- Baol Environnement - Ecovillage, Diourbel. An ecovillage is a community that works to preserve its traditions and its natural resources against poverty and degradation, while upgrading the living environment of its inhabitants. An ecovillage seeks both preservation and modernization in four areas: sustainable society, sustainable tradition, sustainable environment, and sustainable economics. Boal Envionnement serves the Diourbel region and works closely with over 250 members including Women's groups, craftsmen, artisans, and tradesmen to meet its goals. I live in a compound that houses the offices and training space for Baol Environnement and its president, Ibou Faye, is my Counterpart and Host Dad. Some of the projects I am working on with the ecovillage include:
- Presented a Marketing Overview for 5 Womens' Group leaders so they can be better prepared to market and sell solar ovens to women in their villages
- Teaching a weekly English class to high school and middle school students as an after-school program.
- Co-creating curriculum and teaching for an Environmental and Community awareness program, called Eco-Ecole, for 9-11yr olds from 5 different primary schools. We focus our lessons environmental studies and what it means to be a good citizen.
- Introducing paper briquette press technology to members of the Ecovillage and to the students in our Eco Ecole.
- Conducted a training needs assessment with 17 Women's Group Presidents.
- Coordinated a Moringa Training Session with the help of other volunteers to educate villagers on how best to grow and cultivate moringa and to promote its nutritional benefits.
- Introducing Rocker Pump Technology to assist farmers in pulling water from their wells/cisterns.
- Working with local women's group to prepare a marketing plan for their cereal transformation center
- Participate in seed propagation and tree nursery management in the Diourbel region.
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| Solar oven |
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| Paper Briquette Press |
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| Moringa! |
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| Filling tree sacs |
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| Constructing the Rocker Pump |
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| Cereal transformation |
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| English students |
- US Navy Language and Culture Center, Pensacola, FL, USA
- Provided content and review for Senegal Country Brief used for cultural awareness training for Navy service men/women that do community relations work in Africa (i.e., renovating schools, clinics, delivering donations, hosting Africans, co-training, etc.)
- Wood Artisan - Mamadou Diom, Diourbel
- Worked with Mamadou to exhibit his hand-carved wooden chairs, tables, and artwork at an Artisan's Exposition in Dakar on Dec 11-12, 2010, where he had record sales
- Attended Jazz Fest in Saint Louis, where Mamadou's work was chosen to be exhibited in an Art Gallery.
- Serve as a communication link between Mamadou and customers from the Peace Corps and ex-pat community.
- Created a web-log to feature his work: diourbelwoodwork.blogspot.com
- Co-designing Peace Corps logo platters to add to his collection.
- Accompanied Mamadou to the 2011 Black Friday Art Expo in Dakar
- Fabric Artisan - Dibor Niane, Diourbel
- Worked with Dibor to design products for the ex-pat market (bags, aprons, placemats, pants, etc) and help her with costing of these products
- Accompanied Dibor to her first Peace Corps sponsored event, the 2011 Black Friday Art Expo, where she was one of the top sellers of the weekend.
- Continuing to work with her to design new products.
- Created a web-log to feature her work: http://diborindourbel.blogspot.com/
- Centre Polyvalent, Diourbel
- Taught Entrepreneurial Business and Conversational English classes to students enrolled in an Electrician Program at a vocational high school during the 2010-2011 school year. The kids ranged from age 16 - 20 years old and were mostly male, although there were three girls enrolled in the program. The classes were taught in French, which is a second language for both the students and me (well, third for me, but who's counting?)
- Currently teaching Junior Achievement's "Mini-Entreprise" program to 36 kids from three technical sectors (home economics, electricity, and metalwork)
- Apiculture Consulting Services, Thiès, Kaolack, Diourbel, Tamba
- Working with Abdou Seck, a beekeeper in Thiès on a beekeeping training project in the Kaolack region. The program is supported by Le Club Environnement and provides training, hive boxes, and support to new beekeepers in small villages in the southern region of Kaolack.
- Identifying potential beekeepers in the Diourbel region.
- Drafting a chapter for Peace Corps Senegal's Agro-Forestry Fruit Tree Manual.
- Hosted Jerry McGahan, a beekeeping consultant from the U.S., who came to Senegal on a Farmer-to-Farmer grant to work with me on promoting beekeeping in the Sahel.
- Holding an introductory beekeeping class in Tambacounda on March 2, 2012 for volunteers who are interested in working with beekeepers.
- Peace Corps Aid and Development Seminar - Moderated by Country Director Chris Hedrick, this on-going seminar is an optional course for those of us interested in the theory and practice of aid and development in Africa. It commenced in October and we meet in-person or via conference call at least once a month to discuss readings and topics of interest. From time-to-time, guest speakers/authors are invited to join in our discussions. This has been a good way for me to put the work we are doing into a larger context. The following is our syllabus:
- Planners and Searchers: Introduction to International Development Approaches
- William Easterly, The White Man’s Burden: Why the West’s Efforts to Aid the Rest Have Done So Much Ill and so Little Good (entire book)
- Jeffrey D. Sachs, The End of Poverty: Economic Possibilities for our Time (Chapters 1-3)
- Sachs, Investing in Development: A Practical Plan to Achieve the Millennium Development Goals (Overview Chapters 1 and 2)
- Easterly, A Modest Proposal, - A review of Jeffrey Sachs’ The End of Poverty: Economic Possibilities for Our Time, The Washington Post, March 13, 2005
- Jeffrey Sachs’ letter to the Editor in response to the book review and the reply from William Easterly ( published March 27, 2005)
- Paul Collier, The Bottom Billion (entire book)
- Emerging Africa: Factors in Determining Development Success
- Stephen Radelet, Emerging Africa (entire book)
- Dambisa Moyo, Dead Aid (entire book)
- What is Success: Approaches in Measuring and Evaluating Development Progress
- “What Works in Development,” edited by William Easterly and Jessica Cohen (Chapters 1-4.)
- “When will we ever learn: Improving lives through impact evaluation.” Center for Global Development (Entire document)
- Climate Change and Development in Africa
- “Climate Change in Africa”, by Paul Collier, Gordon Conway, and Tony Venables (entire document).
- “Climate Change and Global Poverty: A Billion Lives in the Balance?”, Chapter 10 by Joshua Busby, edited by Lael Brainard, Abigail Jones, Nigel Purvis
- Who Does What in Development in Senegal: What is the Peace Corps’ Role?
- Readings: To be determined
- Sharing What Works: Case Studies from Peace Corps/Senegal
- Case Studies and proposed research prepared and presented by seminar participants
- SeneGAD - Senegal Gender and Development (http://www.pcsenegal.org/senegad)
- I served a one-year term as Communications Coordinator for Peace Corps Senegal's Gender and Development organization that raises money and awareness to empower Senegalese women, men, and youth to effectively integrate gender equality into their daily lives.
- To support this project, please donate to the Peace Corps Senegal Fund and specify that the donation is for "SeneGAD."
- Currently coordinating PC Senegal's "Safe Zone" training to make Peace Corps staff and new trainees aware about alternative lifestyles present among the Peace Corps Senegal family and how each of us can better support LGBTQ volunteers.
- Also serving on the PC Senegal Diversity Panel.
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