NOVEMBER 2003

Global Office Visit to Benin

During the Global Office visit to Benin in November, Dr. Tadesse and Ms. Thomson had the opportunity to meet with many of THP-Benin's partners at the Epicenters. These visits provide an opportunity to conduct Vision, Commitment and Action workshops and to publicly recognize the communities' accomplishments. Additionally, future plans are discussed as well as any difficulties the communities may have faced in eradicating hunger. Access to information, through radio, newspapers and tv, is very limited in most rural areas due to the lack of electricity as well as illiteracy, so these public meetings are a crucial opportunity to share information.

During our visit, Dr. Tadesse met with the communities in four Epicenters in Benin: at Ayi-Guinnou, Kpinnou, Wawata, and Paouignan-Dassa. At each Epicenter, 200-250 people participated, and the discussions were lively. The communities have embraced the conceptual tools of the VCA workshop and have initiated numerous activities to achieve their vision of eliminating hunger from their villages. For example, volunteers from each Epicenter have attended training with THP-Benin to become literacy teachers, and many people in the communities are now attending literacy classes.

In addition, community groups have organized themselves to increase and diversify food production, including chicken raising, fish ponds and growing various staple crops. The surplus crops are stored in the Epicenter food banks and accessed later in the year when families' own stores are depleted. The grain mills at each Epicenter have also reduced women's drudgery of pounding grains manually or traveling long distances to the nearest grain mill. Another accomplishment shared with us was that many people in the Epicenters have attended the HIV/AIDS and Gender Inequality workshops, and specialized HIV/AIDS Animators from each Epicenter have started conducting the workshops in their own villages.

The highlight of the visit was the inauguration of the new Epicenter building at Avlamè on Friday, November 28th. About 300 people from nearby villages attended and the guest of honor was the Minister of Agriculture, who came to offer congratulations and to encourage the people in their future endeavors. When the Minister spoke, he also thanked The Hunger Project President, Joan Holmes, and THP staff and investors for their "energy and heart which enabled Avlamè to take a step forward."

A local elder donated the land for the Avlamè Epicenter and the communities contributed materials and labor which amounted to about 20 percent of the total construction costs. The L-shaped Epicenter building consists of a meeting room, a store, a rural bank, a food bank, a maternal health center and pharmacy, and a grinding mill. The President of the Epicenter Committee spoke during the inauguration and informed the communities and guests of the community’s accomplishments, including the training of 53 literacy teachers who are now teaching 1,326 learners most of whom are women; 100 percent repayment of their first cycle of credit from THP-Benin; as well as a successful chicken raising business next to the Epicenter.

We leave Benin with a sense of satisfaction that change is not only possible, but that many of the communities at the Epicenter are already enjoying the impact of the improvements they have brought about in their own communities with the support and encouragement of THP-Benin. And, we look forward to expanding these successes to many more communities in the future.