Justice and rehabilitation for young offenders

Y Care International is supporting the YMCA of Togo to improve the lives of young people in conflict with the law.

The youth justice system in Togo is weak – arrest can be arbitrary and young people can spend years on remand without trial. The prisons are overcrowded and living conditions are poor. Young people and adults are housed together, making them more vulnerable to abuse.

The project aims to work with at least 100 children and young people per year. The YMCA is working in the two biggest prisons in Togo, one in Lomé, the capital, and one in Atakpamé, a busy urban centre 150 km north of Lomé. They are also working with young people in a juvenile detention unit.  

How we are helping

This project is improving the lives of children and young people (both male and female) in conflict with the law by providing them with psychosocial support, facilitating legal representation, enabling family reunion and working to ensure that young people can be reintegrated into society on their release.

The project provides young people with life skills and vocational training in prison, including carpentry, soap making, hairdressing and silkscreen printing. Young people are also trained as peer health educators, to provide sexual and reproductive health education whilst in prison.

The project is providing them with literacy skills and emotional support through play and music therapy and an onsite psychologist. They also receive ongoing legal support, and the services of their own family liaison officer.

Prison staff are trained in child protection and the political, social and economic issues that affect young people in prisons and when released, and on how to work effectively and ethically with them.

What we hope to achieve 

• The YMCA of Togo to become a leading organisation in working with young people in conflict with the law in Togo
• Prison and juvenile centre staff to work more effectively and ethically with children and young people in conflict with the law
• 45% of children and young people in conflict with the law in the three facilities where the project is run to have improved access to legal, psychosocial, health, vocational skills and educational support  
• Significantly reduce re-offending among released children and young people