West Africa

Benin faces several challenges, including children's right to education, with problems such as children dropping out of school for various reasons and children with disabilities finding it difficult to get sufficient education. The risk of children and young people being recruited into armed groups is also high.

Erikshjälpen works in close collaboration with local partners and also with local authorities. Erikshjälpen's main focus is on children's right to education, health and safety and protection by, among other things, creating community-based child protection mechanisms and increasing knowledge about sexual and reproductive health and rights.

Erikshjälpen contributes to, among other things:

• Putting in place child protection mechanisms to prevent child protection problems.
• Reduced cases of child abuse.
• Increased engagement of authorities and police on children's rights.

Burkina Faso is a country in serious need of Humanitarian Assistance. From a national perspective, progress is being made in child safety and protection, but enormous challenges remain. With many households living in extreme poverty, the country suffers from high rates of child labor, sexual violence, child marriage and unwanted teenage pregnancies.

Erikshjälpen works together with local partners in different areas of Burkina Faso. In all areas, which are also affected by climate change in the form of drought, Erikshjälpen works with support for adaptation and recovery after climate change advocacy. In addition, our focus in the country is on children's right to health, safety and protection, and education.

Erikshjälpen contributes to, among other things:

• Educating duty bearers, i.e. the state and all public sector employees, to recognize their responsibility to respect, protect and promote children's rights.
• Children's clubs and councils that teach children about their rights and how to report violations of those rights.
• Promote income-generating activities to strengthen the resilience of vulnerable households and enable them to pay for schooling and health care for their children.

Mali is a country that has made progress in recent years in various areas related to children's rights. However, deficiencies in national legislation remain, including in relation to female genital mutilation. Child marriage and harmful child labor are additional factors that restrict children's rights to education and leisure, health, safety and protection.

Erikshjälpens work in Mali is mainly focused on children and their right to education and leisure, combined with measures to promote children's right to health, safety and protection. There is also a particular focus on promoting girls' ability to make free and healthy choices regarding sexuality and reproduction.

Erikshjälpen contributes to, among other things:

• interventions to bring children who have dropped out of school back into quality and inclusive education.
• Reduced number of girls subjected to FGM.
• Cooperation between local organisations and local authorities.