Outreach
 Mali

The students of a technical high school focused on a group project to help a village in Mali irrigate a truck farming area

In the village of Barapireli, the rising price of oil has put the crops in danger. Despite the successful leasing of arable plots, the cost of pumping the water required to supply the small basins of the truck farming zone is becoming too steep.

Fact sheet

  • Identity : Association Foyer des Élèves du Lycée Professionnel Coëtlogon
  • Place : Region of Mopti
  • Sponsor : Benoît Blanchard, Veolia Propreté
  • Foundation grant : 8 000 euros
    Selection Committee: September 29, 2009

Le Foyer des Élèves du Lycée Professionnel Coëtlogon is a nonprofit educational association created in 1978 which sets up various social, cultural and sports activities to contribute through logistic aid to the creation of international outreach projects, in which they participate, from design to implementation in the field.

Today, in the village, elbow grease is the method used to raise the water from the traditional wells, via the four public standpipes supplied by a water tower connected to a water supply system, itself powered by a set of solar panels.

However, the electrical grid of the parish, that of the dispensary and the maternity ward, as well as the water supply network of the truck farming area are powered by a generator that runs daily from 6 to 9 pm. But the parish, which is in charge of it, can no longer afford to pay the cost of pumping the water required for the crops.

The students of the 1st electrical engineering graduating class of the high school of Rennes designed a project to power the pump by solar panels

To lower the cost of pumping, the students association, in partnership with the village of Barapireli, have decided to replace the power generator by solar panels.
This solution not only covers the truck farming activity throughout the year, but also enlarges its area, and therefore the number of leased plots for the parish. It will also make it possible to supply the school with water free of charge all year round, and to provide electricity daily without interruption to the dispensary, the maternity ward, and the women's promotion center of the parish.

Since September 2008, twenty-four students of the electrical engineering graduating class have been working three hours every week on the project, which is designed to propel the village into a pattern of sustainable development. To guarantee the success of the project, they prepared the trip and the worksite, made contact with the various associations, compiled the applications for subsidies, planned the electrical installation, the estimates, budget, and intensified the discovery of the country and its culture.
In the field, 12 of them will participate in operations on the spot in January 2010 in the company of two of their teachers with experience in outreach projects, including one already carried out in the same village of Barapireli.

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The 2009 activity report of the Foundation is available, and can be downloaded or ordered.

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