SEPTEMBER 2004

Benin Hunger Project Expansion

Dr. Tadesse, Vice President, and Jennifer Thomson, Senior Program Officer for AWFFI, visited THP-Benin from September 5-9, 2004 as part of a tour of THP’s West African programs. The following is their report of their visit.

In Benin, we started off with a VCA workshop at the new Ouissi Epicenter where the Epicenter building is currently under construction. The Ouissi Epicenter now includes over 20 villages with a population of over 60,000 people. The AWFFI program has been active with the women in Ouissi for several years, and THP’s other programs expanded there in 2003.


VCA participants at the Ouissi Epicenter.

The communities have become very active after the first VCAs were conducted with the whole community last year, and as a result 1,700 people have enrolled in adult literacy classes and 71 people have trained to be literacy instructors. Many people have also increased their household food production in partnership with THP-Benin through access to improved seeds. In addition, the HIV/AIDS & Gender Inequality Workshop received great attention with 1,680 people attending the workshop itself, of which 24 people volunteered to continue to the workshop in their areas as HIV/AIDS Animators.


The Ouissi Epicenter building under construction.

The Epicenter building itself has a meeting room, a health clinic, a credit room for the future rural bank, a food bank as well as 3 hectares of land for increased community-level food production.


Some women were breaking rocks for the Epicenter building before the meeting. These materials and labor are part of the communities’ contribution to the construction.

The construction of the Epicenter building itself is being accomplished by the communities in partnership with THP-Benin. The land was donated by a local traditional chief, and the communities have mobilized building materials and labor. The communities’ contribution represents about 20% of the total cost of construction, while THP-Benin contributes the other 80% of the cost to complete the building.


Members of the Ouissi Epicenter Committee stand in front of the VCA participants during a discussion of leadership during Dr. Tadesse’s VCA.

The leadership of the Epicenter is in place with an Epicenter Committee made up of nine members, of which five are women. Because of AWFFI’s long history in the area, the women’s leadership is very strong and motivated. In fact, the AWFFI women at Ouissi have a vision to create their AWFFI rural bank in the Epicenter and get their official government recognition by the end next year. The THP-Benin staff is very optimistic that this vision will be successful because there are about 75 AWFFI groups (about 750 women) in the area of the Ouissi Epicenter and they are currently repaying over $35,000 in credit disbursed to date in 2004. Repayment rates are about 98% and the Credit Committee has been very active following-up with all of the groups.

Another Epicenter that we visited during this trip was the Avlamé Epicenter that had been officially inaugurated last year after the completion of the building. The meeting at Avlamé focused on the communities’ achievements in the last year. The major successes include that 1,326 people have attended literacy classes and 500 have already been declared “literate” by the government curriculum standards. The community fields next to the Epicenter were planted with maize by community farming groups and the crop is now ready for harvest for storage in the food bank. In addition, the grain mill is functioning well and currently has generated a profit of about $280 that can be used for any repairs to the machine or for other community initiatives.


Participants in the meeting at the Avlamé Epicenter.

Also at Avlamé, 23 AWFFI groups (about 230 women) finished paying off their $6,900 credit during the month of August and were ready for their next disbursement scheduled for mid-September. Because of the success of the first 23 AWFFI groups, an additional 16 groups (160 women) will also be receiving their first AWFFI loans bringing the number of AWFFI women to about 390 in the Avlamé Epicenter. The AWFFI women said during the meeting that they plan to have their own rural bank, officially recognized by the government, by the end of 2006.


The members of the Avlamé Epicenter Committee participating in the discussion.


At the Dékpo Epicenter, we met under a thatch-roofed structure built by the communities that is serving as a temporary Epicenter building until the brick structure can be constructed. Twelve villages have come together to form the Dekpo Epicenter, and another 12 villages have formed the nearby Kissamey Sub-Epicenter to facilitatee meeting and working together without traveling long distances. During the visit, Dr. Tadesse conducted a VCA in each area with the community members present to discuss their achievements and to develop their vision going forward.


Community members at the Dekpo Epicenter participating in a VCA led by Dr. Tadesse.



Both the Dékpo Epicenter and the Kissamey Sub-Epicenter have many accomplishments in their mobilization against hunger and poverty. For example, almost 2,500 people have attended literacy classes and over 50% of them are women. The 91 literacy instructors are volunteers from the local communities and 24 of them are women, as well. The communities have also mobilized for increased food production with partnership of THP-Benin which provides access to improved seeds. In addition, the 52 HIV/AIDS & Gender Inequality Workshop Animators (23 of whom are women) are continuing their work to spread he message, and have reached almost 40,000 people in the villages since the program was launched in the Epicenter over a year ago.


Ms. Thomson conducts a meeting with the AWFFI women at the Dékpo Epicenter.

At the Dékpo Epicenter, AWFFI started activities in November 2003 with 8 groups (about 80 women) who received their first credit for almost $2,400 in June 2004. These women were so dynamic that they repaid their credit in three months even though the loan term allowed them six!! Now, these 8 groups plus at least 5 new groups will be receiving credit in the month of September. Their main activities include making the staple food “gari” (cassava meal); palm oil; growing beans, maize, cassava and peanuts, and making peanut fritters. During the special AWFFI meeting we conducted after the VCA, the women had many questions about the AWFFI program and were very excited about the program’s expansion in their area. It was clear from our discussion that the women have a clear sense of how they can use credit as a tool to fight hunger and poverty on a sustainable basis in their families and villages.