Project Information

Project Title:
Health and Social Services for Adolescents in Benin (EAGER)

Objective/s/Goal:
The project aims at improving the development and participation rights of adolescents through enhanced self esteem, access to adolescent-friendly reproductive health information and services, skills development and income generation, basic literacy education, and gender sensitivity.

Implementing Agency/s: UNFPA and UNICEF

Status on Project Activities
Some 300 adolescent girls and boys, aged 15-24, are being trained in multi-media communications at the Multi-Media Centre in Cotonou. Youth are receiving comprehensive professional training in all aspects of radio and TV broadcasting and production, computer graphics, Web Site design and development, photography, videography, and magazine and newspaper writing and production. It is the only center of its kind in Francophone West Africa.

In addition to the Multi-media Center, the project supports:

• Youth and leisure centers that provide a safe environment for adolescents, offering counseling, sports, reading rooms and access to TV and radio.
• Youth friendly reproductive health clinics, operated by the NGO OSV Jordan.
• Skills development and income generation activities for youth
• Education, with an emphasis on reducing illiteracy among girls.

The project has played a significant role in the elaboration and adoption of the National Youth Policy.