New Ideas for a New School

Posted: 11 August 2005

by Chris Hufstader

Local demand for alternative education produces a thriving place for all to learn.

The gritty suburb of Daoudabougou sits just across the mighty Niger River from central Bamako. It is a compact neighborhood of red dirt roads, small shops, and homes. For some, it's a place where people from the countryside live while they seek a decent income in the city. Other families have been there for generations, working hard to get by, trading on the street or working at whatever jobs they can find.

Like many high-density suburbs in Africa, Daoudabougou is overlooked by the government. There are few schools, and they are poorly funded; some have 200 children in a class.

With many children either dropping out of school or failing, a group of families in Daoudabougou came to AJA to ask for their help in creating better educational opportunities. AJA came through where the government was failing them.

"The mothers here came to us and explained the problem," said Baba Diarra, AJA's program officer. "They wanted a better program to help their children learn to read and get some professional skills. We worked with them for four months and brought in everyone's opinion to create this school. It's a good example of local collaboration."

AJA came through in a significant way. Securing funds from Oxfam America and other donors in Europe, it created the Center for Education for Development of Daoudabougou (CED), a six-classroom school that teaches primarily in the national language, Bambara, thereby welcoming a wider group of children than are inclined to attend a school with a French-only curriculum.

Most of the 40 children are between the ages of 9 and 16 and concentrate on basic literacy and math skills, as well as art and other skills they need to earn a living as artisans, start small-scale businesses, or work in a trade. In 2004, CED also began computer training for students.

CED has a staff of five teachers and a director. Oxfam supported the development of the project, the construction, and AJA is now providing technical help with computers and training materials. But the school is totally managed by community members.

Mothers Support School, Earn Respect

To make the school sustainable, it charges modest fees. AJA helped start a program to help mothers establish small businesses and generate income to support their families and pay school fees. The program is based on a small bank from which participants' savings are loaned to program members to invest in businesses, which include sewing children's clothes and making and selling food products such as tomato sauce, couscous, corn meal, and piment, a super spicy pepper paste that accompanies just about every dish in Mali.

Diarra, AJA's program officer, said Oxfam supported some initial training for loan program participants, and that it is now well-managed by the members of the group. "There's great discipline to pay back the loans because it is their money; it did not come from outside the community," he said.

Aside from helping establish a new school and starting their own businesses, women in Daoudabougou are also enjoying another benefit: increased stature and respect. Moiamouna Koné, an elderly leader of the loan group, said that women are being recognized for helping get the school built. "People really appreciate the improvements we are making here," she said at a meeting of the loan group one hot afternoon at the school. "They praise us, and they know we are responsible for setting up this school. Now they come to us to make important community decisions. They see us as people who get things done."