Jokko Telecenters

The solar-powered charging station, a critical part of the Jokko Telecenter

During the course of the CEP, Tostan establishes community-based organizations – called Community Management Committees (CMCs) – composed of 17 democratically-elected community members whose role is to manage and coordinate CEP activities and ensure collaboration between CEP participants and other community members. After having received project management training, the CMCs are provided with sums ranging from $400 to $1,000 and support from Tostan to implement income-generating activities in order to generate funds for local development and initiatives. 

Once the CEP has ended, CMC members continue to serve as social entrepreneurs and activists in their communities. With the necessary development tools and leadership skills in hand, CMCs develop and implement specific action plans through subcommittees focused on topics of importance to the community: from environmental issues, to community health topics, from education and social mobilization, to income generating activities and child protection. Over time, many CMCs register as official community-based organizations in their respective countries, which reinforces community capacity while ensuring that funds, projects, and campaigns are managed in a transparent and professional manner.

In 2006, Tostan created the Empowered Communities Network (ECN) to support the more than 1,500 existent CMCs in their grass-roots development processes by facilitating linkages with other development partners, microfinance institutions, businesses, and government authorities. The ECN is the tool developed by Tostan that guarantees the sustainability of the CEP’s local impacts.

[Read more about the ECN]

In October 2010, Tostan will be expanding activities to additional villages and identifying new mobile technology-based income-generating and social mobilization activities to serve the needs of rural communities. In June 2010, Tostan will support the implementation of community tele-centers in the Vélingara department in southern Senegal. 

With the implementation of community tele-centers, the Jokko Initiative seeks to address key challenges faced by rural communities in accessing mobile technology - as identified in the continuous monitoring of the pilot phase – at the community-level, while providing the means for people to improve their lives and those of their children in a sustainable manner.

85% of rural Senegal is not covered by the national electrical grid. All the villages targeted for this project are off-grid. Observations in the field and preliminary feedback from CEGA show that the lack of electricity in these villages makes charging mobile phones (and by extension, all electronic devices) extremely problematic, requiring people to (1) Improvise with local power sources that prove hazardous to the village’s health (fuel lamps, etc.) and damaging to phone batteries (use of lead-acid car batteries to charge multiple electronic devices at once) or (2) Travel long distances to urban centers in order to have their mobile phones charged by small entrepreneurs. The latter often entails heavy expenditures on transport; a considerable loss of income due to time spent traveling; and increased risk of theft of and/or damage to phones (i.e. the replacement of good phone batteries with those of inferior quality when given to be charged in urban centers).  


Also identified by community members and Tostan’s field workers as prohibiting the use of mobile phones is the unavailability - or otherwise high cost of - phone credit.  People in rural Senegal often must travel to urban centers in order to purchase credit.  When credit is available in rural villages, denominations are often more expensive by as much as 25% (i.e. credit sold at 1000 CFA in an urban center is sold for 1250 CFA in a village). As a result, many rural people cannot afford to use the mobile phones that they own or share with others.


A vast body of scholarly research reveals the disproportionate access of women and girls in the developing world to mobile technology (reference: Women and Mobile, GSMA and Cherie Blair report). Tostan’s experience and CEGA’s evaluation of the pilot phase confirms these findings.

In the baseline study of the pilot phase, CEGA identified a strong disparity between men and women relative to the use of mobile phones. The men interviewed were found to have both greater access to and better competency at using mobile phones than the women interviewed.

(1)                      Compared to 31% of men, only 12% of women had access to a mobile phone.

(2)                      Compared to 33% of men, 45% of women had never used a mobile phone.

(3)                      Men knew how to use the mobile phone’s calculator function 3 times better than women.

Solar energy household solutions, such as solar lanterns and solar home systems, are highly attractive to off-grid households. Households can considerably reduce their energy costs (kerosene, batteries) in the medium to long run, while access to electricity improves their living standard. People can become more productive, children can study after sunset. Moreover, these solutions do not require expensive and maintenance-sensitive electricity grids. 


Rural Energy Foundation (REF) is a Dutch NGO which facilitates access to renewable energy to hundreds of thousands of rural people in sub-Saharan Africa. It does so by establishing effective and efficient supply chains (through the establishment and training of entrepreneurs and technicians in solar energy solutions), by stimulating demand (through large awareness campaigns), and by facilitating access to loans to entrepreneurs and end users. The approach works: during the past 3 years REF has facilitated access to electricity to more than 332,000 people at a cost of less than EUR 4 per connected person.


