Inades-Formation Burkina organized from 28th to 29th May 2020 in Dédougou a reflection workshop with the Local Innovators and Community Learning Circles (CILAC). This workshop aimed at making them more operational. About twenty representatives from seven CILACs participated in this activity. It is part of the implementation by Inades-Formation Burkina of the project on repositioning food for sovereignty. This project, which is being implemented in the Boucle du Mouhoun region, benefits from financial support from Misereor.
Local Innovators and Community Learning Circles (CILAC) are groups of 4 to 5 farmers who are experiencing the same realities and changes in agro-sylvo-pastoral production. These groups are constantly experimenting with solutions to the challenges they face.
Within the framework of the implementation of the project for the enhancement of sovereignty food by Inades-Formation Burkina during the period 2017-2019, seven (07) CILACs were set up in the Boucle du Mouhoun region, including 5 in the Mouhoun province and 2 in the Kossi province. The role of these CILACs is to document their observations, identify and document alternative solutions, experiment these alternative solutions and share the learning with community members and local partners.
The work of the workshop to define benchmarks for evaluating the value added of the services provided by CILACs in their community led to the achievement of two main results.
The first is the definition of 05 benchmarks/criteria for evaluating the added value of the services provided by CILACs. These benchmarks are as follows:
- increase in agricultural yields through the use of the services offered by the CILACs,
the degree of mobilization of the population around the services provided by the CILACs,
decreased spending on modern inputs,
the appreciation by the population of the services rendered by the CILACs,
the solicitation of authorities (municipal and technical) for the services rendered by CILACS
The second important result achieved is the identification of the main elements of the 2020-2022 action plan for each CILAC. These main elements relate in particular to the areas of activities, the actions/activities to be carried out, the actors to be involved in carrying out the activities and the implementation period.
The Dédougou workshop was also an opportunity to improve the participants’ knowledge of the concept of CILAC, the role and responsibilities of this structure, its mode of operation and the field of activities. This reflection and training workshop represents an important step for the CILACs in the process of operationalizing their actions.
However, the low level of education of their members is a handicap for their development. To this end, reflections are underway to enable them to meet the challenges they face in their work.
Samuel SOMDA / Inades-Formation Burkina Faso
