From the 24th of March till the 3rd of April 2009, some of the Agris Mundus students following the option “Public policies, markets and institutions (EcoDev)” in Montpellier, France, have had the opportunity to apply their theoretical formation in “project evaluation” to a case study in Senegal. Berdi, Ineke, Juan Carlos, Jairo and me (Handuo and Kimlong couldn’t get the visa at time unfortunately!) joined 12 other students to a study trip of 10 days in Fatick, a city in one of the poorest regions of Senegal.
The Senegalese consultancy group “GERAD” (Groupe d’Etude et de Recherche et d’Aide à la Décision, http://www.geradsn.org/accueil2.php) has commissioned our school to conduct the evaluation of its project PDIF, which created a regional solidarity fund to allow micro credits to women. It was a really interesting and hard exercise to evaluate a project which started 5 years ago and to gather so many stakeholders around local development issues: women groups, women unions, mutual insurance companies, regional and local councils, state technical services, etc.
For me, the best souvenir is the exchange with the 2 Senegalese working in the project, Lamine, sociologist and Cheick, financial assistant of the project that accompanied us all along the trip, sharing their experience and being so helpful and kind with us. The other good souvenir is the really warm welcome of all the women that we interviewed.
This kind of study trip is really important for students to become aware of the practical use of the theory learned during the classes but also of the real issues of development in the field. One important thing to remember from this trip: even though NGOs prefer to rely on expatriates to manage their projects, local competences exist and are the most adapted to find solutions to development issues in their country, as showed by the quality of the projects realized by this Senegalese consultancy group GERAD.
The Senegalese consultancy group “GERAD” (Groupe d’Etude et de Recherche et d’Aide à la Décision, http://www.geradsn.org/accueil2.php) has commissioned our school to conduct the evaluation of its project PDIF, which created a regional solidarity fund to allow micro credits to women. It was a really interesting and hard exercise to evaluate a project which started 5 years ago and to gather so many stakeholders around local development issues: women groups, women unions, mutual insurance companies, regional and local councils, state technical services, etc.For me, the best souvenir is the exchange with the 2 Senegalese working in the project, Lamine, sociologist and Cheick, financial assistant of the project that accompanied us all along the trip, sharing their experience and being so helpful and kind with us. The other good souvenir is the really warm welcome of all the women that we interviewed.
This kind of study trip is really important for students to become aware of the practical use of the theory learned during the classes but also of the real issues of development in the field. One important thing to remember from this trip: even though NGOs prefer to rely on expatriates to manage their projects, local competences exist and are the most adapted to find solutions to development issues in their country, as showed by the quality of the projects realized by this Senegalese consultancy group GERAD.
Julie MAYANS, France
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