REF identifies, trains, and supports commercial retailers and distributors, so that these entrepreneurs start and expand a business in renewable energy household solutions. REF also provides solutions to their financial constraints, for example by guaranteeing the outstanding part of a loan with a guarantee fund. In addition, REF initiates large-scale marketing campaigns to stimulate demand for renewable energy products. Finally, we facilitate solutions where end users obtain credit to make the upfront investments.


REF is active in several countries in both East and West Africa, and has already developed a network of importers, distributors and retailers that covers a vast portion of Senegal. REF works with this network to develop the supply chain, ensuring the quality of the products and service, while working with MFIs to extend credit to micro-entrepreneurs.


In collaboration with REF, Tostan seeks to implement 2 income generating activities for CMCs in the department of Velingara, Senegal: 

Small Business Applications (SBA)

The SBA consists of solar income-generating activities such as mobile phone and small electronic device charging, and solar-powered small businesses such as tailors and hair salons. When up and running, the system needed to run the SBA could be earned back in less than half a year. 


There are several advantages to placing an SBA in the heart of the rural areas, such as lower expenditure of money on travel for charging purposes. Moreover, by involving the community leaders, there is a significantly reduced chance of theft or damage due to increased social control. Part of the revenue from the charging business can be reinvested in the community, making the customer the ultimate beneficiary.

 
Furthermore, other advantages include: the use of the portable solar system to power other micro-enterprises (tailor, salon, bush-cinema); the portability reduces risk of theft, and allows the entrepreneur running the business to even frequent weekly markets or other places where people from neighboring villages often gather, to create awareness and earn an income by e.g. charging phones.


Sales Agents
  

The sales agents program entails that local entrepreneurs start acting as representatives for retailers endorsed by REF, and help sell solar products and provide maintenance for solar installations in their villages. For large installations, the sales agent will refer the potential customer to the retailer’s shop, but smaller products (such as solar lanterns) could be sold on the spot. The sales agent is often paid a commission per system sold in that specific community.

The sales agent is therefore directly linked to a specific retailer (holder of the “Solaire Ici” quality label develpped by REF), and receives the needed training and material from the retailer (with guidance from REF). The sales agent’s responsibilities then include: convincing the potential customers, sensitizing the general public to increase awareness and help disseminate information regarding renewable energy solutions, and do promotional activities in collaboration with the retailer. From the part of the retailer, responsibilities include: delivery of promotional materials, providing the actual selling point for renewable energy solutions, and perform the installation and maintenance.


Microfranchising is a development tool that seeks to apply the proven marketing and operational concepts of traditional franchising to small businesses. The primary feature of a microfranchise is its ability to be streamlined and replicated in the most remote areas.


Seddo and Izi are two services developed by respectively Orange Sonatel and Tigo Sénégal (the two major telecommunication companies in Senegal). They allow small entrepreneurs and street vendors to use Orange’s and Tigo’s franchises to retail phone credit and SIM cards.There are two ways to retail phone credit in Senegal.

•  Sell credit cards, ranging from 1000 FCFA (approx. 2 USD) to 10000 (approx. 20 USD)
• Sell small amount of phone credit (100 FCFA and more) via a phone-to-phone transfer system.

Through their Community telecenter activities, CMCs will engage in micro franchise: retail of credit, via transfer and selling Seddo and Izi cards and provide calling and texting services. For each transaction, they will earn a small commission. Tostan will support them into contracting with Sedd and Orange, and will provide an adapted training on marketing methods and management of this new income generating tool. 


A portion of the funds yielded by the income-generating activities of the community tele-center will be dedicated to providing SMS texting free-of-charge for women of girls. Under this initiative, SMS texts must be development-related and sent to a specific list of contacts, using the RapidSMS Forum (cf. annex). A paper phone book as well as mobile directories with listings for local development actors (including Tostan regional staff, RapidSMS, CMCs in the region, and SAV distributors) will be provided.


This social mobilization activity will facilitate increased access of women and girls to mobile phones, serving to help close the gendered mobile gap while enhancing opportunities for women and girls to practice their literacy skills and expand their communicative network.



Guillaume 

Relecture et Correction du Module TPAD à Kolda

Le nouveau module TPAD (Téléphone portable pour l’alphabétisation et le développement) est constitué de 23 séances exécutées durant l’Aawde 1 et 2. Il permet aux participants d’apprendre à :

•    Reconnaitre les éléments de base du téléphone portable

•    Ecrire avec le téléphone portable

•    Calculer avec le téléphone portable

•    Ecrire, envoyer et recevoir un message SMS

•    Utiliser le téléphone portable à des fins de développement communautaire (santé, AGR, mobilisation sociale etc..)

