Badjoude November 2008

Post: Badjoude
Pickup Location: Parakou
Project Description: CLAC presents “Holiday for the Children.” The CLAC (culture and reading center) of Badjoude will be hosting a special children’s event to encourage Badjoude’s youth to use the center as a space for meeting, exchange, and learning. The program will include games and gifts for the children, as well as traditional dance and music performances. Goals of the event include encouraging children to visit the CLAC more frequently, facilitating access to the center’s many books and educational games, revalidating the role of traditional culture within the community, and developing a “spirit of openness and solidarity.”
Dates of Project: December 24, 2008
Number of People Involved: Expected: 100 children, 100 adults (parents, teachers, guests)
Budget:

Item Number Cost
Sound System Rental 1 10,000 CFA
Stuffed Animals 30 x 500 CFA each 15,000 CFA
Toy Cars 30 x 500 CFA each 15,000 CFA
Wrapping Paper 7 meters x 500 CFA each 3,500 CFA
Ribbon 3 rolls x 1000 CFA each 3,000 CFA
Tape 5 rolls x 300 CFA each 1,500 CFA
Cartons 10 x 100 CFA each 1,000 CFA
Total 49,000 CFA

Amount Requested: 49,000 CFA

Comments

GAD Coordinator Comments: The CLAC provides a valuable public service and I think it’s great that she is working with the CLAC to publicize their work. Before recommending approval, however, I think we need more specific information about the number and gender of people involved in planning the event.

GAD Finance Comments: I think we definetly need more information on this project before it is approved. I agree that the participant details need to be clarified. In addition, she needs to clarify what the event will do to meet its goals. I understand that it wants to "encourage" and "facilitate", but how? I wonder what will be done to make the use of the CLAC affective for the community. These goals and details need to be clarified before I would approve.

GAD Specialist Comments: I agree with both of you.

Updates

GAD Coordinator Comments: PCV told me that the event itself is mostly being planned by two male employees of the CLAC who have also worked with Kate on similar events of this nature. They said that the gift-giving is actually only one part of the events that will be taking place that day; throughout the morning and afternoon the CLAC employees will be organizing a variety of educational games designed to familiarize children with the CLAC’s resources, including a scavenger hunt during which students will need to find information and books in the CLAC library. The CLAC building includes a meeting hall, where music and dancing will take place in the evening. The rest of the project’s budget is being funded by the CLAC’s parent organization and by community contributions. I think she has provided sufficient explanation of the project at this point. Funding has been approved.

Closing Report

Post: Badjoude
Date of Project: December 24, 2008
Brief Project Description: In order to promote local culture and encourage the community to explore the facility’s many resources, the Badjoudé CLAC (Centre de la Lecture et les Activités Culturels) hosted a holiday children’s event. Day of the event activities included full tours of the library, dance and music performances, awarding of prizes for a reading competition, and an appearance by “Papa Noel” to hand out presents and candy to the children.
Number of People Involved and Age Range: Leaders for the event were myself and the two CLAC employees. Participants/beneficiaries included approximately 150 children (age range infant-17 years old) and 30 adults (age range 20-50).
What were the goals/objectives of this project? The objectives of this project were as follows: promote local culture, share the CLAC’s resources with the community so as to encourage more visitors (especially school-age children), and offer a fun and safe event for children during the December vacation.
Were those goals/objectives met? Due to a high turn-out on the day of the event, positive feedback following the event, and increased subscription to the CLAC’s library in the week’s since, the project believes it successfully met its objectives.
What were the strengths of this project? From a Peace Corps perspective, the greatest strength of this project was that it was initiated and almost completely planned and implemented by two motivated community members. Other strengths included the event’s organization and the type and variety of activities planned which aided in keeping the children’s attention.
What were the weaknesses of this project? One challenge of this project was trying to anticipate the number of participants, especially the number of children. Because this was the event’s first year, there was no precedence from which to work. As a result, a weakness of the event turned out to be its lack of sufficient gifts and candy for the number of children who participated.
Do you consider this project complete? Yes
Budget:

Item Number Cost
Radio Communication 1 2000
Typing and Photocopies n/a 2580
Tape 2 800
Glue 2 300
Paper n/a 1120
Ribbon 1 500
Sound System Rental 1 5000
Dolls 20 14000
Mini-guitars 12 9000
Music Players 14 11200
Mini Cars 2 1600
Batteries 1 packet 1800
Total 49000
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