(Viewers with a high-speed Internet connection and knowledge of French can watch Mr. Froidevaux’s documentary by clicking this link)
On 9 March 2008 in Ouagadougou (Burkina Faso), the new library of the association APROCOL was opened. The library has been financed by Geneva’s 1% for Development Fund. The opening ceremony took place in the presence of invited guests including Simon Compaoré, the Mayor of Ouagadougou, and Bernadette Sanou Dao, a sponsor of the project and General Director of the education and literacy ministry’s Centre for Research, Educational Innovation and Training. I attended in my capacity as project supervisor and representative of the 1% Fund.
The ceremony was interspersed with sketches put on by entertainers from Gombo.com and attended by a total of 100 or more people, including pupils from the schools benefiting from the project and residents of the Samandin district where the new library is located, who had come along as the new “neighbours” to join in the celebrations.
In his speech, Paul Nana, the President of APROCOL, recalled that the new premises were actually part of a wider project entitled “Bibliothèques mobiles” (“Travelling Libraries”). The project, which has been financed to the tune of 3,860,000 CFA francs (about 9,900 Swiss francs), is a natural continuation of the work done by APROCOL over the last seven years in Ouagadougou to promote reading among children living in deprived areas.
With about 20 active members, APROCOL was established in 2001 (1) in response to the evident lack of interest in reading among school-age children in Burkina Faso combined with poor access to books and one of the lowest per capita incomes in the world. Books in Burkina Faso are, for many families, a luxury. APROCOL, with the agreement of the school authorities, undertook the task of setting up reading competitions and outings to promote reading and familiarity with books. The association’s activities developed year by year with the help of various bodies including the French Cultural Centre, the Raoul Follereau Foundation, the ATD Quart Monde movement, the Association of Parents, and the Ministry of Basic Education and Literacy.
The Travelling Libraries project itself started in Switzerland and France with the collection of second-hand books for APROCOL. Once it had built up a modest stock of children’s books, the association contacted local schools to organize a book subscription lending service. The initial idea of the project was to actively go out to encourage pupils to take advantage of the books available, rather than just waiting for them to ask.
This involves weekly visits to schools by library staff throughout the school term, with boxes containing a selection of suitable books. Children with a subscription to the library can take out a new book every week on condition that they have returned the previous one. The dedication and perseverance of the library staff, especially its president Paul Nana, enabled the association continue with its various activities without much in the way of funding or regular subsidies before the 1% Fund helped out.
The project’s current task, with the help of Geneva’s 1% Fund, is to build on the book lending system set up by APROCOL for children in deprived areas of Ouagadougou. This will mean extending the network to cover more schools, providing better training for library staff, and setting up a sponsorship system intended primarily to help pupils from deprived backgrounds with reading difficulties. Provision was accordingly made in the project budget for the purchase of new books, with the emphasis on African authors and publishers, and for building book storage premises to promote efficient stock management and keep books in good condition. These premises have been built and are also used as a small neighbourhood library where children can come to browse and read as they wish during opening hours. The premises are a pleasant place for reading which contributes something of value to the neighbourhood, and which could conceivably become a meeting place, a small-scale cultural centre for young people.
Expenditure on infrastructure also included the purchase of six bicycles and one motorbike for the use of library staff in getting to schools, as well as – most importantly -the two specially made “mobile libraries” themselves which will be hitched up to the bikes and provide an efficient and green way of transporting a wide range of books.
Now that the training of the librarians has been completed (2), the association needs to expand its lending system and develop the sponsorship system for children with reading difficulties, who generally come from the most deprived families; their parents are often reluctant to get involved with the school and fail to understand the importance of regular reading at home in addition to the reading done in class. It is the aim of the project to convince them. This is a huge task but one that is highly motivating, inspired as it is by the desire to teach and share knowledge. That is more than sufficient reason for continuing to encourage APROCOL and its project.
Note:
(1) The Association pour la Promotion des Connaissances livresques (APROCOL) has been officially registered as an association in Burkina Faso since 2003 (Ministry decision no. 2003-682/MATD/SG/DGLPAP/DOASOC). Contact : aprocol@hotmail.com
(2) A workshop was held from 21 to 28 June 2008, in Ouagadougou, on reading techniques and motivation for 20 APROCOL members, in collaboration with Education International Africa. See the issue of Sidwaya of 23 June 2008 available at : www.sidwaya.bf