En faisant du téléphone portable à la fois un support pédagogique fiable pour renforcer l’Aawde et un outil de développement efficace par et pour les communautés, les bénéficiaires du PRCC pourront :

-    Pratiquer la lecture et l’écriture régulièrement en particulier en envoyant et recevant des messages SMS

-    Pratiquer leurs connaissances en calcul et en gestion de projet, au travers de leur maitrise des autres applications du téléphone portable (calculatrice, convertisseur, agenda etc)

-    Avoir un meilleur accès à l’information de base et prendre des décisions importantes en fonction des ces informations ( par ex  : les prix au marché, médicaments, feux de brousse etc)

-    Communiquer davantage avec les membres de la diaspora et inclure ces derniers dans le processus de réflexion autour du développement de leur communauté

-    Favoriser la rétention des connaissances en lecture, écrire, calcul et gestion etc..

Après les observations de terrain, suggestions, recommandations et suite à l’atelier de capitalisation Jokko, un nouveau module TPAD a été retravaillé en intégrant autant que possible les remarques soulevées.

Le nouveau module TPAD a été retraduit en langues nationales par des consultants. A la réception des documents, un atelier de relecture, correction s’est tenu à Kolda du (15 au 17 sept 2010) pour partager avec les collègues agents de terrain des coordinations régionales de Kolda et Ziguinchor. Le choix de cette zone est judicieux en raison de la présence des langues de travail sur place.

La mission s’est bien déroulée avec le remarquable travail de relecture détaillée et la correction des modules TPAD en langues nationales.

L’implication et le partage avec les agents exécutants et utilisateurs (assistants coordonnateurs, superviseurs et facilitateurs) ont abouti à la finalisation d’un produit opérationnel et performant. Avec les boites à images TPAD qui accompagnent le module les bénéficiaires sont outillés pour une utilisation optimale avec cette importante innovation « Initiative Jokko » très appréciée par les communautés.

Malick Niang

Assistant Département des Programmes 

Clinton Global Initiative - Annual Meeting (September 21 - 23)

UPDATE: You can re-watch Molly Melching, Tostan's Executive Director, speak on the Jokko Initiative at the CGI  here.

 

Thursday. September. 23rd, from 10.30 to11.30 am, do not miss "Mobile Revolution: Transforming Access, Markets, and Development", a discussion at the Clinton Global Initiative annual meeting between:

Cherie Blair, Founder of The Cherie Blair Foundation for Women
Mohammad Kilany, Co-Founder of Souktel Mobile
Molly Melching, Founder and Executive Director of Tostan
Judith Rodin, President of The Rockefeller Foundation
Jack Dorsey, Creator, Co-founder and Chairman of Twitter
John W. Stanton, Founder and former CEO of Western Wireless Corporation
[To watch the live stream video] 
[To learn more about the Clinton Global Initiative]
[To learn more about Tostan's CGI commitment]

Press release

Study Shows Promise for Innovative "Text Messaging for Literacy" Approach in Africa 

DAKAR, Senegal September 8, 2010- On International Literacy Day, Tostan, along with partners UNICEF and the Center of Evaluation for Global Action (CEGA) at the University of California, Berkeley, have released initial findings of an evaluation that shows great promise for using text messaging as a means for improving literacy and community development.

The evaluation centered on a pilot of the Jokko Initiative, which was implemented in 25 villages in the Velingara region of Senegal, bringing innovative mobile technology education to 800 program participants. These villages were already engaged in Tostan's Community Empowerment Program (CEP), a 30-month holistic education program covering human rights, democracy, health and hygiene, problem solving, literacy, and numeracy.

Focusing on improving communication and reinforcing literacy during and after the CEP, the Jokko Initiative teaches participants to use cell phones and send text messages in local languages. It is designed to give participants a vital literacy practice tool and enable them to better reach out to their communities and social networks.

According to the evaluation conducted by CEGA in these villages, women and girls, who had the lowest rates of literacy and numeracy before the Jokko Initiative began, greatly improved over the course of the project. The percentage of women and girls who scored in the highest category for literacy and numeracy increased from 12% for women and 8% for girls at the baseline, to 29% and 33% at the follow-up. Moreover, the number of participants who were able to write a text message jumped from 8% to 62%.

To power the text message system, UNICEF contributed knowledge and expertise around the RapidSMS tool--a free and open-source framework for interacting with mobile phones. Much of the RapidSMS framework has been built and tested with users in sub-Saharan Africa.

