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About 13 months ago, I was nominated to become a business development volunteer in Francophone West Africa. Last July, I found out that it would be community economic development in Guinea. Last Thursday I found out that I will be partnering with the Association Guineenne pour le developpement de L’enterprise Privee (AGUIDEP) in the city of Kindia. Kindia is a city in the Basse Cote of about 200,000 people. It supports a great deal of commerce especially related to agriculture and is conveniently located on the road from the Capital to the rest of Guinea. AGUIDEP works with local entrepreneurs and cooperatives on business trainings and is part of a consortium with a microfinance organization and an artisans cooperative. The way that the Peace Corps works is that a partner organization requests a volunteer. In Guinea, they also give you your housing to show a strong commitment. With this partner organization, you have a main project and are encouraged to work on various other projects both within the organization and the community. My main project is to work with AGUIDEP to identify the training needs of entrepreneurs in the community and to create educational films to fulfill this need. My goal will be to aid in the production of multiple short films, train local counterparts in filmmaking techniques (story line development, script writing, acting), create a manual to be used to support the creation of future films, create a strategy to distribute these films. I am very excited about this post because it will allow me to blend creativity and business skills and will hopefully have a large impact due to the portability of films.

Some great things about Kindia…There are currently 2 volunteers already in Kindia who will be there through the Spring/Summer. There will also be 2 volunteers from my training class working in public health and agroforestry not too far away. It is the fruit and vegetable capital of Guinea (think more pineapple and avocado, less fishy rice). Its’ electricity is more reliable than in other cities and I should be able to get internet multiple times a week. Anyone who wants to go to the capital has to pass through my city so I’ll get to see most of the other volunteers.

If you have any articles that you think would help me- especially on community based script development- please send them my way. In the body of an e-mail is better than attachments.