Interview

I decided to do an interview with my Burkinabe counterpart. I hope that I will be able to interview other key people from my field. If you have any questions you would like me to ask them, please do not hesitate to let me know! Enjoy!
Mr. Marcel Kan – development agent for bissap’s at UGCPA
· 1 wife, 1 daughter, and 3 sons
· Has been working at the Union for 15 years

What is not working in Burkina, and what should we do about it?

People do not have enough to eat and are lacking access to proper health services. Sometimes, the centers are too far away to be easily accessible. In my opinion, the problem is due to the government. My kid could go to school free of charge, he could have access to health care free of charge, and he could be treated free of charge. However, we must always pay. In some regions, the government has created a program to make school more accessible to girls. All of the school fees are paid for (tuition, books, etc.) I think it is important to encourage such initiatives. Some regions, including ours, is being left out by our political leaders. For example, it is the only region of Burkina that is not connected to the capital by an asphalt road. This means that the region is completely landlocked, even if it is called Burkina’s breadbasket.
However, policies are needed to raise awareness about the importance of education. Right now, we must send our kids to private schools if we want them to receive a quality education. In the public system, there are too many kids per teacher (often 100 students per teacher). Students are not followed properly, there is not enough room, and there is a lack of teachers and proper infrastructure. Teachers who are able to teach many subjects can find a job more easily since they can teach all of these subjects. Young teachers do not want to teach in rural regions because in the city they can go to continuing education to improve their skills or give private lessons (in the countryside people cannot afford such expenses).
Burkina also has land problems. Due to financial pressure and population growth, farmers use their land to capacity, without giving it enough time to rest and to regain its nutrients and its richness. This leads to degraded land. To this, we must add erosion, which makes the situation even worse. Moreover, farmers still lack access to machinery, which means that they work harder and longer.
Nowadays, seeds are of utmost importance for success, and farmers are starting to understand this. Organic manure must be used to enrich the soil. However, before this can be achieved, it is necessary to raise awareness, and this is what the Union is doing. In the past couple of years, farmers have started to realize that climate varies: rain does not come when it is supposed to, the wet season is sometimes shorter than it should be, etc. The seeds must thus be adapted for shorter cycles to make up for climate change. It is known that humans are responsible for climate change. It is thus important for us to change our habits: encourage reforestation, reduce our use of chemical fertilizers, pesticides, and everything which is degrading the land, use public transportation where available, use bikes from time to time, walk once in a while, use more environmentally-friendly fuel if possible, etc.

What is your opinion on foreign aid with regards to the development of Burkina Faso?
I do not think the country can get out of poverty by itself. Sometimes, foreigners can give constructive feedback. As Burkinabes, there are some things that we do not see anymore, and foreigners can help us notice these things. In my opinion, real change would imply changing mentalities but this proves to be one of the biggest challenges. Old people are very conservative (almost feudal) while young people are much more open due to globalization. I believe that if a person is well prepared and sensible, it is possible to change him/her. For example, when we first got computers, we all thought it was complicated while it really isn’t very hard. All that is needed is opportunity.
In villages, during elections, parties give out hats, t-shirts, and many other gifts so that people vote for them. Since many people from these communities are illiterate, political parties abuse their credulity. These villagers believe that they are helping them. In Burkina, there are many ethnic groups, and people’s votes are still greatly influenced by that or by the region where they live. All of these barriers hinder the change of mentality that we were discussing before.
The main problem of development projects (and even of some local projects) is that the material we get is not adapted to our needs. If no study or consultation is done beforehand, it is bound to fail. Initially, even the Union’s project for the marketing of cereals was not started properly. The Union had only focused on adding 200 to 400 CFA per bag over what commercial traders were offering. When the traders’ price became higher than the Union’s, the farmers started complaining and some of them sold their cereals to the traders. They then realized that being a member of the union had other advantages such as PA1, credit and subsidies for inputs (20 000 CFA at the Union vs. 22 500 CFA without subsidies), various training programs, less expensive seeds, etc.

Do you think emancipation is seen as being negative?
We talk a lot about women being leaders. The main problem is that some women use this expression while considering themselves to be emancipated. They then rant about it at home and in their relationship. Therefore, some people perceive emancipation as a negative phenomenon since it brings dissent. The emancipation of women is seen as men obeying to women. This explains why most people encourage education for men. There are more women than there are men but they rarely reach high school, or if they do they quickly quit to work.
The concept of the emancipation of women is not well understood. Since it was at the source of break-ups, some men do not support it. However, who does not want an educated woman who can work and help the household? Women are smart. They work hard and they are honest. They often hold management positions (accounting, bank manager, insurance clerk) since women are more trusted than men for such positions. Unfortunately, our parents’ mentality is to put men over women. The woman should only take care of the family. If a girl is not married past a certain age, she is classified as such.