During the evaluation, two rounds of data collection took place: a baseline and a second round after the first four months of Tostan's literacy and numeracy training. At the outset of the program, only 22% of the participants--the majority whom are women--reported being literate. Only 18% reported having any formal schooling. CEGA's research shows that after the four months, both literacy and numeracy increased substantially.

"While more research needs to be done to identify how best to harness cell phones in promoting literacy--the results from the pilot study are promising as they show that teaching people how to read and write messages on a cell phone can be a positive addition to a successful literacy program," says Theresa Beltramo, Economist and Evaluation Coordinator for CEGA.

Molly Melching, Executive Director of Tostan, said that this program, in her opinion, has incredible potential. "For years we have been looking for ways to address the challenge of making literacy relevant, finding ways for participants to practice their new skills, all the while engaging women and girls in the process and reinforcing existing social ties. This project does all of these things."

Today, International Literacy Day, is an occasion to celebrate these women in Senegal as well as women the world over who empower themselves and their communities through education and literacy.

Find more information about RapidSMS on their website www.rapidsms.org. To read more about the Jokko Initiative, visit www.tostan.org or follow the blog http://www.jokkoinitiative.org/.

RapidSuivi, Tostan’s Future Real-Time Monitoring System

Tostan’s collaboration with UNICEF provides a unique opportunity for Tostan to improve the monitoring and evaluation capabilities of its Community Empowerment Program (CEP). By adopting UNICEF’s RapidSMS technology, Tostan aims to design a platform for real-time monitoring in combination with geographical analysis that will facilitate strategic decision-making regarding how to employ resources, work with communities, and track impact.

The purpose of RapidSuivi is to address certain issues that can hinder adequate monitoring and evaluation of Tostan’s CEP. The CEP lasts for 30 months, consisting of in-the-field learning, community organization, and outreach and grassroots advocacy, and contributes to the overall development of participants as they engage with their community in designing, carrying out, and sustaining community-led activities.

"How It Works" - Tostan 2010

Challenges that Tostan faces in monitoring activities include inadequate follow-up and capitalization on the success of field operations. The lag in receiving data in Tostan’s main offices hampers timely data analysis and digestion.  Simply put, community-led activities can be spontaneous and Tostan representatives cannot be present at every event or report on all of them. The implementation of RapidSuivi would address this issue by providing up-to-the-minute data to be reviewed and analyzed by Tostan’s Monitoring, Evaluation, Research & Learning (MERL) Department. Naturally, it is in Tostan’s best interest to identify where programs are achieving results and to continue to allocate support to those villages. RapidSuivi will provide the MERL department with the most recent data, helping Tostan to identify areas where results have been achieved and where progress is still needed.

Another issue the real-time platform will address is the demand for increased CEP supervision by Tostan. The real-time monitoring system will provide Tostan with the unique ability to view current data and information sent from the villages where it has programs. This provision of real-time data will further help Tostan in analyzing the effectiveness of its programs as well as identifying areas where a program may be lagging, and thus requiring more assistance or oversight from Tostan headquarters.

While achieving better efficiency in analyzing and organizing data will help increase Tostan’s supervisorial abilities, another main benefit of the real-time system will be the establishment of a database of up-to-the-minute information that will allow Tostan to create a more effective system of support for its village programs. As stated, there are many benefits to having instant access to the most recent data. The creation of the real-time database will assist in the objectives of monitoring and evaluating Tostan projects. It will also help to identify areas where Tostan’s programs have been successful and thus require further assistance in continuing program activities or where the programs have been ineffective and more oversight may be required.

Benjamin Bryan, 

Project Assistant MERL Dpt

Talking RapidSMS in Vélingara

Last week I traveled to Vélingara, a department in Southern Senegal, to talk to community members about their experience with the Jokko module and with the RapidSMS-based Community Forum. Once there, I met up with Malick Niang (Proj. Coordinator for Senegal), Finté Boiro (Assistant Coordinator, Kolda), Alimatou Diao and Almamy Yoro Badji (Supervisors, Kolda), and we headed out into the villages.

For those of you who are new to the Jokko Initiative, a brief recap : In April 2009, Tostan collaborated with UNICEF to launch the RapidSMS-based « Community Forum » in 15 villages in the department of Vélingara where the Jokko module was being taught.

Vélingara department, Senegal. Villages where the Jokko module was taught marked with a pink dot. 

