Blogging about her experience as a Uniterra volunteer
Joanie Verret, communication advisor in Mali
Since the beginning of March 2011, Joanie Verret has been blogging about her experience as a Uniterra volunteer in Bamako, Mali. Communication advisor to the Réseau national d’appui à la promotion de l’économie sociale et solidaire du Mali (RENAPESS) (National Network Supporting the Promotion of the Social and Solidarity Economy of Mali), she talks about solidarity in action and of her own achievements. Description of her daily work, things seen in Bamako and in the region, portraits of participants of the social and solidarity economy: everything is worth talking and thinking about for this young graduate of Quebec, who has committed to a year as a volunteer for Uniterra, a joint volunteer program of CECI and WUSC.
A diplomat’s daughter, Joanie Verret has already lived more than ten years abroad. “That’s where my interest in international cooperation comes from,” she said. “Uniterra is the perfect way to realize this project.” Working along with Thiam Diallo, from Mali, within the communication and promotion centre of RENAPESS, she translates into words and pictures this social and solidarity economy, which she likes to describe as “an economic practice that contributes to the construction of a new way of thinking and living the economy, while respecting democratic values.”
For fans of international cooperation, solutions that work, uncommon pictures, and unusual stories, go read Joanie Verret’s writings! You’ll discover, among others, the “zéguéné”, a beneficial plant put on the market by the small company Kissima, and the portrait of Ms. Bissan, dedicated president of a cooperative promoting textile from Mali.
Joanie Verret’s blog : http://verretjoanie.blogspot.com (in French only)
The RENAPESS at a glance
The objective of the Réseau national d’appui à la promotion de l’économie sociale et solidaire (RENAPESS) is twofold: to promote social and solidarity economy and contribute to the improvement of livelihoods of participants to the economic and social life of Mali. The Network brings together 42 organizations and it intervenes in different economic sectors: food industry, art, tourism, and fair trade, with solidarity finances as a cross-cutting activity.
In the last few years, the RENAPESS has developed partnerships with different Canadian organizations, among which the Chantier de l’économie sociale, the Groupe d’économie solidaire du Québec and the Réseau québécois de crédit communautaire. With the involvement of Uniterra volunteers, these collaborations have made it possible to give training sessions and workshops to strengthen the abilities of many actors in the social economy of Western Africa in the field of solidarity finances.
The website of RENAPESS: http://www.renapessmali.org/ (in French)
