Posts filed under ‘Senegal’
Updates from the Field: Costs of Kiva, Donkey Shares + the Law of Diminishing Marginal Returns
Over the course of their fellowship, each Kiva Fellows class gleans a better understanding of innerworkings of microfinance and how a microfinance institution (MFI) can tip the scales of success. We begin to glimpse behind the scenes costs of Kiva to our Field Partners and to comprehend the reasoning behind “high” interest rates across the entire field of microfinance. We’re let in on the secrets to success which keep an organization running and financially viable for five years, and we learn about innovative development of programs- be they microfinance or donkey-shares- in a niche market. Over the course of our fellowships, we obtain these invaluable and instructive lessons piecemeal, and together can contribute to the conversation on a whole. Thus, as one class of fellows departs and another begins, this week our fellows share our insights with you!
Continue Reading 5 September 2011 at 08:00 Kate Bennett 7 comments
Of Chinese Proverbs and Gambian Donkeys
by Tim Young, KF15, Senegal
Give a man a fish and you feed him for a day. Give a man a donkey and you feed him for at least five years, providing the donkey is well treated and doesn’t get sick.
On a recent trip to the Gambia, Kiva Fellow Tim Young visited a fascinating project, which has for the last 10 years or so has been fighting poverty, by helping the local people help their working animals.
Continue Reading 31 August 2011 at 10:44 letimyoung 3 comments
Updates from the Field: Loan Sharks, Snapshots + “the Country with a Smile”
Each Kiva borrower enjoys his or her own borrower profile page. We’ve all seen these pages: they acquaint us with the borrower’s story, plans for the future, country, and a photo in their business or home. Borrower profiles present us with a clear snapshot of the ebbs and flows of a borrower’s life. But how can we begin to flesh out what’s beyond the edges of the screen? On the Fellow’s blog, of course!
This week Kiva Fellows bring us a little closer to our borrowers. We try to walk in the shoes of those living under a dollar a day in Nicaragua. We learn about the power of accredited microfinance institutions for the average Ecuadorian. We get a glimpse (and a sample!) of traditional El Salvadorian fare. We marvel at brilliant images of borrowers in their element in Chile and Colombia. And finally we depart Latin America for Senegal, where a Latin phrase can teach us about entrepreneurs the world over: they can, because they think they can. And they do, just as soon as they have the capital to do it.
Continue Reading 29 August 2011 at 02:00 Kate Bennett 8 comments
Possunt quia posse videntur
In this post, Kiva Fellow Tim Young, fortiter in re, suaviter in modo, shares some observations from a Fellow’s work in the field.
Continue Reading 25 August 2011 at 10:18 letimyoung 4 comments
Update from the Field: Working Animals, Green Microfinance + The Ends of the Earth
Compiled by Kathrin Gerner, KF15, Togo
This week, learn how microfinance could help working animals and their wild cousins in Senegal. Find out more about pigs in Indonesia and how pig waste can be put to good use with biogas digesters. Then understand more about the infrastructure difficulties facing a Kiva partner in Sierra Leone.
Continue Reading 1 August 2011 at 02:00 Kathrin Gerner 6 comments
Working Animals, Conservation & Microfinance
In this post Kiva Fellow Tim Young considers two successful examples of organisations working with local communities to improve the livelihoods of working animals and their wild cousins, and considers how microfinance could be used to help finance, support and further these efforts.
Continue Reading 27 July 2011 at 09:36 letimyoung 8 comments
Update from the Field: Dangerous Streets, New Vocabulary + A Senegalese Spring
Compiled by Kathrin Gerner, KF15, Togo
This week, the Kiva fellows invite you to accompany them across Africa and South and Central America: Take a walk in the streets of San Salvador. Improve your language skills by adding a few words in three of South Africa’s most widely spoken languages to your vocabulary. Look poverty in the face in Cameroon. Continue by learning more about the latest riots in Senegal. Find out how money helps to provide dignity in Ecuador. And finish by learning about the importance of family unity in El Salvador.
