Social and Employment
Place
Foundiougne, Senegal
Sponsor
Bernard Cattarin
Grant(s)
4 500 € to the Selection Committee at 2007/05/22
Project leader
Base (Bâtiment, action, Outreach, éducation)
« When I was approached for the project, I immediately said yes. Beyond the construction site itself, I was persuaded by concepts of sharing, discovery of others, vocational training and familiarization with North-South relations. »
Bernard Cattarin
In the Gironde district, the town of Martignas is twinned with Foundiougne (Senegal). The two communes are accordingly developing decentralized cooperative projects by calling on the Batik association, already previously supported by the Veolia foundation.
To enable young students at the Blanquefort Vocational School to learn more about the issues pertaining to the living conditions of a town of 6,000 inhabitants (water treatment, transport, waste management, teaching conditions, etc.), the humanitarian association of the school, called Base (Building, action, solidarity, education), has approached Batik. The goal: to take charge of an international outreach project in July 2007.
Discovering new realities
Staffed by Base, sixteen students from the school are taking off for Foundiougne this summer to refurbish the classrooms and sanitary blocks of the Diene Coumba N'Diaye Junior High School. They will be working with young Senegalese. This will help them enrich their professional knowledge by putting into practice the training they have received throughout the school year, and over and above this very practical aspect, they will discover the life of a medium sized commune in a developing country, and all the problems that it has to face.
The Veolia foundation is once again joining Batik to contribute to the development of Foundiougne and thereby encourage French youths to open up to realities outside their normal context.