The third IT CUP telecom community center, inaugurated in Guiè in March 2010, located 60km away from Ouagadougou, provides invaluable assistance to the local community and to the different development programs carried out by the Association Zoramb Naagtaaba (AZN). Guie is henceforth a region connected to the rest of the world. Thanks to this initiative, the eradication of digital isolation is continuing apace.
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The community centre arouses a high interest from the residents. The centre receives around 65 visitors a month, but this number varies from one month to another according to the proportion of partners coming from outside of the region and visiting the centre. The community centre also has regular visitors: farmers, members of the health program, teachers, students and villagers. Each beneficiary participates in the running of the IT CUP centre through a financial contribution that depends on their own resources. Moreover, all the collected funds will be reinvested into the project. The objective is that the IT Cup centre can be entirely and autonomously managed by the AZN within two years.
In 2011, TSF went to Guié to repair various equipment and give further technical advice.
Since 2007, in collaboration with IT CUP, TSF has carried out 5 cooperation projects on 3 continents: Africa, Central America and Asia. This new project confirms IT CUP and TSF’s objectives to bring telecommunications to remote regions and to narrow the digital divide in isolated communities.
Key figures since March 26th, 2010
9240 visitors
Average number of users per month: 85
3394 people have been trained using computers and the Internet
Average number of trainees per month: 66
Testimonials
Pascal SAWADOGO, General Administrator for the AZN
“Thanks to the community centre, we make fewer trips, have fewer expenses, and consume less fuel for missions: all in all, we will save a lot of time and energy. We also now communicate much more efficiently with our partners.”
Ruth OUEDRAOGO, Orphanage Program Manager
“We can use the Internet to find information about other orphanages in order to improve our own program.
Téwendé Emmanuel GAGRE, French primary school teacher
“Through the Internet, we have access to several sources of information; I can refresh and update my own knowledge so that I can answer all my students’ questions.”
Camille TOURNEBOEUF, AZN volunteer
“Thanks to the community centre we are aware about the environmental, economic, social and political issues at stake in Burkina Faso and worldwide”
Lassané SORE, male nurse
“Thanks to the Internet we can find information on all diseases, their symptoms and the appropriate drug treatments. It is a huge step forward.”
Bassirou OUEDRAOGO
“I attended the ICT training program during one month. Internet is a powerful education tool.”
Rachel LENGLENGE
“The community center enables us to have access to the latest news from Burkina Faso and other countries. Internet is an entertaining tool. It enables me to keep contact with my relatives, friends and also to make research. I would like to thank all people who were involved in the installation of the community center”
Inauguration of the centre
The funds collected during the 6th annual IT CUP football tournament, organised in June 2009 in Clairefontaine allowed TSF and IT CUP to open the 3rd community IT CUP centre in Burkina Faso.
After 6 months of preparation, - a first trip to Guiè in september 2009 and the presence on the ground of TSF ICT specialists between January and April 2010 for the set-up of the centre (configuration of the network, implementation of the satellite and computer equipment and of the solar panels) and internet and computer training of the beneficiaries -, Télécoms Sans Frontières and the organisers of the IT CUP inaugurated their project with the Association Zoramb Naagtaaba (AZN) on March 25th 2010 in Guiè, located 60 km from the capital city, Ouagadougou. A football tournament was organised between the inhabitants of Guiè and surrounding villages, thus launching the TSF - IT CUP 2010 project.
The environmental challenges facing the Sahel area
The economy of the region is mainly based on agriculture, craft industries and farming. Desertification, population pressures and the proximity of the capital city are causing an active emigration of the population towards big cities, the south of the country and towards the Ivory Coast. For a long time the lack of water has also been a big issue for the growth of the region.
After water and education...Internet: a challenge for the future
Internet is a priority for development. Arriving in 1997 in Burkina Faso, the Internet has drastically changed the daily lives of the inhabitants and has become a crucial tool for their activities. But access was difficult in Guiè which is located in a remote area. Thus, until January 2010, Guiè inhabitants were obliged to go to the capital city (that represents a half a day journey) to send and receive emails and to visit websites relating to their activities. Thanks to TSF and IT CUP, the Guiè region is now connected and can communicate with the outside world.
The centre, located in the AZN’s structure, benefits all the villagers, all the members of the community, and the internet access enables the reinforcement of the five programmes of the association in five different fields of actions: agro-environment, education, early childhood, health and coordination. Guiè’s population is involved in the daily management of the AZN to fight against the scourges that are affecting the region due to the challenges of the rural environment in the Sahel area.
The IT CUP community centre benefits the AZN but also all the surrounding villages up to 30km away. It provides Internet connections and phone lines, as well as computer equipment and peripheral devices (printers and scanners). There are 17 computers connected in the IT CUP centre in Guiè. These different services allow the students to carry out research to broaden their knowledge and to seek information about their future studies. From a general point of view, these installations will be very useful to the whole population in their daily lives, to follow-up the news in the country, the continent and in the world but also to communicate more easily with their relatives via email. At the same time, thanks to the creation of the community centre, the AZN is now able to coordinate all its programs more efficiently and optimise any collaboration with its partners.
Beyond satellite installations and technological equipment, TSF provides computer training adapted to the needs of the beneficiaries, whether they are students, farmers or AZN volunteers. Indeed, training the users on the computers and initiating them on the Internet is crucial for the centre to be run adequately and to optimise its utility. At the end of the training, the attendees are able to use an email box, to carry out research on the internet and use word processing.
The Association Zoramb Naagtaaba (AZN)
Developing the Guiè community is a key priority for the AZN. This inter-village organisation was created in 1989, under the initiative of 5 villages (Guiè, Douré, Kouila, Lindi and Samissi) that struggle against the scourges threatening them since the 1960’s. Gathering today 10 villages, the AZN develops 5 main axes of action: agro-environment (notably building wells that provide a steady drinkable water supply); education (child sponsorship system that insures free schools in Guiè); early childhood; health and the involvement of the population in the management of the AZN.
The office of the AZN is a domain of about 30 hectares, gathering the infrastructures of its 4 programs and its coordination:
- The FPG, the pilot farm and its program of hedged farmland implementation
- The CIER (the Rural Instruction and Education Centre) is in charge of a library and a literacy centre
- The CAED (the centre that hosts children in distress) cares for the early childhood in an orphanage and the CREN which is the Rest and Nutritional Education Centre for children suffering from malnutrition or sick children with their mothers.
- The Health Program operates through a primary health point and a maternity hospital, which are crucial structures since the nearest health centre is 20km away from Guiè.
The Coordination, controlled by the board of directors (CA) is made up of 120 volunteers recruited locally. It is in charge of various tasks: accountancy, secretarial work, canteen, storage, masonry, management, and security. The CA is composed of village representatives (1 out of 100 inhabitants).