Our history
The African Institute for Economic and Social Development – INADES was established in 1962, on the request of West Africa’ bishops. A team of French Jesuits began the work and, in 1962, a correspondence course in political economy for African executives appeared.
The team soon realized that it was the rural world which more needed assistance and training. Indeed, in that time, on average 80 % of Africa’s population lived on land use, but farmers enjoyed few profit from their work. So, starting from 1965, a big effort was demanded from the team in favor of the rural world.
That was when that a the correspondence courses on farming training in basic French appeared, followed by the booklets for the women’s training in the village and finally the magazine Agripromo (1973) intended to farm trainers and facilitators. The impact was considerable and it became necessary to create national offices in different French and English-speaking countries, where correspondence courses were held.
In 1975, Inades-Formation Association, who inherited all this work, was officially established. The Jesuits entrusted the « training » service to the lay people of Africa. An agreement was signed between the old Institute and the new Association which was required to retain the acronym INADES in its title, to continue working in the same spirit of the « Founding Fathers »: respect for human dignity, spirit of service, selflessness, promoting the advancement of all man and of the whole man.
Today, Inades-Formation is a network of national associations operating in ten countries: Burkina Faso, Burundi,Cameroon, Democratic Republic of Congo, Ivory Coast, Kenya, Rwanda, Tanzania, Chad et Togo. From these countries and in the context of specific projects, Inades-Formation operates in: Benin, Central African Republic, Congo Brazzaville, Guinea-Bissau.
