With the aim of to promote the consumption of food and beverages made from sovereignty foodstuffs, INADES-Formation has been supporting 2018, women restaurateurs. The latter are managers of local from restaurant services, usually set up along the street and offering a variety of dishes and beverages based on local foodstuffs (beans, millet, sorghum, fonio, etc.), accessible to all.These restaurateurs, grouped together under the Plateform Femmes & Restaurants de Proximité of Abidjan met on Wednesday April 23 2025 to take stock of their activities and make pastries with millet and beans.
On Wednesday April 23, 2025, some fifteen women members of the Plateforme des Femmes & Restaurants de Proximité of Abidjan, accompanied by the General Secretariat of INADES-Formation, met to take stock of their activities planned for the period from June 2023 to December 2024, and to plan for 2025.
Between laughter and hugs, this workshop was an opportunity to provide practical training in pastry-making with local cereals.
Review and planning
The review provided an opportunity to take stock of what had been achieved according to the established program, and to exchange ideas and draw lessons from what had gone well and what had not.
A table of strengths, weaknesses, opportunities and threats has been drawn up.
The participants noted the constraints and difficulties most of them face, notably the lack of premises.
Indeed, the cost of stores and spaces, as well as the destruction of anarchic buildings and businesses in the city of Abidjan, force them to run their catering activities from home. They generally receive orders and cook at home to meet them. All in all, this is not all bad news. By cooking from home, they can more easily take care of their home and family. They also invest in online sales (e-commerce).
Among the actions that are working well, we note the synergy between platform members, who have been able to help each other and work together to fulfill specific orders. This spirit of collaboration is to be applauded and strongly encouraged in order to increase the market share of local restaurateurs.
Proposals for the continuation of the platform were made and activities planned for the year 2025, mainly for solidarity building, capacity building, communication and advocacy.
A pastry course that delighted the participants
The activity report was followed by a hands-on pastry training session.On the menu: crêpe de Mil and savory madeleines with beans and cowpeas!
Divided into two groups, the women restaurateurs produced these two menus. The aim of the training was to encourage them to innovate with recipes based on sovereignty foods, and to show them how to process local cereal flours in combination with other flours. A lively hands-on session in a good-natured atmosphere that absolutely delighted the participants.
“I’m very satisfied with the workshop, especially the training,” exclaimed Mrs. Mafani Fofana of the Siguidiya Association in the Commune of Treichville.
This activity, led by Mr Jean-Paul Habimana, Food Systems Project Manager, and Ms Aïssétou LY Epse Banhoro, Bilingual Management Assistant in charge of the INADES-Formation Secrétariat général, took place within the framework of the project to support the development of territorialized and sustainable food systems based on sovereignty foods and climate resilience in countries south of the Sahara, financed by Misereor and CCFD.
Service communication Secrétariat Général
Moroh Marcelle
