In the month of October, SELL Programme Malawi conducted the following activities.
 
TEAM BULDING AT UNGWERU
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On Tuesday the 11th of October 2022, Ungweru organization had a team building session at the Laudato Si hall. All the staff of the organization were in attendance and it was led by Tommy Hayden. Some of the aims of the session were to enhance social relations, build collaboration and define roles within departments.

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MZUNI COMMUNITY TAKES PART IN SELL PROGRAMME
A group of Mzuzu University (MZUNI) students took part in the Self Awareness Unit of the Sharing Education and Learning for Life (SELL) Programme workshop at Ungweru Youth Development Unit, Laudato Si Hall. The workshop ran from Friday evening, 14th October, to Sunday 16th October and was facilitated by Leo Traynor and Emmanuel Moyo.

​On the same weekend, another SELL team - Tommy Hayden and Isaac Thindwa - was in Rumphi, at St. Dennis for the same Unit.  The programme was well received by the young people there, who participated well and expressed their satisfaction with what they experienced.

 
FIELD VISIT
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Following the team building session on 11 October, the Ungweru team went for a field visit on 26 October. This visit took place to the Khamba and Doroba communities, who are among the beneficiaries of an irrigation project under the livelihood department at Ungweru. 

​SELL OVERVIEW PRESENTATION AT KASITU
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On 29 October, Isaac and Leo from the Resource Team presented an overview of the SELL Programme to the youths of Kasitu community during their youth rally. This took place at Nkhotankhota. The youths were lovely, easy to work with, very enthusiastic about the Programme and are looking forward to future step down workshops.

The Sharing Education and Learning for Life Foundation was at Immaculate Conception Secondary School Bauchi where they conducted workshop on Child Safeguarding and Protection for teachers and staff of the school.
The workshop aims to empower the teachers with the knowledge of identifying what constitute abuse of children and how to develop alternative corrections to erring students rather resort to capital punishment and other forms of abuses.

​Highlights of the workshop was the brief review of the School’s child safeguarding policy and the need to implement the contents of the policy in order to create a safe learning space for the students and staff.

​The child safeguarding officer to St Patrick’s Missionary society Mr. Raphael Okusaga was at the SELL foundation for a monitoring/oversight visit from the 26th to 28th September, 2022.
During the visit Raphael visited SELL partners in Bauchi to consolidate on the already existing relationships between SELL and its partners especially on the areas of child protection and prevention of gender based violence in Bauchi.
Speaking during the visit Raphael appreciated the stakeholders and partners for the efforts they are making to ensure the child right law is domesticated and implemented in Bauchi and for their interventions around domestic violence and child related issues.

​Mrs. Yacit Dala Director human rights commission appreciated Raphael and SELL foundation for the visit and the efforts the foundation is making to ensure they create awareness on any form of abused against children and vulnerable in the society and prevention of domestic violence. She added that the commission is also doing everything possible to reach out to the local communities through advocacy and awareness on domestic violence which she also affirmed that from the existence of the commission in Bauchi to this very moment people are more informed of their rights and the commission from January to September 2022 alone have recorded over six thousand complaints, she encouraged the Foundation to keep up the good work as they continue to partner together.
Alhaji Usman Sale Director Ministry of Religious affairs, community relation and social welfare department also applauded SELL for its effort on child protection and prevention of gender based violence. Usman added that the ministry frowns at anything violence and they will continue to pledge their support to SELL in every aspect they can to curtail any forms of abuse and violence in Bauchi through religious tolerance and prosecution of perpetrators.
Alhaji Ali Mohammed Director Child development ministry of women affairs also affirmed that they are working hand in hand with Civil society organizations, government agencies and other committee set by the government through the office of the wife of the governor Her Excellency Dr Aisha Bala Muhammed which SELL happens to be part of the committee to see that the child right law and other related laws are domesticated in Bauchi. He assured the team during the visit that in few months time the child protection law will be passed in Bauchi State.

