Education and health for adolescent girls in Chad’s refugee camps

More than 220,000 Sudanese from Darfur have fled the ongoing violence in their region and crossed the border into the desert of eastern Chad. Most of the refugees are now in camps; however, several thousand remain outside camps, waiting to be registered. With the crisis continuing, it is estimated that many more refugees will flee to eastern Chad. In the midst of this crisis is the education and reproductive health of adolescent girls being neglected?

In January 2005 the Women’s Commission for Refugee Women and Children visited 10 of the 11 refugee camps in eastern Chad as part of a mission to examine the protection of adolescent girls, with a particular focus on education and reproductive health.

At the time of the Women’s Commission’s visit, all camps had education programmes and many girls are given an opportunity to attend school, an opportunity they would not have had in Darfur. However, factors such as a lack of funding and the difficult conditions in Chad have led to a number of general problems:

• The United Nations Children's Fund (UNICEF) had not provided adequate shelters for schools, school supplies, or guidance to teachers at the start of crisis.
• Incentives for teachers offered by the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) are inadequate. Teachers leave their jobs to make more money in other ways, such as selling firewood or working for NGOs.
• The few women teachers in the camp teach only the lowest grades.
• Young people who have completed grade 8 have no opportunities for further education or skills training.

Violence against girls and women is also a problem. Thousands have been beaten and raped in Darfur by the military forces of the ‘opposing side’ and in Chad, often by members of the local community around the camp when the women and girls are collecting firewood. Health staff say that women often do not report rape because of the social stigma attached and that there were reports of some abandoned babies born as a result of the rape. Although in some camps programmes are being developed, there is little psychosocial assistance available to survivors of gender-based violence.

Other problems in the camps that impact on the education and reproductive health of adolescent girls include:

• lack of assistance for unregistered refugees
• overcrowding
• water shortages
• increasing tension between refugees and host communities that lack the basic amenities that many of the refugees have access to.

Recommendations for the UN and non-governmental organisations aim to:

• encourage young women and girls to take part in decision-making in camp management, youth communities, women’s groups and in schools
• provide funds for a gender specialist and implement all projects with a gender perspective.

Recommendations also include providing the following:

• care for survivors of violence following established protocols and ensure safe systems for gathering firewood
• semi-permanent classrooms, furniture and school supplies
• encourage parents to send girls to school
• establish literacy classes for all
• provide resources for local communities.

Source(s):
“Don’t forget us”: The education and gender-based violence protection needs of adolescent girls from Darfur in Chad, Women’s Commission for Refugee Women and Children, January 2005 Full document.

Funded by: Ford Foundation

id21 Research Highlight: 6 January 2006

Further Information:
Women's Commission for Refugee Women and Children
122 East 42nd Street, 12th Floor
New York, NY 10168-1289
USA

Tel: +1 212 551 3088
Fax: +1 212 551 3180
Contact the contributor: info@womenscommission.org

Women's Commission for Refugee Women and Children, USA

Other related links:
'The role of peace education in refugee communities'

'Home-based teachers and schooling for girls in Afghanistan'

'Reintegrating girls from fighting forces in Africa'

'Using schools to overcome sectarian conflict'

'Grim picture: improving the health service in Chad'

'Young people speak out'

'A safe place? Tackling sexual violence in the education sector'