Who are we ?

Serving common good

Presentation

Inades-Formation, an institution serving common good. Inades-Formation is a network of pan-African associations governed by Ivorian law which works for equitable and sustainable development in Africa. Recognized as a public utility, it campaigns for a more egalitarian and united society, through the promotion of the common good.

We are present in ten African countries: Burundi, Burkina Faso, Cameroon, Côte d’Ivoire, Kenya, Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC), Rwanda, Tanzania, Chad and Togo.
Its general secretariat is based in Côte d’Ivoire at Abidjan, Angré 10ième tranche – cité Grâce.

Our history

Inades-Formation was created in 1975 by the Jesuit fathers. It was born from the African Institute for Economic and Social Development (INADES) itself created in 1962 in Côte d’Ivoire and devoted to the training of middle managers in Africa. Realizing the need for training in the agricultural world, which brought together nearly 80% of the population, the Jesuit Fathers will orient themselves towards this target and offer them courses and supervision. Correspondence courses for agricultural training in fundamental French are given and booklets for the training of women in the village, the Agripromo review (1973) intended for agricultural trainers and animators are produced. The impact was considerable and it became necessary to create national offices in the different countries, French-speaking and English-speaking, where correspondence courses were held. In 1975, Inades-Formation was created and this branch of INADES activities was entrusted to it. Inades-Formation will therefore continue the training programs given to farmers and the production of educational books, while working in the same spirit as the founding fathers: respect for human dignity, the spirit of service, selflessness, the promotion of the integral development of man and of every man. Today, Inades-Formation is a social movement at the service of the common good . It continues to support producers but also targets all social categories in order to create the conditions for a life of dignity for all.

Our target audience

The actions of Inades-Formation target disadvantaged populations. These are primarily rural populations, including farmers and their umbrella organizations, grassroots organizations, rural adults, women and young people. To reach an even larger audience indirectly, Inades-Formation is building the capacities of “multipliers”, i.e. NGO managers, heads of farmers’ organizations, agents of various bodies and farmer trainers. Another target category is made up of decision-makers, administrative and political authorities and civil society.

Our working approach

Our working approach evolves from correspondence courses in 1962 to the SAADEV method to the present day. The scale below better illustrates the evolution of our working method.

1962 - 1980:
Correspondence courses

At the beginning, correspondence courses

At the time of its creation, in the 1960s, Africa’s challenge was primarily technological, for a public composed of rural adults, farmers, animators and supervisors of the rural world. The emblem of all the efforts made at that time was the red book of Agriculture, administered through correspondence courses. Each course was well thought out from the content to the methods of support for the registered participants, in a constant effort to provide the knowledge and know-how necessary for the implementation of the learners’ activities. For twenty years, these courses have effectively supported the access of many African farmers to agricultural production methods and techniques. The fame of these courses crossed the limits of the African continent, since towards the end of the 1970s, the FAO financed their translation into other languages.

1980 - 1990: APFI

The project approach and the integrated intervention program for beneficiaries’ projects (APFI)

At the start of the 1980s, the organization of the rural world became the major challenge to be met. For the next twenty years, the role of farmers and their organizations in development was to be the order of the day, with sure variations: “democracy and development, gender and development, and women’s access to the means of production and to the products of the family farm”, etc. Thus, the project approach and the approach by intervention program integrated to the beneficiaries’ projects (APFI) have been initiated and used to systematize the taking into account of the needs of the training applicants and to organize these trainings in a more coherent way and to take into account factors other than training.

1990 - 2016: ADOP

… The ADOP stage: supporting peasant organizational dynamics…

The 1990s will see particular emphasis on the place of rural people in national development in terms of peasant power, with a strong political dimension. It became clear that beyond production techniques, rural actors needed multifaceted solutions in the face of development challenges that arise in economic, political, social and cultural terms. It also involved a good understanding of international influences on locally experienced issues.

The strengthening of peasant power became a key task in the actions of Inades-Formation for a sustainable development chosen by the organized peasants to take charge of their destiny.

As a result, Inades-Formation questioned its socio-political project and its development approach in relation to the evolutions of the rural world. The first results of this reflection were consecrated in 1995 and gave birth to the development approach ADOP: Accompaniment of Peasant Organizational Dynamics.

ADOP was based on the following principles :

The centrality of the peasant
Access to strategic resources and their control
Strengthening the capacities of peasants
Partnership to promote the desired changes
Equity between social categories
Institutional flexibility

Thus, a vast research and experimentation field has opened up, favoring the emergence of new areas of intervention, including: decentralization and local development, rural financing, rural entrepreneurship, agricultural sector, peasant communication, sustainable management of natural resources, etc. There was also the emergence of new audiences such as decentralized communities, rural communes, disadvantaged urban populations, village communities, etc.

2016 - today: SAADEV

SAADEV: a strategic approach to work for the common good

Since 2016, Inades-Formation has adopted a new work approach, more adapted to the new challenges of the world and more particularly of African societies and responses that the institution proposes: the “Stimulation and Accompaniment of Development Alternatives at the service of the common good, abbreviated “SAADEV”.

Indeed, the current development model has broken down. Dominated by liberal and neo-liberal thinking, the mechanisms on which this model functions convey evils such as individualism, competition, consumerism, accumulation of wealth, covetousness and commodification of nature’s resources, etc., and lead to the loss of values such as solidarity.

As a consequence, this model generates a society marked by :

the poverty, more and more growing of a majority facing a minority
a concentration of wealth in the hands of a decreasing number of people
the increase of inequalities, social exclusion
food insecurity
the plundering of natural resources
environmental degradation, climate change
the incitement to standardize people’s lifestyles according to the market, at the expense of freedom of choice and consumer rights
the mismanagement of public goods,

In response to these social dysfunctions, Inades-Formation proposes the choice of a society based on the search for the common good. It is therefore committed to stimulating and accompanying community development alternatives in the service of the common good.

With SAADEV, the scope of Inades-Formation’s activities has been broadened and the target audience is no longer limited to farmers.

The modalities of SAADEV: 3 modalities of application

The implementation of SAADEV is based on 3 modalities of intervention, namely :

Co-construction and experimentation of practical initiatives in the field
Co-construction and experimentation of practical initiatives in the field Advocacy for a favourable regulatory framework or the co-construction of values, norms, laws and rules for living together well
The piloting of studies, research, conceptualization to support creativity, innovation and thinking on development for the common good.

An approach based on 7 foundations – The foundations of our work approach (SAADEV)

Inades-Formation’s “SAADEV” approach to work is based on 7 foundations which are :

Solidarity ;
Sustainability (social, ecological, environmental, economic)
Equity between social categories;
Citizen control ;
Re-distributive economies;
Openness to others, respect of cultural and religious differences;
RAF (research-action-training).

1962

1980

1990

2016

nowadays

Governance

The governing bodies of the international association Inades-Formation are the General Assembly and the International Board of Directors . The 10 national associations are represented on the International Board of Directors. The executive body is the General Secretariat .

The general Assembly

The General Assembly is made up of all associate members, individuals and legal entities. It meets in ordinary assembly every 3 years.

The International Board of Directors

The Board of Directors of the International Inades-Formation Association known as the International Board of Directors is made up of a president, representatives of national member associations and elected members.