Continue Reading 11 July 2011 at 02:00 Kathrin Gerner 5 comments
A Senegalese Spring?
by Tim Young, KF15, Senegal
“Y en a marre!” the radio shouts as our 4X4 makes its way along narrow dusty roads to a borrower meeting some 40 kms from Thies. It is the 28th June, the day after the latest serious riots here in Senegal and the four of us bouncing around in the car listen intently. Last night I arrived home to find the roundabout outside my flat once again blocked by burning tyres, while large crowds watched peaceably from the side roads.
Continue Reading 6 July 2011 at 06:19 letimyoung 11 comments
Update from the Field: New Partners, Country-Specific Microfinance + Stories of a Kiva Fellowship
Compiled by Kathrin Gerner, KF15, Togo
This week, fellows located on three different continents were busy writing blogs to share their experiences. Learn what it takes to become a new Kiva partner in Ecuador, experience family-style microfinance in Lebanon, find out about a unique pig loan product in Indonesia, and get the inside scoop about being a Kiva fellow in Senegal.
Continue Reading 20 June 2011 at 02:00 Kathrin Gerner 6 comments
This. Is. Africa! Some stories of a Kiva Fellowship
Tim looks at some of the different aspects involved in being a Kiva Fellow, from meeting innovative borrowers to appearing on TV!
Update from the Field: Unsung Heroes, Community Alliances + and Mission Statements Made Reality
Compiled by Kate Bennett, KF15, Ecuador
The Pros and Cons of Microfinance – A View From The Field: Fixing the chain on the way to a repayment meeting in Haiti. Poor roads thwart borrowers and MFI loan officers alike.
This week in the field fellows across the world explore the factors that make microfinance and its successes a reality. In Kenya, we meet the actors who reach out to borrowers everyday, at any and all degrees of their own discomfort. In Nicaragua, we discover that high aspirations can be met with equally powerful results. In Senegal, a series of well-dressed strangers introduce us to the rest of the community, and the lesson that any organization seeking to serve the community must truly know the community. Between Colombia, Haiti and the Dominican Republic we gain insight about the pros, cons, and the conditions for success in microfinance. Throughout these stories, we’re led into homes, gardens and local festivals; down roads, rivers, and a few wrong turns; and we ultimately reach our destination: a deeper understanding of how- or really, through who and what- this work is made possible.
Nathan’s Office
Country: Kenya / Fellow: Nila Uthayakumar (KF15)
“It takes humility and tremendous patience to do the work that they do. A sense of humor is essential.” Nila sings the praise of the unsung heroes of microfinance: the loan officers.
A Rainy Day in Masaya
Country: Nicaragua / Fellow: Jason Jones (KF15)
How often does an organization’s mission statement really meet reality? Jason Jones finds that for his partner in Nicaragua and borrowers like Maura, Gloria, and Adelfa, lofty goals are realized everyday.
Kiva in the Community
Country: Senegal / Fellow: Tim Young (KF15)
As Tim Young begins to settle himself within his community, he learns that an microfinance institution’s presence in the local community must be deeply embedded as well.
The Pros and Cons of Microfinance – A View From The Field (A Three-Part Series)
Country: Colombia / Fellow: Nick Hamilton (KF14)
Part One of this through three-part series considers the strengths and benefits of microfinance. Part Two part two weighs its drawbacks and weaknesses. Part Three proposes a set of institutional and environmental factors that contribute to the success of microfinance.
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Updates from the past month:
Personal Connections, Supply and Demand + A Culinary Excursion
Farewells, Mistaken Identities + Micro-Microfinance
Earth Day, Celebrations + Exceeding Expectations
Trash, Delicious Treats + Community Outreach
Cute Pigs, New Toilets + Everything is Relative
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Plus more pictures from the past week:
Colombia, by Nick Hamilton
Senegal, by Tim Young
Nicaragua, by Jason Jones
Kenya, by Nila Uthayakumar
Kiva in the Community!
