A Change in Routine... WOOHOO!

YES ! Finally a change in going to the office and sitting in front of my computer. Yesterday after complaining about this to JP, I went to the last bit of the CRS conference that has been going on all week. It was a strategic planning meeting for the next five years. Many partner organizations were present along with CRS staff from around the country. I really should have been there the whole week. I got a feel for what real bussiness counsel meetings are like (Mom, I'm begining to understand). CRS Senegal’s main focus right now is its micro finance program, which gives out loans to groups of women. It’s been very successful not only in return rates (99 %) but has also had positive impacts of families and has enabled women to start long-term investment projects. I've observed that a unique aspect of CRS is that it really focuses on local organisations to run the projects here. This way the local population manages the projects, leading to greater sustainable development. The role of CRS in many of the projects is to oversee the progress and provide financial assistance. The issue was brought up that there needs to be a greater focus on education and health projects, along with being more proactive in fundraising for support of these projects. After the meeting my job was to talk with some of the partners about the manual I’ve been working on and areas that could improve with the relationship with CRS (the manual contains all the imperative information a partner would need; from the values of CRS to how to go about project finances). Though my French limited complete understanding I think some of the partners were appreciative that someone was listening to their insight. I met a man involved with the Sesame project, which is a project to help promote the diversification of crops in Senegal in order to establish a more stable agricultural market. The main crop here is peanuts, so the challenges are educating people how to cultivate sesame crops and also to promote the positive benefits of this crop, which are that it is more durable to droughts, allows diversification and the export market for this crop is rising.

I might be heading down to Casamance with some of the CRS staff to see some of projects first hand such as the groups of women in the micro finance program and the peace building programs. I’m hoping this works out. If I go I’ll be leaving Sunday and back by Thursday. Don’t worry Mom and Dad, I’ll be back to meet you at the airport Friday morning. For those of you that don’t know my parents are coming to visit! We’re going to play the role of the tourist and head to Gambia, Cap Skirring and Ziguinchore.

P.S. If any of you are interested in reading about the other students experiences from SU in this program go to this website: http://www.seattleu.edu/idip/projects05.asp