IICD supported project: Sissili Vala Kori

Countries: Burkina Faso [BF]
Sectors: agriculture livelihood

Summary

The project Sissili Vala Kori, or ‘Improvement of agriculture related information channels to farmers in the rural area Sissili’, is managed by the Farmers’ Federation Feppasi (Fédération Provinciale des Producteurs Agricoles de la Sissili) in the district of Leo. It aims at reinforcing communication and information between the federation and its constituency, through the creation of two small telecenters in the villages of Bieha and Boura and through the training of active members in the use of multimedia tools for information production and dissemination.

Update

Updated: 2005-08-01

The project had a flying start in March 2005 and already undertook many activities. The provincial authorities and NGO’s were informed about the project during the Cadre de Concertation Technique Provincial, and meetings were organised with five departmental unions of Feppasi in Léo, Bieha, Boura, Tô et Silly. The sites for the telecenters in Boura and Bieha were painted and repaired, and solar power energy systems were installed. Chairs, tables and cupboards for the three sites of Leo, Boura and Bieha were ordered and manufactured. Telephone lines for the three sites were ordered, and granted to Leo and Bieha; at the level of Boura, no telephone lines are available yet. Recruitment procedures for a communication manager have started. Finally, new materials for the library in the offices of Leo have been purchased. <br><br>
Technical consultants of the local enterprise Sulga Concept helped the organisation with the selection and the ordering of ICT-equipment, and a field visit to Leo, Boura and Bieha took place in March in order to assess the existing situation in terms of infrastructure. Training needs assessments were done by the association Yam Pukri, and basic ICT training sessions started mid-April 2005.

Introduction

The Sissili province is one of best areas in Burkina Faso in terms of average amount of rainfall. It is also one of the regions where geography allows an important agricultural surface. These two factors contribute to the fact that Sissili is an agricultural province by excellence. However, farmers’ organisations in this region are still quite young and their impact on the promotion of modern farming remains weak. This handicap is further enhanced by the fact that modern information and communication means in this region are almost non-existent (mostly non-paved roads, telephone coverage in only 3 out of 7 departments, very limited Internet access). This is why Feppasi in its strategic plan of action puts information, capacity development and communication forward as the three major pillars on which to reinforce farmers’ organisations and to improve agricultural production methods.

Objectives

The general objective of the project is to improve the farmers’ information and knowledge on production methods by the implementation of an enhanced information and communication system for the member organisations of the federation Feppasi. Specific objectives are:

• Capacity building and empowerment of farmers
• Local content development
• Cost reductions on travel costs, on development and recycling of training materials and on training delivery through the use of multimedia tools

Planned outputs

• Improved access to Internet and use of the Internet as a resource at the level of the offices in Leo.
• Creation of a mini-library with agricultural resources at the level of the offices in Leo.
• Development of training and information materials on digital and/or multimedia supports (CD-Roms, Powerpoint).
• Development of a web site for FEPPASI.
• Further development and quality improvement of a quarterly printed bulletin.
• Implementation of two pilot telecenters in Boura and Bieha.
• ICT skills development of the project team.
• Skills development of extension workers on the use of multimedia tools and supports.

Development Impacts

The primary beneficiaries of the project are the member organisations of FEPPASI in the seven departments of Sissili: 96 groupings, with approximately 2400 members (1700 men, 700 women). Indirect beneficiaries will be other associations ands NGO’s working in the agricultural sector in Sissili and non-aligned farmers in the province.The project is expected to have a strong indirect impact on poverty alleviation through empowerment and improved communication opportunities for farmers. The project is expected to have a strong impact on skills and capacity development, both through its internal training component on the use of ICT’s and multimedia, and through the improvement of general training materials and training delivery via multimedia.

Management and organisation

Project manager is the president of Feppasi Joseph Dagano, who has built up a large experience in his previous work with national farmers’ organisations. The team of the project consists of local farmers, who will dedicate part of their time to the project, which will be reinforced with an expert on communication.

Market and finance

It is expected that the two local telecenters in Boura and Bieha become self-sustainable by selling their services (telephone/fax) with a small profit marge.

Budget

The budget for this project mainly goes to two major building blocks: the reinforcement of the content production capacity of the central office of FEPPASI in Leo, and the creation of two rural access points in two neighbouring villages Boura and Bieha. Total budget for two years is €65.000.

Project Owner : FEPPASI (Fédération Provinciale des Producteurs Agricoles de la Sissili)
Président Joseph Dagano
226-76609629/50413707/50413014
BP131 LEO
Burkina Faso
sissilivalakou@fasonet.bf

Project Partners : IICD

Project Contact : IICD