Tim gives his first impressions of how a Micro-Finance Institution interacts with the local community it serves, gets to know the personalities of the Dakar suburb of Yoff and even tries for an early sneaky appearance on national TV!
“TIME” in Senegal
By Lorin Alvarez, KF13, Senegal
Coming from New York, the one thing that has taken me a little while to get used to has been the “pace” of things here in Senegal. I have been programmed to always be on time for appointments and meetings; allocate my time as productively as possible; and once on a project or assignment, get it finished as quickly as possible and move onto the next item on my agenda. After all, my list of “things to do” at home never really seemed to be without at least 5 items on it at any given time.
Then I came to Senegal….. The first week or so while I was trying to settle in, it didn’t seem too obvious . The first time my Senegalese friend called around noon to say he’d be stopping by in a couple of hours and didn’t show up until 10 p.m. when I was already asleep, I didn’t give it much thought. I figured something must have come up to delay him. Then one day at the house where I am staying, it was announced around 7 p.m. that dinner was going to be served in a little while. It was almost 10 p.m. by the time we sat down to eat…. Another time, I ordered a soda at the beach. It took a good half hour for it to arrive. I was beginning to see a pattern….
Last week, I was fortunate enough to get a ride to the city of Thies, where I needed to go to visit CAURIE, a Kiva partner. A friend of a friend was driving there first thing in the morning and offered to take me with him. I had hit the jackpot – considering my only other option of getting there was via public transportation…. He did say however that he was going to be leaving quite early in the morning and would be picking me up 6:15-6:30 a.m. I told him I would be ready at 6 and I was. Actual time I was picked up – 8:15 a.m.
Most evidently, it has taken me a lot longer than I expected to get appointments to meet with staff members at the two Kiva partners that I am scheduled to work with. It has taken a couple of weeks of e-mail exchanges back and forth to secure actual appointments with people.
The New Yorker in me wonders sometimes how anything ever gets done at this pace while another part of me is really getting to enjoy this laid back attitude. I have discovered that things do get accomplished eventually – maybe not in the span of time that they would somewhere else but everything falls into place eventually and quite nicely. I did eventually get to Thies, I did eventually get to meet with the MFIs and started my work, I did eventually get my soda…. And the waiting process isn’t all that bad, once one gets used to it – especially if there is a good book handy.
Lorin Alvarez is a Kiva Fellow currently working with two of Kiva’s Senegalese field partners: CAURIE and U-IMCEC
Unexpected Surprise: A Meeting With Borrowers
By Lorin Alvarez, KF13, Senegal
I had been in Dakar for about ten days when last Thursday I met with the Kiva co-coordinator Yacine Diop at U-IMCEC, one of Kiva’s partners here in Senegal. Yacine who’s been with U-IMCEC for many years and is a great fan of Kiva, works out of one of the local branches of IMCEC-Dakar, in the neighborhood of Yoff. During our meeting, she mentioned that there was an inauguration ceremony at one of the Kiva funded group enterprises that very afternoon that she had been invited to and asked if I would like to accompany her. I jumped at the chance. Then, she showed me AYADY’s (L’Association des Femmes And Defar Yoff) borrower profile that had gone up on Kiva’s website on October 31st, seeking $1,500 to purchase supplies they needed to start a local cereal production operation, right here in Yoff. The loan having been fully funded within 24 hours by Kiva lenders, the group had already purchased all the necessary supplies and was set to start production on Friday – the next day. But first, they were going to have an official ceremony.
