USAID/Guinea: Storybooks Help Children Learn to Read in Guinea

JUNE 9, 2003

USAID Helps Displaced at Garafiri Dam

USAID assists Guineans displaced by a hydroelectric project to reacquire agricultural resources.

Garafiri Dam, located outside of Mamou on the Konkouré River is in the spotlight in Guinea right now since a drought has rendered inoperable the hydroelectric plant that would normally supply Conakry and other areas of Guinea with electricity. City dwellers and rural residents alike have had electricity on and off for months now, and are hoping that the dam will function as expected by the beginning of July, when the rainy season swells the rivers throughout Guinea, the Konkouré included, allowing the dam to function properly.

houses built for people displaced by the building of the Garafiri dam

A series of maisonettes or small houses were built to accomodate those displaced by the building of the dam.

While the Government of Guinea is currently working to resolve this knotty problem, citygoers and rural folks alike continue to complain. Their grumblings, however, might seem awfully petty when considering the plight of those displaced from the area of Garafiri five years ago when the dam was built. What happened, and what is happening to those displaced communities since they were forced to move?

Says Aissata Lamarana, member of the women's agricultural cooperative of Falekalé village, one of the new settlements of displaced people: "After we moved, we had trouble simply eating and clothing ourselves and our families. We also had no seeds or tools, and even now when it rains, we often sit in our houses with umbrellas over our heads since the roofs leak so badly -- we don't yet have the means to fix them. We left land that was ours to come to a strange place where we had absolutely nothing."

eggplants grown with improved seed varieties

Improved agricultural techniques have helped displaced communities obtain higher yeilds to help make ends meet.

With Guinean Government funding, several contractors built housing for those displaced by the dam, but the money was mishandled, resulting in poor-quality housing structures. Those whose orchards were affected by the construction of the dam were given indemnities in cash by the Guinean government, but few of them understood how to invest this money wisely, and many quickly fell into ruin. To make matters worse, a flood season in 2001 followed by severe draught conditions in 2002 left the displaced communities with neither crops to eat nor seeds for planting, making it difficult if not impossible for them to fend for themselves.

USAID, through its partner non-governmental organization Opportunities Industrialization Centers International (OICI), understood the precarious situation in which the displaced communities found themselves and has since worked in collaboration with the Government of Guinea to help increase food security for the resettled communities around the Garafiri dam. Although Guinean Government sponsorship allowed for the building of small block houses to accommodate those who were displaced, OICI agents realized that the displaced communities would require more than basic shelter in order to adapt successfully -- they required skills that would allow them to both enhance their new rural environment and make good use of the resources that were available to them.

Through community involvement in decision-making, including projects in improved agricultural techniques, reforestation and protection of water sources, education in health and nutrition, as well as basic literacy and math, OICI has helped ensure greater overall food security among the displaced communities, and helped community members to better support their families.

area reforested inthe Garafiri area with technical assistance from USAID sponsored NGO OICI

Reforestation by displaced as well as native communities in the area has helped assure that natural water sources don't dry up.

Says village chief Thierno Youssouf Kanté, "OICI sent us a dynamic field agent named Madame Camara who lived and worked with us. She brought us improved seeds and tools, and showed us better ways to plant them. She also showed us how to create a nursery and transplant both plants and trees, and now we men have done this work, including reforestation up in the hills that you see behind our houses. She would help us initiate our projects, and come back from time to time to see if what we were doing was working, and give us good advice."

In addition, the OICI field agent helped the community obtain a loan through OICI to buy rice, and we have stored the rice in improved silos that she helped the community to build. A system of creating a village cereal bank was created in which rice, peanuts, corn and fonio* was sold among villagers at a reasonable price during the food shortage period, allowing them to pay for the cost of the grains, but also to keep the profits in a community savings account to buy the seeds and other inputs they required for the coming year. Says Kanté, "The money that we now have in our community bank will allow us to give credit to those who will reimburse us with interest after their harvest." The profit from the cereal bank is designed to be a revolving fund for the agricultural co-op, benefiting the local community for years to come.

Chief Thierno Youssouph Kanté

OICI, Africare and ADRA are all using micro-credit as a tool to further promote food security in Guinea. The profits from the micro-loans are always returned back to the community since the main objective of using micro-loans is to create a mechanism to promote greater food security. This system works better than handouts in that communities know that if the loans are well-managed, the community will benefit in the end& -- communities are then motivated to manage the funds well. Teaching beneficiaries how to manage a loan also has the benefit of conveying valuable money-management skills.

USAID is also working in collaboration with the World Food Program in and around Garafiri to ensure food security. The women's agricultural cooperative of Falékalé village, along with other well-organized women's co-ops in the Garafiri area have received funds in kind of rice, peas and vegetable oil which the women sell in predetermined rations. The profits from the sales are then managed by the women's cooperative to pay for seeds, tools, or other agricultural needs.

Although the community is still coming to terms with their new hardships, they are also looking to make the best of it. Says Chief Kanté, "We know that we will never get our land back, and that we have to consider this land as ours. OICI has helped us out considerably. We simply ask now that God give us the strength to do the rest."

* Fonio is a natural couscous-type grain cultivated in Middle Guinea.

Story and photos by Laura Lartigue