For those who are interested in the "real" purpose for me being here:
Work has definitely been kicked up a notch. Before I left Siguiri for In-Service Training (IST), I was still trying to figure out what the people of Siguiri needed, small business wise, and what I wanted to do with my energy. With Small Enterprise Development, there is no formula. I can't just go to a classroom or a health center everyday and have work to do. Since I arrived in Siguiri, I have been focused on meeting people, getting to know their needs, and basically just trying to create options for projects. It's basically a process of making your job up as you go along, which is actually a whole lot more difficult than I ever thought possible!
But recently, I have really narrowed down the wide net I had cast and taken a specific direction with my work that I has made me really excited. Here are a list of my projects for the next two years, as of right now (yes, I have given myself actual position titles to make it sound better to all of you):
Assistant Editor, Aisha Magazine, a young woman's magazine focused on women's empowerment and education
This will take a bunch of work, which will include finding software to use for publishing (maybe Adobe!), raising funds, collecting submissions, having the group of girls at Aprofig choose which submissions to include and have the girls type them up, going to Conakry to focus on layout (unless we get our act together in time to train the girls to do this on their own), get it published out of Conakry, and distribute around the country to young women. Sound like fun??
Work has definitely been kicked up a notch. Before I left Siguiri for In-Service Training (IST), I was still trying to figure out what the people of Siguiri needed, small business wise, and what I wanted to do with my energy. With Small Enterprise Development, there is no formula. I can't just go to a classroom or a health center everyday and have work to do. Since I arrived in Siguiri, I have been focused on meeting people, getting to know their needs, and basically just trying to create options for projects. It's basically a process of making your job up as you go along, which is actually a whole lot more difficult than I ever thought possible!
But recently, I have really narrowed down the wide net I had cast and taken a specific direction with my work that I has made me really excited. Here are a list of my projects for the next two years, as of right now (yes, I have given myself actual position titles to make it sound better to all of you):
Assistant Editor, Aisha Magazine, a young woman's magazine focused on women's empowerment and education
This will take a bunch of work, which will include finding software to use for publishing (maybe Adobe!), raising funds, collecting submissions, having the group of girls at Aprofig choose which submissions to include and have the girls type them up, going to Conakry to focus on layout (unless we get our act together in time to train the girls to do this on their own), get it published out of Conakry, and distribute around the country to young women. Sound like fun??
Organizational Consultant, The Federation of Groupements of Artisans of Siguiri
Ok, what do you get when you put together a woodworker, a fabric dyer, a jewelry maker, and a photographer in the same room? Yes! You get the Federation of Artisans of Siguiri! I have been working closely with their President, Bangali Silla, for the past few months, and their board and I have finally come up with an action plan to strengthen their organization. Right now they are an unorganized mess, without an office, without many members, and without many organized thoughts. But we are going to change that! Here is what our action plan looks like right now:
Step One: Recruiting new members. This will include making a brochure, having informational meetings throughout Siguiri to explain the benefits of being a member, and then have one final meeting for those who are interested about how to become a groupement and how to join the Federation. From there, I can work with individual groupements to get their official papers and truly become a functional member of the Federation.
Step Two: Needs Assessments (done at the same time as recruiting). This will be a period of figuring out what the Federation can truly offer its members and what resources it has to do these new things with. We will use Fiona's Needs Assessment model to choose the three most pressing problems facing groupements of artisans in Siguiri, and then the Federation can devise real plans to help.
(These two different steps are critical: the first widens the Federation, and the second deepens it. What a great idea!)
Step Three: The Exposition! Ths is a "maybe" step right now. If we get our acts together, I would love to help organize an artisanal fair, where all members can market their products to the people of Siguiri. Hopefully this will increase sales, and it will sure be a lot of fun, with lots of music and a soiree!
That's it so far, folks! Let me know what you think! I will write more soon, hopefully, as more and more projects become more and more concrete.....
but for now, I am off to the rice bar!
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