At about 5 p.m. a member of the IMCEC credit committee, Yacine and I took the short walk around the corner from their office to a community center where AYADY has set up its operations. The supplies that had been purchased were on display – from raw materials such as sugar and rice to cooking utensils to plastic bags for packaging. As Yacine introduced me to one member after another as the “Kiva representative” about 20 women greeted and welcomed me. The president of the group Mrs. Fatou Moussa Diene, an energetic woman who seemed to be everywhere all at once explained to me the steps involved in making cereal. The process takes 3 days. The fourth day is spent packaging the product in 1 or 5 kilo plastic bags (approximately 2 lbs to 10 lbs, respectively.) The product is then ready to be sold in the neighborhoods. They have divided Yoff into 8 zones with one member overseeing the sales activity in each zone. Mrs. Diene said that once cereal production is set in place and running smoothly, they plan to expand into soap manufacturing as well.
Members of AYADY with their supplies ready for cereal production
After taking a couple of group photos surrounded by the supplies made possible by Kiva loans, the ceremony started. In addition to the President of AYADY, the representatives of IMCEC, and a few community leaders took their seats at the dais. They quickly added a chair for the “Kiva representative.” There were a series of speeches by everyone around the table as well as several from the audience. At one point, the representative of APECSY – the Association Pour La Promotion Economique, Culturelle et Sociale de Yoff (The Association of Economic, Cultural & Social Development of Yoff) – broke into French to thank Kiva for all its support. As a Kiva Fellow and the Kiva representative on the spot, I found myself in the unexpected position of having to make a little speech. One speaker after another spoke about the value of the women in the group partnering with one another and pulling their resources together with the goal of improving economic and social conditions for their families and their community. It was very encouraging to see that the community itself has given its full support to AYADY. These ladies are on their way……
Mrs. Fatou Moussa Diene, President of AYADY, addressing the members
AYADY's members at the meeting
As a new Kiva Fellow, being a part of such a ceremony where I was able to witness first hand, the impact of a Kiva loan at the ground level was extremely rewarding. I felt very proud to be the “Kiva representative.” I will think of these ladies, their energy and their enthusiasm every time I hit an impasse when tackling a “deliverables” on my list….
Lorin Alvarez is a Kiva Fellow currently working with two of Kiva’s Senegalese field partners: CAURIE and U-IMCEC
Today’s workers are tomorrow’s leaders
Employees of Caurie Microfinance can be characterized by three traits: they work hard, long and passionately! How come?
Continue Reading 3 April 2010 at 05:36 Samuel Trauffer Leave a comment
Roger and me and the entrepreneurs: encouraging encounters
When a lender looks at the profile of a borrower on kiva.org, he is fed with lots of information about this individual. The reverse is not always the case, as Taylor Akin pointed out in her great blogpost. At least with lenders who have created a personal lender-profile, it is possible to create a two way communication which fulfills Kiva’s goal of connecting people through lending. Kevin Chaissan demonstrated a beautiful example in his post.
Continue Reading 6 March 2010 at 03:07 Samuel Trauffer 2 comments
Meet a Micro-Debt Collector
Alioune Badara Thioune has a confident stride. In the mornings he comes into the office sporting stylish sunglasses, a leather briefcase and a newspaper carefully tucked under his arm. After making the obligatory “good morning” rounds, he chooses a chair in the hallway and opens his newspaper until he is called into the office of the regional head. For some reason he always reminded me of a Senegalese Chili Palmer – John Travolta’s character in Get Shorty. And this was before I knew exactly what he did. (more…)
Live Music from Senegal
Several times last week I woke up to the sound of explosions, which were not too close but not too far away either. At first I thought they might be leftover fireworks from Carnival but I quickly realized that I was listening to a gunfight between the Senegalese army and rebel troops from the Movement of Democratic Forces of Casamance. I arrived in the town of Ziguinchor, the regional capital of Casamance, aware that for the past 30 years there has been a “low density war” between the Senegalese government and separatists. The conflict resurfaces once in a while and around the time I heard those explosions last week two Senegalese soldiers were killed, somewhere in between here and the Guinea-Bissau border. The people that live here have grown up with the conflict and are accustomed to the occasional military operation. They have even developed a sense of humor about it – the next day at work, one of my UIMCEC coworkers asked if I had heard the “music” the night before.
