Togo - making choices

Based on the findings of the Plan International report on child trafficking in Togo “For the Price of a Bike”, this resource has students using a mix of statistical and real-life case-study analysis to explore and understand the range of factors that lead to child trafficking.

Through the introduction of international agendas such as the Millennium Development Goals, students are encouraged to see the impact that the international community can have on individual lives and what action can be taken as a young person in the UK to help bring about change.

Background:
The year 2007 will mark the bi-centenary of the abolition of slavery by the British Government, however in countries such as Togo a form of slavery still exists in the widespread phenomenon of child-trafficking.

For many children in Togo living in poverty, the offer of a bike from a child trafficker is enough to entice them away from their families and into unpaid work in far away towns and villages. Removed from education and the support of their communities, these children’s rights to a happy and secure childhood are denied.

About Plan:
Plan has programmes in 46 countries and is committed to supporting communities to create and administer their own solutions for improving lives. Children are at the centre of everything we do, so they play an essential part in the process of planning and implementing projects within their communities.

In Togo this means that trafficked children are working with Plan community staff to find solutions for how they can both reintegrate with their communities, and help prevent other young people making the same decision they once did.

Through education resources such as these, Plan UK aims to help young people in the UK gain not only a better understanding of the world that they live in, but also to inspire them to play an active part in making it a fairer place.

Resource information
Togo: making choices resource includes: 

• 4 Key Stage 4 Geography lesson plans with additional curriculum links to Citizenship, English and Media Studies
• 4 accompanying activity sheets (photocopiable)
• Audio testimony of Amadou, a previously trafficked child
• 10 related photos (with access to a bank of over 100 others through website)
• Issue and country fact-files to support further research
• Website links to other useful information resources
• Interactive whiteboard preparation suggestions

*Whilst all lessons have been designed to complement the Key Stage 4 Geography curriculum, the flexibility of the topics covered means cross-curricular links have also been made to Citizenship, English and Media Studies.