Facilities/Stakeholders visited include: Safe home for victims of sexual and gender based violence, Sexual assault and referral centre (SARC), Director Child Development, Ministry of Women Affairs, National Human Rights Commission,  Ministry of Religious Affairs, Community Relations and Social Welfare department among others.
As part of the visit, Raphael also met with the SELL resource team and the SELL volunteers in Jos, Plateau State where he evaluated the Child Safeguarding aspect of the just concluded three year multi-annual Misean project.

Citizens of Bauchi state have been urged to imbibe the culture of Tree Planting to avoid desertification, climate change and flooding in the state.
 
The call was been made by the Hausa program officer of Sharing Education and Learning for Life foundation Nigeria, SELL foundation, Mr. John Sebastian Jiddere while featuring in a special BRC  programme.

​Mr. John Sebastian said the attitude of some citizens in deforestation for making charcoal and which affect environment is one of the reasons for disasters in the society.
 
He said, people must adopt the habit of ensuring clean environment to avoid spread of diseases like cholera, Malaria, diarrhea, Lassa fever among others and advised them to consider their personal hygiene with all seriousness for a healthy living
 
Earlier in her contribution in the programme, Miss Emily Ranna Yinala, the SELL Foundation communication officer mentioned some of the activities of SELL Foundation to include, creating awareness on Peace and conflict resolution to promote reconciliation among diverse ethnic groups and individual in society, Self awareness, Gender reconciliation, Trauma consciousness and resilience, environmental protection among others to sensitize the youth in the society.
 
The SELL Foundation communication officer, pointed out the importance of seeking professional advice before building houses in the community to avoid flooding and reiterated the commitment of SELL foundation to foster peace and unity among individual in the society for better Nigeria, and called for the citizens to consider the type of soil before planting a tree in the environment.

Workshops in the SELL communities are still ongoing, the SELL community in Yola, Adamawa State and Tafawa Balewa Local Government of Bauchi state have conducted  Child Safeguarding and protection workshop  to the teachers of Executive Child Academy while that of Tafawa Balewa with Youth groups.
The workshop aimed at empowering the teachers and the youth groups with necessary skills on how they handle children especially those entrusted in their care.
 
Equally, Jalingo SELL team facilitated a peace building session at the stakeholder’s engagement organized by Jalingo peace project.

​Maiduguri SELL community also stepped down workshop on conducted a workshop on Countering Violent Extremism/strategic communication to the youths of St John's Barracks, Postiskum, Maiduguri Diocese.

The presence of SELL volunteers across the SELL communities in the North East and Plateau State has continued to yield positive results. These volunteers in different communities have continued to champion the cost of SELL programme through workshops, awareness among others. In the last two months, resource team have recorded a good number of workshops conducted by the SELL volunteers in their various communities in different thematic areas like Leadership, Self awareness, Entrepreneurship and peace building.
Yola community:  from the month of June to August the SELL volunteers have conducted two leadership workshops to Christian mothers group and the Catholic cadet. The workshop took place at St. Garvans Catholic Church and St Joseph Catholic Church Jada on the 9th July and 16 August 2022.

Jos Community: The team in Jos conducted a leadership workshop for the Ministers of Hospitality of Jos Arch Diocese. The workshop took place on the 25th June, 2022 at St Williams Zawan. They equally organized a friendly football match for both Christians and Muslim youths in Dadin Kowa community of Jos to promote peace and Unity among the community members especially the young peoples.
Maiduguri/Yobe community: SELL facilitators in Yobe and Maiduguri community conducted two workshops. The first workshop was on self awareness with the youths of St. Rita’s Catholic Church Bullumkutu, Maiduguri while the second workshop on Child Safeguarding and protection with the youths of St Mary’s Catholic Church Yobe State. The workshops took place on the 21st and 23rd June, 2022.
Bauchi Community: SELL volunteers in Bauchi conducted three different workshops. The first workshop was on Life choice programme to the students of the Immaculate Conception Secondary School and supported by the SELL resource persons. The second workshop was with the students of Bishop Moore Memorial School on Child protection, gender equity, self awareness and hands on skill where they were taught how to make pomade and liquid soap. The third workshop was on child safeguarding and protection for the Catholic Women Organization of St Mary’s Catholic Church, Jimpi. The women were also taught hands on skills like Liquid soap and Izal disinfectant.

