QUAPAO: Quality of Reception in Protection in West Africa

Project information

Theme: Children's rights, gender equality, alternative care (PCA), comprehensive sexuality education.
Budget: €133,037
Countries: Ivory Coast, Niger, and Togo
Period: 3 years / phase 1: 1November November 2023 to October 31, 2026

Donors:
SOS Children's Villages France
French Development Agency

Project partners:

The PROJECT

QUAPAO is an innovative project carried out in Togo, Niger, and Ivory Coast to improve the quality of alternative care for children living in SOS villages. Co-financed by AFD and SOS Children's Villages France, it supports more than 1,300 children and young people and 250 professionals.

Alongside SOS, Equipop brings its gender expertise to promote non-sexist education, empower girls, and support SOS parents.

The ambition: to build safer, more inclusive educational environments that respect children's rights.

QUAPAO aims to improve the quality of alternative care for children and young people in a sustainable way by supporting SOS Children's Villages associations in three key areas:

Institutional quality approach

- Develop a shared process for self-assessment of services
- Strengthen management practices around quality

Educational approaches that respect children's rights

- Develop participatory school projects
- Train 250 professionals in innovative educational practices
- Increase participation among more than 1,300 children and young people.

Innovation and sharing experiences

- Create spaces for cooperation and mutual learning.
- Produce and distribute tools for capitalization

Beneficiaries

Live:

3 SOS Children's Villages partner associations
1,320 children and young people welcomed into the villages
250 professionals involved in alternative care

Indirect:

18 other SOS associations in the region, representing more than 2,800 professionals and 6,000 children and young people.

Equipop's role: integrating the gender perspective

At QUAPAO, gender equality is a key driver. Equipop supports partner associations in integrating this dimension into their quality approach and daily practices.

In practical terms, this means

Identify and reduce inequalities between girls and boys
Train professionals in gender-neutral education and combating stereotypes
Strengthening the empowerment of SOS parents and girls in care
Experimenting with pilot initiatives promoting equal care

Equipop operates on two levels:

Strategic support for national teams to integrate the gender approach into internal evaluation frameworks, school projects, and quality plans
Local support in villages, provided by local feminist consultants, to accompany SOS parents, listen to children, and support transformative actions.

With QUAPAO, partners are committed to building safer, more inclusive, and more equitable educational environments where every child, girl or boy, can thrive and exercise their rights.