Fellowship of Christian Councils and Churches in West Africa (FECCIWA), in French “L’Association des Conseils Chrétiens et Eglises en Afrique de l’Ouest (ACCEAO)”, is a regional community of Christian Councils and National Churches in thirteen West African countries (Benin, Burkina Faso, Cote d’Ivoire, Gambia, Ghana, Guinea, Liberia, Mali, Niger, Nigeria, Senegal, Sierra Leone and Togo). It was founded in 1994 thanks to the determination of the Christian Councils of The Gambia, Ghana, Liberia and Nigeria to be a regional ecumenical movement able to meet the challenges of West African populations on the issues of hunger, poverty, violation of human rights, injustice and armed conflict. It has its headquarters in Lomé, Togo.
The vision of the FECCIWA is “A West Africa where peace is sustainable, rights and freedoms are recognized, respected and enforced.”
During 2017, two pastors, Reverand Matthieu Agossou and Fidèle Fifamè Houssou Gandanou from FECCIWA participated in the Aflatoun training session in Cotonou. This training was done in partnership with Batonga Foundation and Gajes and focused on the empowerment of out-of-school girls with the Aflateen+ curriculum. In 2018, FECCIWA in partnership with the Protestant Methodist Church of Benin (EPMB) they began implementing the Aflatoun International programme with the two pastors as Aflatoun facilitators. This was expanded with the training of more teachers and mediators in the region and resulted in the programme being implemented in local church schools in Benin. During the past year, the activities of the organisation reached out to 3750 children’s within the church schools.
In 2019, FECCIWA continued to scale up its activities by training and evaluating the past year’s activities and try to reach out to other countries. A Training of Trainers event will be organised by Aflatoun International and FECCIWA at the end of the year to support the activities of the organisation and reinforce the capacity of the local trainers and teachers.
Fidèle Fifamè Houssou Gandonou, Regional Coordinator at FECCIWA shares her experience:
“I was trained in 2017 to implement the Aflatoun Curriculum. I started to implement aspects of the methodology within my courses at the Protestant University of West Africa. I discovered that the programme worked to enhance children’s development and wellbeing. I have witnessed that the programme also helps children to be more confident, more creative and more engaged in their community and their own lives.”