In a nutshell, the Community Forum is a practical, SMS-based application that allows a community member to disseminate information to a virtual network of his or her peers by sending a single text message to Tostan’s server. In the villages where we piloted the Community Forum, participants in the Jokko module not only learned how to use a mobile phone and send text messages, but received training in RapidSMS technology. Our goal : to provide community members with tools to bolster their local development initiatives- especially those that involve mobilizing people around common causes to effect positive social change.  

One year later, it was high time for a field visit to talk RapidSMS with community members. We split our time between two primarily Pulaar villages, Sare Dialo and Barkatou, in which we had identified many "power users": people who frequently send messages to the Community Forum on themes related to development and social mobilization.

With this tool, the Jokko team is able to visualize all text messages sent in the Community Forum.

The feedback we received confirmed many of our initial hopes. Overwhelmingly, community members find the Community Forum to be extremely beneficial to their communities and would like to see the system expanded to other villages and regions of the country. We also found that many of those using RapidSMS were not participants in the Jokko module, and some don’t even live in the villages- news and know-how traveled fast!

Alimatou and I jump into a group shot of the women and children of Barkatou.

So what did RapidSMS users have to say? Those interviewed confirmed much of what we already knew as members of the Community Forum ourselves : community members use RapidSMS to disseminate information and to organize meetings and events on an array of themes including vaccination campaigns, bed net distribution for malaria prevention, village clean-ups and school enrollment for children.

For me, two anecdotes were particularly illustrative of the beneficial potentialities of RapidSMS technology, and of SMS technology in general.

In Sare Dialo, we spoke with two RapidSMS users, Khadiatou M’Ballo and Dieynabou Baldé, who are physically disabled. Both are also extremely active in local development issues and described how they used the Community Forum for these purposes. Of greater interest to me, however, was the story of social empowerment that emerged from their testimonial. Dieynabou learned how to read, write, and send a text message in Tostan's education program. Now she uses the Community Forum to arrange transportation to community events that shy might not otherwise be able to attend.

Khadiatou M’Ballo and Dieynabou Baldé, local activists and RapidSMS users in Sare Dialo.

A second anecdote, related to me by multiple users, is emblematic of the potential of RapidSMS technology to accelerate the diffusion of and to help reinforce positive social change : A man wanted to have his young daughter cut, despite the fact that his village had collectively decided to abandon the harmful traditional practice of female genital cutting. Other villagers sent messages to the Community Forum to warn community members of the man’s intentions. The news spread rapidly, and in the face of overwhelming social pressure, the man renounced his intention to have his daughter cut.  As many community members we spoke with pointed out, mobile technology can be harnessed to accelerate the grassroots movement in Senegal for the nationwide abandonment of FGC and early/forced marriage. 

Back in Dakar, the Jokko team is finalizing a new and improved Jokko module- the fruit of our Capitalization Seminar back in May- and preparing for the early Fall launch of the Jokko community telecenters, in collaboration with Rural Energy Foundation.

Lindsay Powell

Documenting the Jokko Experience in Touba

Last week, Guillaume (Project Manager, Tostan International), Malick (Project Coordinator for Senegal) and I traveled to Touba, Senegal, to sit in on classes at four different centers where the Jokko module, which teaches participants how to use mobile technology to improve their lives, is currently being taught. 

The majority of participants in Tostan’s programs are women and girls, but in Touba all of the participants in the Jokko module - as well as all of the Facilitators leading the classes - are female.  Given the conservative environment of Touba – a holy site that is a destination of pilgrimage for Muslims across the globe – this fact is all the more remarkable.

The dynamism of the participants was unmistakable. Despite the potential distractions posed by the presence of three newcomers with video cameras and lots of questions, the participants remained highly engaged with the Facilitators. In fact, the only time that any of the participants seemed to pay us any attention at all was when they snapped our photos with their own camera phones (!).

What made me think I would be the only one snapping pictures?

The sheer motivation and the level of skill that participants demonstrated with mobile phones in each of the classes we visited was excellent. Over the course of two very productive days, we managed to gather a tremendous amount of feedback and to make important observations that will help us as we scale up and implement new activities in the coming months. 

DAY 1

• Khai-ra 2

At the Khai-ra 2 center, the class was working on Session #6 : The Mango Tree Workshop.  Participants learn how to navigate the main menu of a standard mobile phone with the help of a visual aid in the form of a mango tree.

A participant at the board explains how to access the calculator function by tracing her steps along the branches of a mango tree representing the different manipulations possible.

Participants walk through a larger, more interactive version of the mango tree excerise outdoors.