Continue Reading 22 February 2010 at 09:32 Nick Malouin 3 comments
Changes to the Repayment Policy – who wins?
Some of you may have seen Kiva’s recent announcement of the policy change with regards to repayments, or indeed Claude’s excellent post from last week about the impact of Kiva policies in the field. As someone who has spent more than her fair share of time trying to implement a stricter repayment reporting policy at SEM in Senegal during the last 3 months, I too have found myself wondering what effect the recent removal of lender protection is going to have on the MFI’s operations.
Continue Reading 22 February 2010 at 08:51 nickigoh, KF9, Senegal 9 comments
Local knowledge remains crucial
Caurie Microfinance, the MFI I’ve been working at as a Kiva Fellow for two weeks, doesn’t work like a bank in our part of the world. The key difference is that Caurie MF doesn’t do business with individual customers, but rather with groups of customers, so-called “Bancs Villageoises” (meaning Village Banks; an individual bank would be correctly called “Banque”. This turned out to be a protected term, so Caurie MF writes “Banc” but pronounces it like “Banque”;-).
Continue Reading 21 February 2010 at 09:48 Samuel Trauffer 4 comments
Begging – A Sign of Development?
Whether at home or abroad no one likes to see people begging for money. In the countries where most Kiva Fellows come from it’s a sad sign of social dysfunction and a failure to provide adequate opportunities for everyone. But in the developing world could it actually be a sign of progress? After all, if a country can support begging, then it must be generating income beyond mere subsistence.
Continue Reading 15 February 2010 at 09:43 Nick Malouin 8 comments
“Does Microcredit Really Help Poor People?” Yes, but…
KF9 Ilmari Soininen UIMCEC, Thies, Senegal
Over the last four months working in microfinance in urban Senegal, I have come across many clients who report increased income thanks to their loans. Fishmongers, clothing salesman, taxi drivers, you name it. Indeed, this has come to be expected – put the capital into the entrepreneur’s hands and he will surely put it to the most efficient use, and help bring his family out of poverty.
Makes sense. But trying to tease out exactly by how much the client’s income has increased is not as straight forward. Clients rarely keep good track of revenues and expenses, so the bottom line at the end of the month can be pretty hard to decipher. Often I wonder after the interest payments, did the client really increase his income or was it a mirage simply reflecting more money coming in and out?
My experience is consistent with the broader lack of evidence to link microfinance with increased incomes and reduced levels of poverty. In “Does Microcredit Really Help Poor People?”, an excellent recent report for CGAP, Richard Rosenberg examines recent research and looks to answer this question.
Working with Ecovillages in Senegal
By Nicki Goh, KF9 Senegal
Now that I am well into my second month here in Senegal, I thought it was worth sharing a little background on the MFI where I am working.
Senegal Ecovillage Microfinance was set up in 2004 by an American volunteer, John Fay, who was carrying out an economic assessment of the village of Louly Ngogom in Senegal. Following interviews with the villagers, John decided to set up a small micro-loan pilot programme to meet the demand for financial services in otherwise un-served communities. In that first year of 2004, he lent fifteen families just $30 each to purchase peanut seed and received 100% back in repayments. Since then, and with the help of Kiva – whose timely launch in late 2005 saw SEM taken on as Kiva’s 4th ever partner – SEM has succeeded in providing financing to groups in nearly 40 villages.
SEM is the microfinance arm of GENSEN, the Global Ecovillage Network here in Senegal. The Global Ecovillage Network’s mission, as expressed on its website includes: “contributing to the worldwide transformation toward sustainability, by supporting ecovillages, joining with like-minded partners, and expanding education and demonstration programs in sustainable living.” Sustainable living as described by GEN is not only a lifestyle dedicated to the preservation of the natural environment, but also a way of life that protects the society and its traditions in an economically viable way.
