15 December 2011

The NGO La ferme aux arbres de Dekese works to support the population of Dekese, a war-torn and isolated region of the Democratic Republic of Congo. Three online volunteer IT experts (Alex Théodore Kambou, Ali Siribié and Bernard K. Allouan) helped the organization develop software to capture and analyze population related data. The population management tool is adapted to the local context and will enhance the local administration’s capacity to plan and implement projects to advance socio economic development in the region.

“The result was beyond the NGO’s expectations,” says Antoine Ndondo, who coordinated the collaboration. “The territorial manager is excited to see the long-overdue computerization of civil records in the region. The central government of Kinshasa, which was contacted to aid in the project's implementation, is extremely interested in the beta version under evaluation. An extension of the software implementation for the district of Occidental Kassaï – which has around two million residents – is being discussed.”

Young people in Dekese took the initiative to form an association and assist with data entry. “There is new hope and social life evolving,” Antoine describes the secondary impact of the volunteers’ contribution.

During their collaboration, unrest and conflict in the volunteers’ home countries, Burkina Faso and Côte d’Ivoire, posed unexpected challenges to the project. Lack of telephone and Internet connection was only one of the many problems the volunteers faced. Bernard, IT design engineer from Côte d’Ivoire, lost some of his personal belongings, including his laptop. After things had settled down, he managed to recover his back-up files. “Voluntary work, and this project, in particular, has made me realize how much we all need help from others. The region for which this project was conceived is one of the most isolated in the world because of war. How could I be indifferent when I come from a country that has just been through ten years of war itself?”

“There is a certain satisfaction and joy of knowing that you have been a help to others – people who have lost all hope, for instance – who, because of your actions, can now see the light at the end of the tunnel,” says Ali, who works as Assistant Director of the Information Technology Department of a district city hall in Burkina Faso.

The socio-political context added another dimension to the collaboration. ”The two other volunteers were from a country that many had accused of being at the root of problems in mine, but we had to transcend these biases and realize that none of us was to blame for the wrongdoings of our politicians,” says Bernard K. Allouan.

“You learn a lot, and you get to share the knowledge you have, enriching it with the knowledge and experience of others,” says Alex, IT consultant for the UN Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) in Burkina Faso, describing the online volunteering experience.