Once the session had ended, we interviewed two young women who explained that one of their reasons for participating in Tostan’s program was so that they could learn to read and write in their national language, Wolof. After participating in the Jokko module, they can now compose text messages in Wolof without assistance.

• Touba Bêgg Bamba

At the second center of the day, participants greeted us with a skit demonstrating the cost-efficiency of SMS texting relative to placing a call. An animated discussion with participants brought forth some interesting stories about how the knowledge gained in the classes has affected their everyday lives. One adult participant related how her husband had prevented her from using the household mobile phone, fearing that she would waste the credit, as she did not know how to properly use the phone. Once she demonstrated what she had learned in the Jokko module, her husband began to let her use the phone and now plans on purchasing a second.

Participants who have their own mobile phones - some being relatively sophisticated - bring them to class.

Like at the Khai-ra 2 center, a major theme that emerged from the participant’s personal stories was that of social empowerment. Facilitators and participants explained how friends, relatives and community members now sought their help in using mobile phones and how they frequently shared their newly acquired knowledge with those around them.

Participants also spoke of the sense of autonomy and independence engendered by knowing how to use certain mobile phone functions. For example, several young women explained how before they began the Jokko module, they did not know how to send text messages and were forced to ask someone to send text messages on their behalf. Now, mid-way through the Jokko module, they no longer need assistance to send text messages and appreciate the discretion this allows them.

Boys are eager to get in on the action. The doorways and windows of most classrooms are typically crowded with other community members curious about mobile technology.

DAY 2

• Touba Palléne

Participants follow along on the Nokia 1202 handsets provided by Tostan in classroom.

At the Touba Palléne center, Session 12: "SMS and Health" was being covered. At this point in the module, participants apply the skills they’ve gained to specific themes (such as health, agriculture, and the environment) relevant to their everyday lives. In this session, participants learn how to send text messages to spread news about vaccinations and awareness-raising campaigns, to make appointments at health clinics, and to ask for advice on matters concerning health and hygiene.

• Touba Diémoule

Our last stop was the Touba Diémoule center, where we engaged in a lively discussion with the participants about their experience both inside and outside the classroom. A major topic was access to mobile phones: To what extent do our participants have access to mobile phones outside of the classroom? What kind of barriers to access do they face ? . The more surprising answers we received concerned utility: participants  did not fully grasp the usefulness of mobile phones prior to starting the Jokko module. Once they understood that a mobile phone could be used for far more than  making and receiving calls, and how functions such as the alarm and the calculator were relevant to their everyday lives, they were much more motivated to use them.

Participants often share mobile phones in the classroom and help one another to learn. However, participants and Facilitators alike expressed a demand for additional mobile phones to use in the classroom.

We’d like to thank Madame Bousso Gaye Diop –  Supervisor for Tostan’s Touba Coordination – for her careful planning, Serigne Fallou Fall for his time and for hosting our classes at Touba Pallène, our talented Facilitators – especially N'deye Fatou Fall, N'déye Binta N'diaye, Aminata Basse, Fatou M'backé N'diaye -  and all of our highly engaged and motivated participants in Touba.

Contributed by Lindsay Powell, Edited by Sydney Skov

Wrapping-up of the Jokko Initiative Capitalization Seminar

Rose and Oumou formally opened Panel 2 with a song about democracy.

The Jokko Capitalization Seminar came to a close on Monday evening. A big thanks to all who participated ! The Jokko team really appreciated your hard work and sacrifice of your weekend (for a good cause, of course). Here’s what went down :

Panel 1 focused on the pedagogical aspect of the Jokko Initiative and spent several days scrutinizing the module, session by session. The result : the groundwork for a longer, denser, new and improved module, to be translated in national languages.

Josephine takes notes in a small group discussion of income-generating activities.

Panel 2 worked on ensuring the sustainablity (socially, economically, and environmentally-speaking) of the Jokko Initiative through the development of an exit strategy—a means of ensuring the long-term sustainability of the results and impacts of this project, all while withdrawing from the community in a responsible and efficient manner. With this definition in mind, we brainstormed income-generating and social mobilization activities that incorporate mobile technology and that Community Management Committees (CMCs)- the community-based organizations that Tostan helps found during the course of its education program- could undertake. In developing these activites, we also sought to address some of the challenges and problem areas we identified in the pilot phase of the Jokko Initiative. Two major themes emerged : (1)the lack of electricity in the vast majority of the communities reached by the Jokko Initiative, which renders the charging of mobile phones extremely difficult and/or costly and (2)the disproportinate access of women and girls to mobile phones- meaning that these groups have diminished opportunities to communicate with their peers and to practice the skills they’ve learned using mobile phones in the Jokko module.

