After 2 back-to-back 15 hour taxi rides, 14 Guinean PCVs arrived at the Peace Corps Senegal training facility in Thiess - 2 hours East of Dakar - to present at the All-Volunteer Conference - as well as participate in WAIST (West African Invitational Softball Tournament) for a highly anticipated work-cation. The AllVol conference acts as a technical exchange forum, with volunteers presenting projects they’ve been working on in the field to promote a cross pollination of ideas across sectors and West African Peace Corps countries. The committee I lead presented on the Youth Entrepreneurship Training Program we’ve been spearheading here in Guinea and was very well received. It was also great getting to know other PCVs from across West Africa, as well as learn how a PC post with nearly 300 volunteers operates (we just broke 100 PCVs a few months ago).
Guinea had shaped my entire universe of West Africa since my arrival. Up to a couple months ago, I had never visited another West African country, and thus had no other reference point to life at the 11th parallel. I just assumed that most West African countries were just as worse off as Guinea. This was a pretty rude awakening. It was hard to reconcile the drastic differences in development between these two contiguous countries. I think that says a lot about international development, as well as each country’s political and economic history. Guinea rushed towards independence in 1958, France’s only African colony which opted for immediate independence rather than continued association, and effectively settled for dictatorship under Ahmed Sékou Touré and again under Lansana Conté. Across the prolonged autarky, human rights violations and federal corruption, these two authoritarian leaders were able to stifle any hope of economic growth in Guinea for some time.
Admittedly, I’m pretty unfamiliar with Sengal’s history. But from my understanding, Senegal, whose involvement in the West African Economic and Monetary Union, as well as dedication to the CFA (Communauté financière d’Afrique – Financial African Community) which has a fixed exchange rate tied to the Euro, has fared better than Guinea – although Senegal has definitely had its fair share of hardships as well. Senegal also seems to have no shortage of NGO (non-governmental organization) presence. It was incredible seeing all of the crisp, white Toyota Land Cruisers – the NGOs vehicle of choice as those things are pretty much indestructible - pass by, each adorned with a different NGO logo.
Many PCVs in Senegal had a lot to say about the prevalence of international aid, which is definitely a tricky subject. It’s hard to talk about international development without opening up a can of worms. How much money is too much? How should funds be managed? Should aid come in the form of cash or in kind? Should you pay participants who attend a training if they’re foregoing working their normal job? How much per diem should participants receive? How do we know if our trainings worked? How do we justify requesting for more money? How should all of this be monitored and evaluated? By who? And the list goes on.
Example time. The World Food Program devotes food to what they call “Cantines Scolaires.” Schools in particularly impoverished areas receive food to give to students, providing them with one nutritious meal a day during the school year. It’s a benevolent international program that is meant to address food insecurity in countries across the world and help carry out the Millennium Development Goals – reducing hunger by half, achieving universal primary education and realizing gender parity in education. But what happens when five of the fifteen 50kg sacks of rice never make it to the school? WFP can’t micromanage every location’s activity and may run into difficulties in monitoring and evaluating the progress of each locality. It is possible that some principals and teachers become privy to this fact some may find it more prudent to report that they only received 10, and sell the other 5 in the market. Villagers become upset that WFP has allowed for such blatant corruption and a general skepticism settles in the community against NGO presence. Enter the PCV who just wants to help and finds him or herself working against what was out of their control in the first place.
This can also be frustrating given PCs approach to international development. I’d consider myself an expert in 2 things. Digital photography and devouring chipotle burritos. As you can see I don’t purport to be an expert international development. But from what I’ve seen so far, Peace Corps’ approach is right on the money, so to speak. Modern day PC focuses on capacity building and helping communities utilize the resources that already exist in their community. It’s not coming in and telling the community what they’re doing “wrong.” It’s about helping the community realize how to take advantage of their available resources. Sustainable change should and must come from the inside-out. That’s not to say the PCs approach is infallible, but it’s pretty darn good. What, however, is a lowly PCV to do when community members are used to receiving a sizable monetary reward for attending trainings by other NGOs? Despite our best intentions, money is often the bottom line and if there’s none to be had why should Host Country Nationals even bother showing up to our trainings, especially when they know they’d be rewarded elsewhere? And who can blame them? If I were the breadwinner of my family (which in this case could very well mean wife#1, 2 daughters, 4 sons, wife #2, mother, father, 5 brothers, 3 sisters and 15 or so cousins) and had a choice between the two, the answer seems pretty clear. As a result, many PCVs in Senegal feel as if they’re swimming against the flood of NGOs rather than be supported by them. This is not to say we should throw i the towel and pack our bags - nor that the ways other NGOs approach development work is wrong. We all enjoy and believe in what we're doing regardless of the cards we were dealt- otherwise we still wouldn't be here!
