From August 2005 through October 2007, I served as a volunteer in Peace Corps' Small Enterprise Development program in Burkina Faso. My first three months were spent in training in the town of Gourcy and a neighboring village named Minima. In October 2005, I was posted to a small town named Kongoussi in the central north of Burkina, where I lived for the next two years.
Some of my colleagues at URCBAM
Projects and Activities
In Kongoussi, I worked directly with the Union Régionale des Cooperatives d'Epargne et de Crédit du Bam, or URCBAM, a microfinance credit union. As a microfinance credit union, URCBAM offers basic financial services to individuals and groups who would not be able to receive those services from a traditional or commercial bank. The vast majority of URCBAM's clients are peasant farmers or small business owners. URCBAM provides basic credit services that are catered to these individuals -- the loans are relatively small, ranging from 10,000CFA to 3,000,000CFA ($20 to $6,000), and usually have short terms, between six and twelve months. In addition to individual loans, URCBAM also provides a specialized form of health insurance, group loans, and basic training on financial management.
Headquarters of URCBAM
My responsibilities at URCBAM were primarily technology-related. Instead of continuing the time-consuming and inefficient practice of record-keeping by hand, URCBAM was in the process of digitizing all their accounting and record-keeping. To help with this transition, I conducted a lot of computer training with the staff of the credit union. Most of the credit agents, for example, had never used a computer before, but would soon be responsible for entering loan information into a computer. Much of my time was spent teaching them computer fundamentals -- how to use a mouse or keyboard, how to navigate windows, and eventually working up to using the credit union's record-keeping software. I also worked with the administrative staff of the credit union to improve their overall computer maintenance strategies -- teaching them how to install and keep current their anti-virus software, why and how to perform regular backups of data, etc.
In addition to my work at the credit union, I've worked on several other projects in the community, including:
- Computer training with community members
I conducted basic computer training with several members of the community. These trainings often took place at local cybercafes, or on my own personal laptop at my house. We generally covered the basic fundamentals -- how to use Windows, how to use Word and Excel, and how to navigate the Internet. This training was all conducted in French, and I compiled three training books totaling about 200 pages and a large collection of print and electronic exercises to assist in the training. During the summer of 2006, I led a two-week long computer camp at Kongoussi's high school, providing 13 students the opportunity to learn how to use a computer.
One of the students at the end of my computer camp. For some inexplicable reason, Burkinabé almost never seem to smile in photos. I like this photo because it's the exception to the rule. - Savings and credit clubs
During my time in Kongoussi, I started savings and credit clubs with over 120 people from Kongoussi and two neighboring villages. Each week, club members save a fixed amount -- usually about 100CFA, or 20 cents, in a communal lockbox. After several weeks of this, they begin giving out small loans -- usually between one and five dollars -- to members of the group. The members of these clubs are usually women with little income, but the credit they receive from the group can make a significant difference. A five dollar loan can be enough for a woman to buy life-saving anti-malaria drugs for her infant or to buy the necessary books to send her child to school. They also teach the women how to use credit to generate income -- such as a two dollar loan to pay for tomato seeds, which can yield ten dollar profit a few months later.
A group of women in Loulouka village who were involved in a market gardening project and created savings and credit clubs to further profit from the gardening project. And, typically, no one is smiling in the photo except for me. - English classes
Burkina Faso is officially a Francophone country, although in general, the French language is only spoken by those with several years of education. A lot of people in Kongoussi, however, expressed a strong desire to learn English, and asked me to teach some classes. My classes were geared for adults, and held twice a week in the evenings. In addition to traditional grammar and vocabulary exercises, we also studied several English texts, such as short stories and poetry. - English club
In addition to English classes, I also worked with the Kongoussi English Club, a group of about 40 people in the community who met once a week to speak and improve their English. I tried to bring in new materials, introducing them to several American texts, as well as American music, ranging from Bob Dylan to Pearl Jam. - Market gardening projects
Kongoussi is located on Lake Bam, the largest natural lake in Burkina Faso, and has a thriving market gardening industry. I worked with two groups in and around Kongoussi on market gardening projects. One group was funded by the Friends of Burkina Faso, an American organization composed primarily of former Peace Corps Volunteers, while the other was funded by the American Embassy in Ouagadougou. Both groups used the funding to purchase pumps and PCV pipe to irrigate large parcels of land. The crops they grew and sold include onions, tomatos, green beans, carrots, corn, cucumbers, and cabbage.
Laying the pipe for a market gardening project in the village of Koumbango. The pipe will help irrigate the land, turning this large swath of brown, desolate land into a vibrant, green garden. - Cybercafe
Working with two other Peace Corps Volunteers, I worked on a project to start a cybercafe at the Lycee Yamwaya in Ouahigouya, the third largest town in Burkina. Opened in October 2007, the cybercafe allows the students at the high school to use the Internet for educational purposes, but also provide Internet access to the public when not in use by students and teachers.
Find Out More
If you'd like to learn more about my time in Burkina Faso, I created a 12-minute video that gives you a bit of a feel of what my life is like here. It presents a nice introduction to Burkina Faso, as well as to my own Peace Corps experience.
For even more information, I kept a blog of my time in Burkina. During my final months, the entries have become less frequent, but, I hope, slightly more informative.