Girls' Computer Literacy & Leadership Program

In the past year 2020, FAVL received just over $1,750 in donations for this project. We thank the many donors!

We are planning then to use these funds to hold monthly training sessions of about 3 hours each for about 5-10 young women from enighbouring villages. We shall do 12 of these sessions, with budget of about $150 for each session. On another day of the week the trainer will open the CMH for access to any young women who want to use the computers and improve their skills.

Expenses will be the following:

• A small stipend of $4 per young women per session (so assuming 7 women attend each session, this will be $28 per session).
• Refreshments will be purchased (bottled water, peanuts, and coffee) costing about $10 per session.
• The trainer will be paid a stipend of $30 per session and "open use" day.
• The trainer will produce and print a small booklet of instructions for computer use, covering essentials of various software programs, and will be paid a stipend of $20 per session for producing the booklet in advance.
• Printing the booklets will be approximately $15 per session.
• Each participant will receive a small flash drive, costing $2, to store their documents and work.
• Miscellaneous expenses will include virus protection, paper, printer ink, and assuring computer functioning for each session.

We shall begin the session in mid-January and report regularly on them on the FAVL blog. At the end of the sessions, each participant who can demonstrate proficiency in basic computer tasks will receive a certificate of completion and be encouraged to come and use the computers.

On regular library activities, the FAVL blog has been filled in recent months with news of activities from various libraries and programs since October when activities resumed after the end of the Covid19 lockdowns and restrictions. The mobile library in Houndé has been active, delivering reading materials to kids in schools. Librarians in the Tuy region have resumed monthly gatherings. The FAVL representative in Burkina Faso, Sanou Dounko, regularly visits libraries. In October, he held a meeting with several mayors to coordinate efforts to ensure that librarians are hired as “municipal” employees. He met with librarians in three regional meetings in early December. Over in Ghana, CESRUD library coordinator Paul Ayutoliya has overseen the re-roofing and refurbishment of Gowrie-Kunkua library, as the roof blew off in a violent rainstorm in May. The Sumbrungu and Sherigu libraries have been very busy since they reopened. FAVL has also been committing funding to modest renewal of book collections, and locally in Burkina Faso the Ministry of Culture as well as the U.S. Embassy have been supporting the libraries. More news is available on the blog.