World Vision in partnership with the European Union, contributes to capacity building of the Mauritanian civil society, precisely in the Brakna region.

The existence of a strong and well-structured civil society is the foundation for the development of any given country. Civil society plays the role of a vigil and protects the rights of ordinary citizens. It is the link between the state and the population and it makes sure that they have full access to public services. The absence of a qualified, structured and a useful civil society has been an issue in Mauritania for a long time. The majority of Non-governmental organizations and associations have no headquarters or are simply not qualified enough. The absence of juridical recognition for some and the inexistence of a specific field of action for others make it difficult for these organizations to find their place in the country. For women’s cooperatives, it was a question of lack of funding to be able to start an income generating activity. “We had a cooperative but it was not really active since we had no financial means to start an activity. Most women in the village had no other occupation but to go to corn fields and it was exhausting for them up to the point that some women often got sick. We are willing to work and generate some money but the absence of support rendered things very difficult for us, » said Leiga mint Marda, president of EL Veth cooperative in the village of Dar el Avia, in Boghe district. 

To tackle this situation, the European Union established a program for the capacity building and reorganization of the Mauritanian civil society, funded through the European Development Fund.  The program is set for 20 months and targets 6 poles of development in the country: Nouadhibou, Nouakchott, Atar, Boghe, Kaedi and Aioun. World Vision Mauritania, in partnership with the local NGO Tenmiya, intervenes in the Boghe area which is the center of a 100km action range with 13 beneficiary communes. The main objective of this project is to reinforce and interconnect the local civil society to have a stronger voice and become a major actor for change in this area. The project provided training and guidance for 50 organizations and cooperatives in the Boghe area. After the training, they were given the opportunity to receive  technical and financial support in order to launch their activities. In order to receive the funds, the group must have presented a project that is technically affordable and economically durable for the benefit of the local community and also respond to basic administrative criteria. The selected organizations must have a headquarters and activities, be recognized by the state, have a bank account and a record of their activities. They must also have participated in all of the capacity building sessions.

Since its start, 22 organizations and cooperatives have benefitted from the project funding, with amounts reaching up 2 million Ouguiyas each. These 22 structures were selected following the mentioned specificities and the pertinence of their proposed plan of activities. “Thanks to this project, we received an amount of 2 million ouguiyas that we used to build a shop where we sell clothes and food products. In addition, we bought goats to ensure the provision of meat for the village. We became independent and self-reliant thanks to this project which positively changed our lives.  It was certainly beneficial for us and for the local community as well. We are very grateful and we thank World Vision Mauritania for this intervention,” continues Leiga, with an air of relief. Within the same project in the area, a civil society center was put in place to make sure they have access  to assistance they need and to exchange between various civil society organizations. The project facilitator who is in charge of the animation in this house has the role of supporting the civil society both technically and logistically and to facilitate the organization of their meetings. “It is the future of the country which is being prepared here thanks to this project,” said Samba Fall, the manager of the house of the civil society in Boghe.

In addition to administrative capacity building, the project concentrated its efforts on three components: Health, agriculture and income generating activities (IGA). “The gardening activity was our only occupation to provide for ourselves and families. Other than that we had no stable economic source of income,” claims Fatimetou mint el Moustava, president of the agro-pastoral cooperative Chebab el Avia in Dar el Avia village. “Thanks to this project, our cooperative received 1800000 ouguiyas to start a cattle fattening activity. We bought 25 bovines and were able to provide for their nutrition needs like wheat and other kind of cattle food. After two or three months of breeding, we sold them and have restarted the process over again with the benefits. This activity has impacted the lives of all the cooperative’s members and that of their children as well.”

In order to allow a better capitalization of the experiences, and knowing that the project will come to an end soon, it was extended for two months. This extension will allow the benefiting organizations and cooperatives to finish the launch of their activities, while continuing to improve the establishment of a sustainable civil society network implicating the regional level as well as the local collectivities. 

Written by Ibrahima Diallo.