Tafawa Balewa community: The SELL team in Tafawa Balewa in collaborations with JDPC in the catholic Diocese of Bauchi established three different peace clubs in Toro, Bogoro and Tafawa Balewa Local Government areas. These peace committees were established to propagate peace among their peers and the community at large.
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Acceptance and support of the SELL project by the traditional institution, of particular note is the Goemai traditional council headed by the Long Goemai, a first class chief, and vice chairman of Plateau state traditional council who did not just support the project, but invited all the traditional leaders of villages in all the four districts of Shendam where SELL facilitated inputs on basic rights of women and children, and the procedures for conflict resolution in the communities. The outcome of the platform is the willingness of the traditional council to support efforts by SELL community volunteers and other stakeholders trained in Shendam community to carry out awareness activities and other interventions without obstructions.

​This is part of the commitments by staff, volunteers and beneficiaries of the project to uphold and promote ALL acceptable behaviors that safeguards and protects the Rights of Children, consequently avoiding actions or behaviors which may be misrepresented, and may constitute poor practice or potentially abusive behaviour. This commitment has ensured safety for children within the communities. From available records, two hundred and two (202) stakeholders, including project staff, volunteers and beneficiaries have so far signed the commitment form.

​Recognizing the structure of mobilization and sensitization that SELL yields in Pankshin Local Government Area of Plateau State, the Local Government administration appointed some members of SELL community facilitators into the local government community on Drugs and illicit substance abuse. The Committee has the Local Government Director of the National Drugs Law enforcement Agency (NDLEA) as the Chairman, while SELL and other stakeholders as members. Among the terms of reference of the committee is sensitization and awareness in schools and public places to people on the dangers of Drugs abuse and consumption of illicit substance. This, SELL has been actively involved in and some sensitization activities have already been carried by the committee. The SELL Animator in Pankshin, Mr. Nentawe Godit, who is a member of the committee revealed that membership of the Local government committee, has afforded the entire SELL team in Pankshin the platform to cascade the knowledge they have on child Safeguarding, Gender Based Violence and peace building to the people of Pankshin in the course of their sensitization activities.

The training on Child Safeguarding and protection has built the capacity of SELL community Volunteers in the communities. In Yobe and Borno states where the Child Protection law and VAPP law were not domesticated initially, two of our Volunteers, Mr. Stephen Ibrahim, and Mr. Joel Chibuzor were part of the committee of the Civil Society Organizations, representing SELL foundation in the committee in Yobe and Borno States respectively. The committee fundamentally carries out advocacy to the executive and legislative arms of government, traditional and religious leaders on the need to domesticate the Child's Right Act and VAPP act in the two states. The tireless efforts of the committee, supported by SELL and other CSOs successfully saw the two acts passed into law by the executive in January 2022 for Borno state, and May 2022 for Yobe states respectively. Fifteen (15) Community Based Child Protection Committee (CBCPC) have also been formed in 7 local government areas of Yobe state to ensure that people in the grassroots are enlightened to know the provisions contained in the two laws.

​In the month of August, SELL Programme Malawi conducted the following activities.