As one of these “like-minded partners” SEM’s policy is to finance only those clients who are members of a GEN-SEN accredited ecovillage. As such SEM would describe itself as an MFI with a very strong social mission: not only does it operate in rural areas of the country with no other access to financial services, but it is working with a network that encourages sustainable rural development
So what is an ecovillage? And what does being a member of one entail? How does this affect the kinds of business activities that the entrepreneurs can take on with the loan from SEM (and Kiva)? Does this mean that all of the business activities of SEM’s clients are wonderfully eco-friendly, accepting of traditional values and socially beneficial in every possible way?
Senegal’s Answer to the Golden Arches?
By Ilmari Soininen, KF9 Thies, Senegal
Of the forty-eight countries in Sub-Saharan Africa, how many would you guess have a Mcdonald’s? Why would one care?
Thomas Friedman, the columnist and author, posited “No two countries that both had McDonald’s had fought a war against each other since each got its McDonald’s”. If one had missed the lesson on causation versus correlation back in statistics class, the answer to ending conflict in Africa would be simple. Step one:open a Mcdonalds in every country on the continent. Step two: award Ronald Mcdonald the Nobel Peace Prize (“I’d like to thank God, the Hamburgler…”).
Friedman’s point was that globalization ties countries closer economically, increasing the opportunity cost of waging war. A dubious theory on conflict prevention, especially as much of the residual conflict is internal, not countries fighting other countries. But perhaps the lack of Mcdonald’s in Africa can tell us something. Oh, and the answer to the initial question: as of 2009, only three of forty-eight countries in SSA have Mcdonald’s. – one of them being (a bit cryptically) Zimbabwe.
The idea of chains and franchises popped into my head a couple of weeks back, when I visited a client, Fatou Binetou Dieng. According to the profile, she had used her loan to purchase traditional West African fabrics to sell in her neighborhood. Indeed she had. But this was a year ago. (more…)
Reading the Economic Chicken Bones
By Ilmari Soininen, KF9 in Thies, Senegal
Christmas kicks off a serious week of celebration for Senegal’s Christian minority. Dispersed families unite, meaning a series of sept-place, clando and bus rides from the capital. Like in many parts of the world, roasted chicken (or turkey) is an important part of the Christmas menu here. The bird is carefully prepared, and cooked to tender perfection. Chicken is not an everyday treat for most of Senegal. Indeed, it is quite a luxury item. But why is this so? And can this tell us something about the country’s future?
A Holiday luxury - but hopefully not forever
Getting by with a little help from your friends
By Nicki Goh, KF9 Senegal
Last week, I took my first field visit to the southern Casamance region of Senegal. Separated from the north of the country by the Gambia, the large Diola population of the Casamance region is primarily involved in fishing, rice cultivation and tourism. However, many SEM borrowers have other types of business: they sell vegetables, make clothing, rent bikes and bake bread. They make their livings providing new goods and services to their communities all thanks to loans that they have had from SEM and Kiva lenders.
Borrower visits: it's a hard life...
I went to meet some of these borrowers last week on the idyllic island of Carabane a 30-minute boat ride from the Casamance mainland. (It’s a beautiful place, I really did luck out on this Fellows Placement 
) During my interviews I asked them to tell me about any difficulties they have been having repaying their loans in the last few months. And from many of the groups, I got the same response: “Winter is a hard time to try to run a business!”
Now, anyone who has seen the way that businesses in the UK and other parts of Europe and the US have come to a stand-still this Christmas could be forgiven for thinking that it’s maybe a problem of climate or a slow-down caused by the festive season. However, in this predominantly Muslim country Christmas is celebrated by just a minority of the population and the winter sun is still bringing us temperatures of at least 27 degrees C (80F) so snow storms certainly aren’t the problem here. (more…)
29 December 2009 at 01:00 nickigoh, KF9, Senegal 10 comments
Welcome to Senegal – the land of ‘Teranga’
By Nicki Goh, KF9 Senegal
After more than 2 months of waiting, the time has finally come for me to put into practice all that I learned back at the KF9 training week in San Francisco. As I sit here at the beginning of my second week working at Senegal Ecovillage Microfinance (SEM) I remember the nervous anticipation and excitement that I felt back in September when I embarked upon this Kiva journey – a journey which has so far included two flights and 3000 miles in a converted Army truck.