Over the course of three days, we explored areas for potential collaboration with several non-profit organizations and social entreprises in the implementation of income-generating and social mobilization activities. On Day 2 of the seminar, Rural Energy Foundation – a non-profit organization working to bring renewable energy to rural Africa- shared its work in Senegal with us.

Luc of Rural Energy Foundation demonstrates to Khalidou Sy, National Coordinator of Tostan Senegal, the financial advantages of solar energy for a rural household.

With Luc and Jasmien, we explored the vast potential of solar energy for rural Senegal and the possiblity of establishing solar micro-entreprises, such as solar-powered charging stations and community telecenters and a network of local entreprenuers selling solar products and providing maintanence for solar installations in their villages. These income-generating activities would, in turn, provide funds for the CMCs to invest in local development initiatives and social mobilization activities aiming to increase access to mobile technology for women and girls, such as community-led discussions on this issue, mobile phone libraries, and free SMS texting for women and girls at the community telecentres.

Over the course of the next couple weeks, we hope to finalize our approach and implementation strategy and to negotiate a partnership with an organization like REF. And we hope to be posting soon about the training of CMCs to implement these activities in 5 to 10 villages in Vélingara.

Again, a big thanks to the participants in our seminar, and a special thanks to Luc Severi and Jasmien Bronckaers of Rural Energy Foundation, to Simon Willans of Energy for Opportunity, Matt Berg from BuildAfric.org and Jeff Wishnie for sharing their time and expertise with us.

A group shot of the seminar participants.

The Guediawaye CMC : Exemplary Social Entrepreneurs and Activists

Last week, Guillaume, Malick and I had the opportunity to sit in on a Community Management Committee (« CMC » in Tostan-ese) meeting in Guediawaye, on the outskirts of Dakar. Tostan is currently running its 30 month-long human rights-based non-formal education program in Guediawaye. While participants won’t be starting the Jokko module for literacy and social empowerment until October 2010, we have a lot to learn from this village in the meanwhile!

Some context : During Tostan's education program, we help found a community-based organization to support local development projects long after we've left the village. The CMCs are composed of 17 democratically-elected community members – including a minimum of 9 women – who engage in income-generating activities in order to raise funds to support advocacy efforts and development initiatives.

Barely 2 years old, the Guediawaye CMC serves as an exemplar and is close to obtaining GIE (Groupement d'Intérêt Economique / Economic Interest Group) status, which is the most fundamental economic unit recognized by the Senegalese government. With the funds generated from fabric dying, millet grinding, table gardening and soap-making the Guediawaye CMC is able to support awareness-raising for the prevention of HIV /AIDS and malaria and to lead neighborhood clean-up activities.

The discussion in the CMC meeting was lively and inclusive (I only wish that my understanding of Wolof had been a bit better!).

Roof-top table gardens.

Ground millet, ready to be sold.


Dame Guéye leads an interactive exercise.


Malick and Guillaume discuss serious stuff.




Guediawaye CMC members talk strategy.

Lindsay Powell

This Week: The Jokko Initiative Capitalization Seminar

Here in Dakar, we're busy with preparations for the Jokko Initiative Capitalization Seminar- the aim of which is to take advantage of the various lessons aggregated over the course of the pilot phase (April 2009 - April 2010). More than 30 supervisors, facilitators, and regional and international staff members will convene in Thiès from Wednesday May 6th to Tuesday May 11th to discuss 3 major themes: Implementation, Monitoring and Evaluation; Pedagogical Approach and Curricula; and Exit Strategies and Sustainability.

Stay posted for updates on our progress throughout the course of the seminar.

Jokko Seminar, Live

Many thanks to Ilmari Soininen and Rebecca Tapscott for putting together this great video.

Training Days

On Tuesday, March 16th, 30 Tostan facilitators traveled from regions across Senegal to attend a four-day Jokko Initiative training seminar in Thiès.

Below are some photos of the event...video to come!

Photos by Rebecca Tapscott

RapidSMS Seminar, Vélingara Dpt.

The objective of this field visit was to train 20 villages on the use of Tostan/UNICEF's SMS social networking plateform. So - as usual - we started by training our community trainers. And quite logically, the first question we asked them was: "C'est quoi Rapid SMS?"

News travels fast in Senegal. Each attendee knew already something about it and was eager to respond: "It's when you send multiple messages at once." "A cheaper method of communication."

