BENIN / ANGELIQUE KIDJO VISIT

19-Dec-2022 00:06:25
UNICEF Goodwill Ambassador Angélique Kidjo returned to her home country Benin to meet children and young people impacted by the spillover of violence from the Sahel crisis and climate change in the region. UNICEF
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STORY: BENIN / ANGELIQUE KIDJO VISIT
TRT: 06:25
SOURCE: UNICEF
RESTRICTIONS: PLEASE CREDIT UNICEF ON SCREEN
LANGUAGE: FRENCH / FON / YORUBA / NATS

DATELINE: 14-17 DECEMBER 2022, ATACORA, TANGUIÉTA, NATITINGOU, BENIN
SHOTLIST
14 DECEMBER 2022, ATACORA, BENIN

1. Various shots, Kidjo and members of Star Feminine Band singing and dancing

15 DECEMBER 2022, TANGUIÉTA, BENIN

2. Various shots, Kidjo meeting health workers and mothers using local ingredients to prepare nutritious food to treat malnourished children, Centre for Therapeutic Nutrition at St Jean de Dieu Hospital
3. Various shots, Kidjo meeting young women, Social Promotion Centre
4. Various shots, Kidjo and UNICEF Benin team playing football with female players from Colby middle school, Tchoutchoubou primary school
5. Various shots, Kidjo, students, Tchoutchoubou primary school

16 DECEMBER 2022, NATITINGOU, BENIN

6. Various shots, Kidjo, UNICEF National Ambassador Zeynab, UNICEF Country Representative, Social Promotion Centre
7. Various shots, Kidjo meeting teenage girls, vocational centre

17 DECEMBER 2022, NATITINGOU, BENIN

8. Various shots, Kidjo, student of UNICEF-supported training and entrepreneurship program for youth
STORYLINE
UNICEF Goodwill Ambassador Angélique Kidjo returned to her home country Benin to meet children and young people impacted by the spillover of violence from the Sahel crisis and climate change in the region.

The deteriorating security situation in Burkina Faso, Nigeria, and Niger, as well as rising food prices as a result of climate-induced shocks, are affecting access to essential social services for children, refugees, and internally displaced persons in northern Benin.

In some border areas with Sahel countries, a number of schools have been temporarily closed, malnutrition in children under five has risen, while some health centers are facing challenges with maintaining operations. Local social welfare authorities have reported increases in domestic violence, gender-based violence, and violence against children.

During the week-long trip, five-time Grammy Award winner Kidjo met with teachers, nurses, and health and social workers who are on the frontlines providing children and their families with access to essential services, as well adolescent girls, children, and youth, who are championing change in their communities.

In Benin, 3 in 10 girls are married before the age of 18. Kidjo met with adolescent girls who have escaped child marriage and have been reintegrated into their communities through vocational training opportunities and income-generating activities, such as sewing, cooking, welding, and masonry.

Kidjo visited a nutrition center in Tanguiéta to see how health workers and mothers use local ingredients to prepare nutritious food to treat malnourished children, and how UNICEF’s supply of Ready-to-Use Therapeutic Food (RUTF) - a nutrient-rich, peanut-based paste - is helping to save these children’s lives.

In Benin, 1 in 3 children under the age of five is chronically malnourished.

UNICEF is reinforcing its presence in northern Benin - particularly in border areas - to respond to emerging needs affecting children, including refugees.

Kidjo visited schools and social promotion centers where she met with refugee children and adolescents from Burkina Faso, including 7-year-old Abass and 9-year-old Zawiratou, whose school was shuttered due to increased violence.

The siblings were able to return to school after three years, thanks to the support of local authorities, UNICEF, and partners.

Kidjo returned to Benin while celebrating 20 years as a UNICEF Goodwill Ambassador.

In 2017, she joined forces with seven of Benin’s greatest artists to produce a song calling for the elimination of child marriage, and in 2020 she recorded a new version of Miriam Makeba’s "Pata Pata" to help spread awareness about preventing COVID-19.

This is her first mission with UNICEF since the COVID-19 pandemic.
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