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finished projects
Support for local and regional development initiatives
establishing community profiles
Field activities are guided by community profiles (see references at the
end of this article). These are development reports that we produce in
individual villages or communities. They are written on request by the
local and regional authorities. The community profiles have three aims:
- The primary aim is to document the development status of the selected
community, and above all in joint discussions with the inhabitants and
authorities to identify the needs and major focal points for development.
Where financial resources allow, our program carries out the activities
needed itself, together with local partners. When this is not possible,
additional partners are sought for co-financing.
- Second, the aim is to record the development status of the community
using a series of central indices (population size, land use, land ownership,
infrastructure provisions, development priorities) as benchmarks for
long-term observation of development trends in rural Eritrea. Long-term
studies of this type, based on 10-year observation cycles, for example,
have proved their value in providing a basis for decision-making in
development work - particularly in view of the constant personnel changes
and variations in programs that are seen in the field of development
cooperation. Moreover, reliable statistical data are still largely lacking
in Eritrea at the community level.
- Third, the results are intended to find their way into course work
at the university and in technical colleges in Eritrea - there are as
yet no textbooks on the topic of environment and society in rural Eritrea,
and almost no teaching materials are available. This is a widespread
shortcoming in Africa, and our program hopes to be able to remedy it.
All these activities require close collaboration with official bodies, companies, and the local population - a task that would be impossible from a base in Switzerland, and in which a reliable local partner is needed. Many development programs maintain a local coordination office for this purpose, staffed by foreign experts. Our program has taken a different route, with coordination of specific development activities being transferred directly to a local Eritrean association. This is Vision Eritrea, a nongovernmental organization that has gathered considerable experience in implementing rural development projects in recent years - particularly in the health care system and in constructing wells.
In close collaboration with our program, Vision Eritrea planned the field work for the community profiles of Adi Behnuna and Deki Lefay (in the southern highlands). Vision Eritrea also coordinated repair work on the wells in Afdeyu, and the building of a hospital clinic (Deki Lefay) and a school (Adi Behnuna). Our experience with Vision Eritrea has so far been very good, and we will be continuing our partnership with this agency.
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