Distribution of food vouchers in Ouagadougou

WFP’s mission is to provide food aid, and traditionally this has meant the direct provision of basic foodstuffs to those in need. However alternative methods of providing assistance are now being developed, including the provision of vouchers which can be exchanged for food at local stores. This is useful where the problem is high food prices rather than a shortage of food. Burkina has been running such a programme since earlier this year and yesterday I went to see the programme in action in Ouagadougou (the programme is also running in Burkina’s second city Bobo-Dioulasso). First we went to a distribution centre, where the beneficiaries come to collect their vouchers from a WFP partner. On arrival we found a busy atmosphere, with people queuing up to receive their vouchers. The process was all very smooth and efficient, but rather labour intensive, with documents being checked and information being entered on forms at various stages, following which the beneficiaries must sign (by thumbprint) that they have received their vouchers. In most cases the beneficiaries then go straight to one of the designated local stores where they can exchange their vouchers for staple food items and soap. Each voucher is worth 1500 cfa (about $3 US). We then visited one of the designated stores which was again very busy, with people queuing, first to hand in heir vouchers, and then to collect and take away the food. It was noticeable how busy this little shop was compared to others in the area – accepting the WFP vouchers is clearly good business for the shopkeepers!



In the evening a WFP colleague, Romuald, took me to a local restaurant. This was set up in the car park of the football stadium (Stade Municipal) – the setting was a bit bizarre, but the food was very good. It took about 45 minutes to prepare the meal, so after ordering we went for a drive around some of he sites of Ouaga. When we got back the meal was all ready, but there were no tables - this was soon sorted and we sat down toour meal of fish (Carp I think) with peppers and a side plate of Yam - delicious. See pic of Romuald about to tuck in.

I’m now back in Dakar after a long day’s traveling via Abidjan. The trip to Burkina was not only interesting but also very enjoyable and I hope I’ll have the chance to visit again sometime.

First impressions of Ouagadougou

On Saturday evening I dropped Raksha off at Dakar airport at midnight, and then a few hours later I was back there to fly out myself to the capital city of Burkina Faso, Ouagadougou. I arrived mid- afternoon in blistering heat and then a short drive later was in the downtown hotel. A quick swim in the pool quickly cooled me off and then set off to have a look around town. First impressions are that Ouagadougou ('Ouaga', pronounced 'Waga') is much quieter than Dakar, it has the feel of a relaxed town rather than a bustling city like Dakar. Burkina is one of the world's poorest countries - its 177th out if 182 countries in the UN Human Development Index. However Ouaga doesn't feel any more run down and poor than many other cities in the developing world and there's a lot less hassle from street vendors and beggars etc. than you get in Dakar. The main roads are busy (and well maintained), but not choked, and once off the main roads its all very quiet and peaceful.

On Monday morning I was picked up by he UN driver to take me to the office - about a two minute drive, so I think I'll be walk it from now on. It's so hot here that they have a long midday break, from 12.45 to 3pm - it makes for a long day overall, but its very nice to be able to really relax at lunch time, rather than having a quick break and straight back to work.

The main purpose of my visit is to find out more about Food Voucher Programmes and I'm hoping to be able to go and see vouchers being distributed in the next couple of days. I'm working with the head of IT here in Burkina on a proposal to use mobile phone or radio technology to support these programmes, so it will be really useful to see how they work at the moment.

Workshop & travelling around with Raksha

Its been a very hectic few weeks. My wife, Raksha, has been visiting and we've had a chance to to do some travelling round Senegal. Our first couple of days were spent in Saly, at then end of the Regional ICT workshop. Saly is a beach resort, much frequented by the French for a bit of winter sunshine. During the workshop we operated a fine system for anyone turning up late for a session - 1000 cfa for each session - at the end of the week we had over 60,000 cfa (Bety was very diligent in collecting he fines!) which we used to buy food and nappies for a local orphanage (see pic left). The workshop itself was a great success. There were representatives from the ICT teams of all 19 countries in the West Africa region (see right), and we packed a lot in, inlcuding workshops on Emergency Preparedness and Response and presentations on WFP ICT strategy from senior management in Rome, as well as my session on Project Management - and some people still found time to explore the bars of Saly at night!


Once the workshop had finished Raksha and I travelled down to Sine Saloum - on the way our taxi broke down in the middle of nowhere and we eneded up spending a couple of hours in a local village while the local 'mechanic' repaired it using his sophisticated welding equipment (see picture).

Sine Saloum is a delta area, with mangrove swamps and lots of birdlife. We stayed in a lovely lodge with huts facing out on to the water, all very peaceful, and very diffrent to Dakar. After Sine we came back to Dakar and Raksha spent some time getting used to the hustle and bustle of Dakar life while I went back to work. Last weekend we spent a couple of days on Ile Goree (see earlier blog) - really nice and relaxing again - and interesting to spend the evening there as mostly people go for a day trip and so it's especially peaceful at night and early morning.

We then travelled to St Louis in the north of Senegal, right on the border with Mauretania. This was the old colonial capital and it still retains many old colonial style buildings, it has a run down feeling, but is gradually being restored to former glories. It's also a busy fishing port, with large fishing boats (pirogues, see picture left) plying too and fro all day long, bringing fish to the very busy, and extremely smelly, fish market on the edge of town.


So it's been a vey busy time and all seems to have gone by in a rush - Raksha goes back to UK tonight and then tomorrow I'm off to Burkina Faso for a few days to look at some of the projects that WFP are running there. Hopefully I will then have some more time to put some more detail and some more pictures, as I now have a working camera - thanks to Raksha!