At the end of the day though, Senegal had smooth paved roads, consistent electricity and potable water. At least in terms of infrastructure (which keep in mind helps the country become less risky to foreign investors and international donors – not to mention helps bolster local entrepreneurial activity), Senegal is in the lead. Senegal’s GDP per capita is also about double than Guinea’s (1,800USD : 900USD respectively). Clearly something is working. It’s hard to say whether this came primarily from Senegal’s history of economic policy framework, federal governance or international aid. But it’s interesting to see how effective or ineffective international aid can be and it's something I’ll be keeping in mind when I think about what I want to do life after Peace Corps.
A la prochaine / En Ontema / Until next time,
Chris
P.S. I feel like I’ve been bemoaning Guinea since my arrival. And I’ve talked up Senegal a lot in this post. Let it be known that I love working here in Guinea. And don’t get me wrong, PC certainly has a place in Senegal. Although the urban cities may be extremely developed, rural villages are just as impoverished and many face more hardships than most villages in Guinea, such as prolonged hunger seasons and immobility of nutritious food. And it’s hot. I mean, really hot. Certain areas of Senegal reach over 110 degrees even after the red sun sets beyond the flat, arid horizon. Some of the other Senegalese PCVs were telling me they don’t even bother trying to go to bed before midnight. The entire village essentially sits outside until about 2 in the morning (inside the hut it’s still a blistering 110 degrees) before the few brave souls venture back in, only after swaddling themselves in a lightweight, water-drenched cloth – which of course dries in minutes anyways. Man I’m lucky to be here in the Fouta. As I’m writing this it’s 10pm and the tiny, AAA battery powered La Crosse Technology thermometer that sits on my desk is telling me it is 86.9 degrees in my room right now with 28% humidity. Could be worse.
P.P.S. Check out http://www.osezinnover.com/ to see a project I am helping work on to use social entrepreneurship as a means to help entrepreneurs address Guinea's social issues. We're all really proud of how this conference is shaping up and we'd love it if you checked out and subscribed to the site!
P.P.S. Check out http://www.osezinnover.com/ to see a project I am helping work on to use social entrepreneurship as a means to help entrepreneurs address Guinea's social issues. We're all really proud of how this conference is shaping up and we'd love it if you checked out and subscribed to the site!
Phototime!
(So I didn't bring my camera with me to Senegal, but Kenny took some great pics of which you can see here. Here are an assortment of photos I've been meaning to put up though.)
(So I didn't bring my camera with me to Senegal, but Kenny took some great pics of which you can see here. Here are an assortment of photos I've been meaning to put up though.)
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1. Thank you Adam Struzyk for the first/last Twinkies ever consumed in Guinea, probably. Felt sick to my stomach after eating it, but man was it worth it.
2 . It’s hard to show just how massive this controlled fire is. Keep in mind that the horizon line is about 10 miles away.
3. I’m sitting in front of all of the Peer-Educators that I work with. This is after months of getting the organization back on its feet. We just finished painting a new sign to in front of our “Maison de Jeune”/ Youth Gymnasium.
4. My neighbor, Madame Diallo and her daughter, getting water at our pump.
5. Water comes about once a week. I fill up 5 of those yellow containers (each holds 20 liters) and haul them back to my place to use for bathing, cooking, drinking and cleaning.
6-8. We recently had solar lights installed throughout the city. Photo 8 shows it in action at our basketball court.
9-10. Evening soccer with the neighbors.