During the past 5 weeks that I have spent travelling through West Africa prior to this Fellowship, I have watched the landscape slowly evolve from Marrakech’s Atlas Mountains, through the sand dunes of the Mauritanian Sahara, on into the rolling plains of the Sahel in Mali and Burkina Faso and ending in the lush, tropical forests of Ghana’s southern regions. Quite a journey. And along the way I had small insights into the culture of my final destination – Paris-Dakar rally cars racing through the West Saharan desert; Senegal’s national dish of ceeb u jen being served everywhere in Mauritania’s capital Nouakchott; snippets of Senegalese rap in the bars of Ouagadougou and the traditions of Mali’s Bambara population whose shared heritage with the Senegalese Malinke transcends the somewhat arbitrary national border dividing them. Overall, plenty to maintain the buzz from Kiva training and to give me plenty to look forward to!
And so, in Ghana I bid farewell to my English-speaking travel companions to immerse myself once again in a Francophone culture without the comfort and reassurance that fellow travellers tend to provide. I abandoned the truck, the tent and the travelling in favour of a place to settle into for a while. And what better place to call home than Senegal – the land of teranga (hospitality).
13 December 2009 at 09:00 nickigoh, KF9, Senegal 10 comments
Global Slowdown: Senegal
Ilmari Soininen
KF9 UIMCEC Senegal
Many developing countries were just beginning to recover from the havoc caused by sky-rocketing food and fuel prices, when the last F-bomb hit – the financial crisis. A year in, what are the effects on Kiva’s borrowers, partner MFIs and the diverse array of countries we work in? Is there reason for optimism for the future?
Credit institutions issuing loans to local clients and then shuffling the risk to investors in the four corners of the world – hmmmm sounds oddly familiar. Fret not, Kiva is not responsible for the global financial crisis – even Premal knows Kiva’s not that huge…yet.
Senegal: car rapide or economy flaccid?
Phonecards and Peanuts: Looking at Micro-finance through the Macro Lens
Ilmari Soininen
KF9 UIMCEC Dakar, Senegal
Topping up one’s phone credit is never a problem in Dakar – on every street corner you will find one, or usually three or four young men hawking the same exact Orange Telecom cards. They offer the exact same cards, in the exact same spot, at the exact same time. Peanut vendors are equally ubiquitous, often stationed only a feet away from each other, selling the same peanuts, in the same 50 Franc increments.
These vendors often rarely have many other avenues for generating income. Many come from the countryside, where subsistence farming is usually the one and only option. They prefer the hustle and bustle of the city. They prefer the 500, 1000 or even 2000 CFCA (between US$ 1-4) they can make a day. Who can blame them.
But when you add up all of the thousands of phonecard, peanut (cigarette, tissue, fruit …) vendors, you begin to see why this country, and indeed many of its neighbors, are still so poor. (more…)
Geopolitics and giant goats: thoughts from a week in Dakar
By Ilmari Soininen, KF9 UIMCEC Dakar, Senegal“Africa lite” is how a retired career diplomat once described Senegal to me. Glancing at a map of West Africa he may have a point. Bloody diamond-fuelled conflicts in Sierra Leone and Liberia, violent Islamic extremism in Mali and Mauritania and the recent military coup in Guinea make Senegal look like a bastion of stability, even in light of the resurgence of a separatist movement in the southern region of Casamance (recent news).
Further, despite relatively weak institutions and inescapable corruption, Senegal has had a rich history of democratic elections. The transition of power in 2000 to the current president, Abdoulaye Wade, was smooth and peaceful despite fiery campaigning. Looking back to the previous change of guard is perhaps even more telling: in 1980, President Senghor became the first African head of state to ever step down voluntarily. Pretty amazing.
But enough geopolitics, let’s get to the giant goats. (more…)