Well, first non-decision of the day, we don't have to find a name for this service anymore: apparently everyone already calls it "RapidSMS"... And honestly, who cares about this kind of approximation when you have been in situ for 15 minutes and ownership is already showing promises?

While those present all understood the general concept of RapidSMS and its advantages, we went ahead and walked the group through a review of the workings of the system. With the exception of a few minor misunderstandings the group demonstrated a sound understanding of the system that they all hope will - hopefully - revolutionize communication in their communities. Recognizing the benefits and risks inherent in the RapidSMS system, one supervisor reminded the group, for example, of the financial responsibility taken on by Tostan and UNICEF. The group also participated in an exercise used to identify different types of messages that might be sent with RapidSMS and discuss how various community actors might react to them. The supervisor training ended with the establishment of an action plan and schedule for the village trainings, to take place through December 25^th.

Keep on keeping on

The second phase of the seminar was opened with renewed energy. Both Soninke and Pulaar facilitators came together to hear an explanation of the system and to establish their objectives and expectations for the seminar. After the general meeting, they split into their respective language groups to work on the sessions, finally complete thanks to long hours of translation by assistant coordinator Finté Boiro (Pulaar) and facilitator Bathily Diabé (Soninke). Following some tinkering by tech expert Rowena, who both fixed both the printer and solved the ever-persistent Pulaar character difficulties by teaching us how to install the Pulaar fonts, we even managed to print copies with the correct words! Victory!

The supervisors gave the facilitators 15 minutes to look over each session before introducing them, as the facilitators will do in their respective villages in the coming weeks.

The days wouldn't have been complete without some lively expression of the participants' excitement. A number of songs set the whole group into motion, as they took turns jumping into the circle to celebrate the event through dance. The sole Anglophone facilitator, Idrissa, originally from the Gambia, and Boubacar Baldé presented an amusing skit on the advantages of RapidSMS.

"It's very good! It's very nice!" "C'est très bien, c'est très bien!"

In closing, Alimatou Diao, consultant from Casamance for the Jokko Initiative, passionately expressed her commitment to the project. "I think the project will be a success!" she declared, followed by the applause and cheers of her colleagues, eager to see her words proven right. She admitted that her involvement in the project had sometimes kept her from her usual responsibilities to her family. "We've made sacrifices, and we'll keep making sacrifices," she pledged.

Kandia

The first village we visited for the "community training" was a village not far from Velingara, called Kandia. We were welcomed with music and dancing and presented with gifts of cotton and rice in colorfully decorated calabashes. The Tostan supervisors prepared the room for the training, rolling out poster-sized papers with explanations of RapidSMS as well as blank sheets for participants to brainstorm about the uses and advantages of the system. Supervisors Abdoulaye Kande and Thierno Diallo taught those present about the system, answering questions posed. The day was used to prepare the participants for learning how to manipulate the system and practicing sending messages, activities which would take place the following day.

The second day was the day of triumph: frowning faces turned to smiling ones as the participants successfully managed to enter their "community" and subsequently send messages to the server. The room was filled with sounds of practice messages arriving in inboxes, each beep and ring coming to the surprise and delight of the cell phone-toting villagers. Not only did they seem to understand the benefits the system could bring to their community, they were visibly excited about the project.

Doubirou

The villagers in Doubirou were no less enthusiastic about the arrival of the Tostan team. The villagehad killed two goats in our honor, a gift we all enjoyed during our tasty and plentiful afternoon meal. The training took longer than expected, but the extra hours paid off. Each group was very proud to send their own message to the server and receive those of the other groups.

"We're happy to learn about RapidSMS," said the president of the Mutuelle de la Santé of Kolda. "It helps us a lot. The message can be sent to everyone.

When someone dies, I can't call everyone at one time; with RapidSMS I can. But with it comes responsibility. Inchallah, people will take the project in their own hands and be responsible in their use of the tool."

For Rowena, Malick, and me, this was the final village visit. We had come to the end of a busy but fun-filled two weeks in Velingara. Having grown more or less accustomed to our daily routine there, I think each of us was at least a little sad to say goodbye. For me, this also marked the end of my six months of work for Tostan. I felt grateful to have spent this time in Velingara. What better way to end than by seeing the project put into action?! The coordinators, supervisors, and facilitators truly inspired me with the hard work and energy they put forth to maintain the momentum of the Jokko Initiative. Congratulations Tostan and UNICEF! Keep up the good work!

Amy Van Dyke