The Association des Femmes pour le Développement et la Culture de la Paix au Tchad (AFDCPT) is a women's organization concerned about the obstacles posed by socio-cultural burdens, followed by other cases of human rights violations, including those of women and children. It was established on 17 June 2004 and authorized to operate throughout the national territory by the Ministry of the Interior through a recognition issued on 19 March 2007 under Folio No. 10/RMC/Governor/MAT/07.

Furthermore, it was recognized by the Directorate of NGOs (DONG) as a national NGO and listed on the list of NGOs operating in Chad on 16 June 2010 under No. 015/DONG/2010. This recognition comes after six (6) years of hard and long years of operation in favor of disadvantaged and vulnerable groups.

It aims to develop and strengthen collaboration between the State and development partners to ensure better protection, promotion and defense of the interests of women and children. This perspective has boosted AFDCPT's efforts to strengthen the capacities of local organisations in the exercise of their objective citizenship, which has resulted in the establishment of :

• Five (5) focal points distributed as follows: Guelendeng (1), Bongor (2), Kélo (1) and Moundou (1);
• Four (4) vigilance clubs scattered in two regions, including three (3) clubs in Tandjilé and one (1) in East Mayo-Kebbi. They are notably in Bongor (1), Laï (1), Béré (1) and Kélo (1). Their role is to protect, promote and defend human rights in our areas of intervention in order to relieve the population and initiate the process of the crisis of confidence between the administration and the people. The clubs are made up of the leaders of civil society organizations operating in these localities who work together to address cases of violations such as: Rape of minors; Early and forced marriage; Kidnapping for ransom; Murder; Ill-treatment; Child trafficking; Violence against women.

It should be noted that this approach came as a breath of fresh air that relieves both stakeholders.

The AFDCPT has a total of 69 members, including 26 in N'Djaména and 43 in the organisation's areas of intervention (Guelendeng, Bongor, Kélo, Béré, Laï and Moundou).

As it does not have funds for its functioning, the AFCDPT is maintained on the one hand thanks to membership fees, which do not cover basic needs such as: communication, rental of premises, electricity, allowances for permanent staff and others.

In addition to this, there is the increased number of victims of violations (abandonment of family, rape, intentional assault and battery, victims of trafficking and abuse, etc.) that the association registers and who sometimes need financial, medical and social support.

On the other hand, some partners provide occasional support for the implementation of temporary activities, particularly through projects. These support irregularities considerably reduce the content and effectiveness of the actions and stifle any large-scale initiative that requires substantial resources aimed at protecting and defending the rights of women and children. In short! The exercise of citizenship of local communities to be more involved in the management of public affairs, in order to aspire to contribute to the process of sustainable development.

The daily activities of the AFDCPT are :

• Registration of presumed victims of violations, monitoring of confrontation, conciliation and/or referrals to competent structures such as the PILC administered by Me Delphine K. Djiraïbé, to the firm headed by Me Midaye Guerimbaye, the firm Me Rose Morembaye and the AFJT ;
• The search for technical and financial partners;
• Accompaniment of local grassroots organizations to organize themselves to defend their interests;
• Medical and social support for victims;
• Consolidation of the partnership with civil society organizations (CSOs).

Success stories

Many successes are eminent and announced throughout the various activities of the AFDCPT. Among others, the following can be noted:

• The appropriation and adhesion of the populations, administrative, military and religious authorities of the project areas to the AFDCPT initiatives, including some in N'Djamena;
• The enjoyment of training on the basic notions of socio-economic and cultural rights enabled the beneficiaries to defend themselves validly against abuses at all levels;
• Strong solicitation of the AFDCPT by sister organizations at the national, provincial and international levels;
• A strong solicitation of the AFDCPT by sister organizations at the national, provincial and international levels; The taking charge of the schooling of certain children (girls and boys), a gesture that consists in giving hope and a smile to the beneficiaries and their parents;
• Advocacy that led to the involvement of local organizations in decision-making bodies, which allowed us to summarize some of the inadequacies of the programs and policies. Then, to propose possible solutions for a better rehabilitation of development initiatives.

Difficulties

The difficulties encountered by the AFDCPT are of a technical and financial nature.

On the technical level we have :

• The weak support of respondents in key Ministries to instantly resolve cases of human rights violations, impunity, social injustice and others of which women and girls are daily victims;
• The low enthusiasm of financial and technical partners for AFDCPT initiatives to fight against GBV and FGM and to popularize laws and laws in rural areas in order to improve living conditions;
• Most administrative, military and political authorities are unaware of the role played by civil society in the establishment of a state based on the rule of law and democracy;
• The need to strengthen the capacities of the AFDCPT and its members.

On the financial level :

• The inattention of partners makes it difficult to fully implement programmes and projects for actions oriented towards the rural world;
• The lack of rolling stock does not facilitate the coordination of field activities;
• The search for technical and financial partners is not easy.

It is mind-boggling when the statement of intent is about "the well-being of the people". Not to mention the many broken promises to this abused and enslaved people for reasons that only the leaders alone can justify at the appropriate time. Harassment, intimidation and threats are tools that turn into a formidable mode of governance used to put pressure on CSO leaders, including the media. This means silencing all dissenting voices, which are exerting non-violent actions on citizen demands to make themselves heard at a time when inclusive channels of dialogue are not promoted.

Added to this is the lack of support for girls married at an early age who face poverty, sexual and domestic violence and stigmatization. This inspires us in our organisation to make efforts to support victims especially by paying school fees and school supplies. As a breath of fresh air to parents who are struggling to provide these elements to their children in both rural and urban areas. Added to this is the government's policy of giving preference to partners over others in order to bring about behavioural change in the communities. Even less the objective implementation of the SDOs and the African Union's 2063 agenda.

The illustrative example is that the AFDCPT submitted a request to the Ministry on 25/07/2018 for assistance to disadvantaged and vulnerable groups. But this request has remained unanswered to date despite the comings and goings for follow-up to satisfy the beneficiaries.

It should also be pointed out that most of the AFDCPT staff is volunteers and has not received appropriate training. They need motivation and sustained capacity building. We ask volunteers to make their expertise available to the organization.

Experiences gained

As an experience, the 14 years of working for disadvantaged and vulnerable groups has enabled AFDCPT to contribute effectively to the promotion of initiatives in favour of girls and boys, men and women in the implementation of its activities. In relation to the objectives it has set itself to contribute to improving the social, economic and legal conditions of women and children in project areas. It has indeed helped many victims to find a smile and to integrate into working life. In order to achieve this, AFDCPT has been able to carry out several one-off projects in the past.

Prospects

We urge development partners, including United Nations agencies, to focus instead on activities in favour of direct beneficiaries who are not only in the country's major cities, but also in rural areas. In this way, we would initiate the process of behavioural change for sustainable development and contribute to the exercise of citizenship with greater impact in the life of communities.