frustrations (part 1)
26 Apr 2009 Leave a Comment
In the past weeks, I’ve been thinking about ways to make the GMC sustainable. As I mentioned in my previous post, the funding for the GMC is done and we do not know whether we are going to get anymore. We’re hoping that there will be more funding (inshallah). But regardless of whether or not we get more funding, the GMC needs to find ways to sustain itself. So I came up with the idea that we should look into turning the GMC into a NGO; this would allow the GMC to seek funding that is not tied in the relationship between governments. Furthermore, it would allow the community to take more ownership of the GMC. Currently, there is no ownership of the GMC. Most people, if they know about the GMC, view the center as a Peace Corps project – not a collaboration between the Mauritanian government and the Peace Corps. If we want to transfer the management of the GMC to Mauritanians in 2012 (not likely to happen), as stipulated in the goals and objectives of our sector, we need to start planning for it now.
I proposed this idea to my APCD when she visited last week. She was very supportive of the idea. She also suggested that perhaps the AME (Association of Mother Educators) could possibly take over the GMC – as a project. The AME’s goals are basically the same goals as the GMC; so it makes sense. However, when we introduced this to the CF (the regional representative of the women’s ministry) she was against the idea. I don’t know what was said exactly (it was in Hassaniya) but I could tell that she was against it because we just jumped to talking about turning it into an ONG. I was okay with this because earlier, after reading through the by-laws of the AME, I had expressed some concerns. I was primarily concerned with the fact that their members paid a fee; I felt like it would be a conflict of interest. We already have enough problems as it is with people being mad at us about the selection procedure this year. The GMC needs to be neutral environment or else it would never work.
We continued talking and I happened to mention that I found a woman who would be a great manager for the GMC – she knows how to use the computer, speaks some French and a little English, quick learner, she didn’t pass the BAC but finished terminale, has time, and is willing to volunteer. However, our CF was opposed to this idea because she didn’t know the woman. She wanted one of our mentors, “B”, to manage the GMC. It is not like I would have never considered “B”; I didn’t think of her, because I knew that she had a full-time job. Furthermore, just because we’re planning to turn the GMC into an ONG does not mean that we have money to start paying people. (The CF has been after us to “compensate” “B” for her time at the GMC so maybe this was her way of ensuring that “B” is some how compensated???). It’s going to take the GMC a number of years before it can start paying people. I agreed to talk to “B” just so that we could drop the subject.
I was really frustrated after this discussion. I just felt like the CF (and sometimes my APCD) downplays the amount of work that goes into running the GMC. In addition, it pisses me off that people could care so much about the little things (like who is involved in the center) and fails to see the larger picture. I feel like the CF should focus on the larger goal of promoting girls’ education instead of trying to assert her “power”.
TO BE CONTINUED…
