Summary of project status and achievements:
CDRC has significant faced problems in the recruitment and attendance of students due to the community’s repatriation preparations. As such, they have made several changes to the class structure. Rather than recruiting individual groups of students for each CDRC class, the staff has decided to recruit a single large group of participants (124 students) who have been divided into three groups and are rotating through each CDRC class. The teachers have arranged their schedule so that each of the three groups receives full instruction in Community Development, Non-Violent Communication, Business Affairs, and Reintegration. The SFCG teacher is also introducing relevant material to these students. The students attend CDRC class in the afternoons, and have 2-3 sessions per day.
Since adults are busy preparing for repatriation and have expressed that they do not have time to attend class, CDRC took the suggestion of parents in the community and recruited older children and teenagers for the current intake. The staff have expressed that they view youth as the future leaders of their communities, so it is essential that they be exposed to topics like Non-Violent Communication and Community Development as early as possible. The response from both the students and their parents has been excellent. The children are very enthusiastic and engaged, and their parents are happy the children are being exposed to these topics and are being kept busy in a constructive activity after school. CDRC staff have also been teaching Reintegration in the Kala market because market salespeople have expressed interest in learning this topic, but are unable to leave their businesses to attend class.
CDRC continued its collaboration with UNHCR in the screening of the Go and See Visit film, and began screening Jirani ni Ndugu, a film about community and peace-building efforts in the Kivus. Reports of these screenings have been provided to UNHCR. CDRC and UNHCR are exploring the possibility of showing these films at the departure center to those who are there to see off their family and friends.
After restructuring indicator collection methods, it was discovered that CDRC classes were not giving written pre and post-tests; rather, they were simply asking the participants general questions at the first session. The PM and CDRC staff will develop formal tests for the next intake in order to better monitor knowledge acquisition.
One short and intense repatriation seminar was completed in the month of May.
Indicators and Statistics:
See May spreadsheet.
Future goals:
To expand the program of teaching Reintegration in the market.
Substantial problems or issues:
None.
Wishes or requests:
There is an urgent need for a CD player to play SFCG audio CDs. The CDRC CD player is broken, and can play audio tapes only.