Step down workshop in Nkhatabay

Two Resource Persons from Sell Programme Malawi - Maria and Leo – visited St Joseph Parish in Nkhatabay district for a step down workshop on Self Awareness where they had the opportunity to mentor two trainee SELL facilitators. The workshop took place from 12th to 14th August 2022 and 29 young adults took part.
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​Safeguarding and Child Protection at Ungweru.
On August 18, 2022 in its Laudato Si Hall, Ungweru Organization held a session to build awareness of Safeguarding and Child Protection. In attendance were all members of Ungweru organization, including students of the Lusekero computing school. The session was facilitated by Tommy Hayden a member of the SELL Programme at Ungweru Youth development unit. Among the topics covered were - What safeguarding and child protection are; Where abuse of children is most likely to happen; Policies on keeping children safe; Preventing harm to children.

Step down workshops in Mzambazi and Lusangazi communities
Two stepdown workshops on Self-Awareness took place on the weekend of 26th to 28th August in Mzambazi and Lusangazi communities. Leo and Emmanuel, from the Resource Team attended Mzambazi as mentors, while Tommy, with the assistance of Joackim - a trainee from Ungweru - went to Lusangazi. Once again there was the opportunity to mentor the two teams of trainee facilitators.

Meeting with local arts group  
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On Tuesday 30th August the SELL Resource team received a visit from three representatives of the Kachere Arts Group. The aim of the meeting was to discuss the possibility of partnership between the two groups. Having heard from the arts group about their ideas of partnership and the SELL Resource Team having outlined possible ways in which they could help, both groups agreed that there could be the possibility of future discussion.

Preparation for first training
This work continued and the remaining kits for the training were checked and laminated. Using the Facilitators Guide for the first training, the Team shared out the roles for the training, so that each one could do their own preparation work.

Contacting trainees

Contact was made with all the trainees who had been nominated from the different communities informing them about the dates for the training, time of arrival and also making sure of their availability. Trainees whose numbers were not reachable were contacted through their colleagues in their communities. Once contact was established, the trainees were able to make known any logistical challenges that had arisen. Having solved most of these, the majority of trainees were able to confirm that they would be able to attend.

First training

This took place at the Pastoral center in Nkhatabay district, northern Malawi with the arrival of 37 participants on the 13th of July who were duly registered from 4 pm onwards, given their accommodation and immediately began the training programme. The Vicar General of Mzuzu Diocese, Fr Andrew Chunda, was a visitor to the training and he shared words of encouragement to the participants. The young adults taking part in the training, as well as the Team, were very happy to see him, to realise how they have the backing of the diocese and they presented him with a copy of the SELL Manual for Facilitators as a gift.
Fr Benjamin Banda, Mzuzu Diocese youth chaplain, also visited the training venue to show solidarity with the programme and the Team and participants were very happy also with his presence, his support and his challenge to the young adults of the diocese to take the training seriously and to be willing to give generously of their time and energy so that the programme should be a success. Fr Benjamin also received a copy of the Manual for Facilitators as a gift.

During the training all participants received their individual copy of the SELL Manual for Facilitators and on the 16th July, each team of trainees was given a kit containing the materials needed to facilitate the workshop on Self Awareness. They were also given dates for those step down workshops in their communities. The training programme ended with a Eucharist on Sunday, July 17.

​Preparation for step-down workshops

Immediately after the training, once back at the Resource Centre, the Team began preparing for the step-down workshops. Communication was established with the first communities that were to host the workshops, namely, Nkhamenya and Embangweni, to remind them about the dates for the workshops and also their dates for rehearsals for the facilitating team. Unfortunately, Embangweni were unable to follow through on the planned date and another date was set for later in the year.
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First step-down workshop

On July 29th, two Team members, Emmanuel and Leo, went to Nkhamenya to mentor the trainees from Bowe (1) and Nkhamenya (2), whose two communities had come together for the workshop. Due to electricity problems, the workshop started on Saturday instead of Friday evening as planned. It finished on the Saturday evening and participants went home on the Sunday morning. Overall, the SELL team was happy with how the facilitators conducted the workshop and believed that as they get more experience, they will grow in confidence and expertise.