January
1994: a ministerial meeting was held in Malawi to
discuss the introduction of a guidance and counselling
programme in the region. The meeting agreed that a centre
of guidance and counselling should be established in Malawi
to cater to the needs of young people, particularly girls.
A
technical working group, comprising members from the region,
was established to implement the ministerial decision
and to take responsibility for preparing the programme
and the modules for trainers of the trainers from the
participating countries. This group met in different countries
each year, starting with Malawi.
July
1995: a technical consultation meeting was held in Namibia
to review the draft training modules and further explore
the concept of guidance and counselling in the African context.
The modules have been tested in the participating countries
and are now being finalized.
Technical
working group meetings have been held in Uganda and Lusaka.
In 1996 there were 13 countries in the programme, namely:
Botswana, Kenya, Lesotho, Malawi, Mozambique, Namibia, Nigeria,
South Africa, Swaziland, Tanzania, Uganda, Zambia and Zimbabwe.
On
15 July 1996, the Vice-president of Malawi, the Right Honourable
Justin Malewezi, launched the first regional training seminar
on guidance and counselling. The training programme targets
the trainers of trainers.
In
November 1996, the programme was launched in Mali for French-speaking
countries, namely Burkina Faso, Burundi, Cameroon, Côte
d'Ivoire, Guinea (Conakry), Niger, Senegal. The Ministers
of Education and their technical staff examined the concept
of guidance and counselling in the African context as an
integral approach to the education of girls and women.
