Throughout the month of March, in celebration of International Women's Day, La Guilde's Microprojects division wishes to highlight partner associations that are driving initiatives aimed at strengthening women's empowerment and promoting greater equality. among all. To begin this series, we have chosen to present the project carried out between the French association SOLINFO and two Ivorian NGOs: the Flamboyants and the AJVCI.
We interviewed Edouard, president of SOLINFO, Jack, director of Les Flamboyants, and various participants in the Alpha Couture initiative. This microproject, funded by La Guilde in 2021, took place in a highly sensitive area in northern Côte d'Ivoire, on the border with Burkina Faso and Mali. They say: "We are in the border area where, unfortunately, there is a lot of informal economy because the borders are porous. There are many dangers linked to poverty, especially for young girls. This informal economy causes illegal economic exchanges, the biggest trace of which is clandestine gold mining. It also causes dangers linked to prostitution, the work of young girls exploited by gold miners, as well as various quasi-mafia systems that can exist between these borders. The Flamboyants and the Association of Young Visionaries of Côte d'Ivoire (AJVCI) have mobilized to promote a solution that consists of, on the one hand, raising the level of French, that is, teaching young girls and women to read and write. and on the other hand, teach them a trade, sewing, which aims to empower young girls. This is a real-life test that we conducted during the first edition."
28 young women from Doropo and Kanakono were able to benefit from literacy and sewing training: "In the morning, we had literacy classes and in the evening, sewing classes. We also had machines to learn the technique." In addition, some of them have in turn become sewing supervisors for the following promotions: “I became a monitor. I am very happy to supervise the girls who participate in the Alpha Couture project.”.
Thanks to this initiative, many positive results have been observed, mainly with regard to the fight against poverty, early marriages, social and community cohesion, and more broadly on better socio-professional integration of women: "In the long term, the first impact is the fight against poverty. We will have lifted at least 80% of these 14 girls out of poverty. We are truly in an area with a gold panning system, with a very strong prostitution base. Before this program, they could engage in these illicit activities. Today, they have learned a professional background that will provide a certain social security for the future."
It must be said that our objective has also been achieved in terms of early marriage. Girls from a certain age are considered adults and given cultural principles, they are married more often and more easily. […] On this subject, during the first class, we faced painful difficulties: a young girl got married, with advice on contraception to prevent her from getting pregnant. However, 8 months later, she found herself pregnant. It was really painful for us.
We also had support from the community because we developed, at one point, canteens, so that the young girls could have something to eat at lunchtime. It was in these canteens that the community itself brought a little yam, rice, or oil to support this training. For us, this was very important. It demonstrated the parents' support for this project and it really helped us all.
Today, these 14 young girls have created a community living environment, even though they barely knew each other at the beginning. Other young girls come from surrounding villages and are here to this day. This creates a whole, a real strength. In a word, it strengthens the bonds of social cohesion at the community level.
Through this project, the association Les Flamboyants was awarded the Prize for Best Community Development Promoter by the President of the Republic of Côte d'Ivoire in 2023: "Doropo is 650 km from Abidjan, where we are landlocked. We were far from Abidjan. But it was necessary that, through this small project, the local authorities first recognize our efforts. We were identified as the best organization at the regional level. And we continued at the national level, where we emerged victorious, receiving the Best Community Development Promoter Award, awarded by the Head of State on September 11, 2023. For us, it's truly the apotheosis. For us, it's truly the recognition of everything that has been done, that these are projects that are not known to others, but through these activities, today, we have been recognized by our State, by the Head of State, by the Republic of Côte d'Ivoire."
Jack, president of the association Les Flamboyants concludes: "14 girls is not much compared to hundreds of girls who have needs. It seems like a drop in the ocean, but we believe that drops of water, when they fall drop by drop, are capable of breaking through rocks."