWAS protocol allows free movement; it's not all children on the move that are trafficked; the goal of the organisation is to make sure their movement is safe. They may be on the move to join a family or in search of greener pastures. We come on bored when these children are in danger.
Muhammed Afoseh, a participant from Plateau State, said, he has learned that the ISS-WA network targets protecting children from 0 to 25 and those who are on the move and vulnerable.
He said the experience he has gotten from the association over the years cannot be forgotten. "With the practice of the association, in life, there's nothing better than humanitarian services. It's a privilege to find myself in the association that gives me the opportunity to help people."
Awesu Halilu, the coordinator, encouraged participants to make sure they carry out restitution as a step-down training to their members, not forgetting to include other Community-based organisations, associations, and community actors to build a stronger network at the grass root levels.