Republic of Mauritius- The project ‘A call for action’ targets young inmates of Rehabilitation Youth Centres

‘A Call for Action’ is a community-based Guiding and Scouting project, which aims to provide opportunities to children of RYC Girls and RYC Boys to have access to guiding and scouting programme.  It also has as objective to enable beneficiaries acquire values and life skills that will help them in their physical, mental and spiritual development so as to become responsible citizens of the Republic of Mauritius.

A Memorandum of Understanding was signed on 24 October 2018 between the Mauritius Girl Guides Association and the Mauritius Scouts Association to roll out the project across RYCs.  The project, which is on a pilot basis for a period of one year, kick-started on 2^nd March this year.  The objective is to counter anti-social behaviour in youth who are more prone to modern social ills including synthetic drugs, unsafe sex, adolescent pregnancy, bullying, and cybercrime.

Weekly meetings and activities are held by a team of girl guides and scouts in both RYC centers based on four main modules namely: Creativity; Values; Self-development and; Citizenship.  A tailor-made guide and scout programme is also offered to every inmate so as to encourage them to join a guide or scout group in their respective locality upon their discharge from the RYC.

The ‘A Call for Action’ project has led to the improvement in the attitudes and behaviour of the inmates and to adherence of RYC inmates who have already been released from the centres.  The project has been sponsored by the US Embassy through the Ambassador’s Special Self-Help Programme.