Transforming Lives: Community Education and Empowerment

Community Technology Centers

Community Technology Centers are decentralized meeting places that empower people to engage in creative problem solving. They work to develop, investigate, promote, and evaluate simple technologies for improving health, protecting the environment, and encouraging economic independence. SOIL currently supports 3 technology centers in Borgne, Milot and Shada.

Each center develops its own programs organically based on community priorities and the skills and interests of its staff and volunteers, but they work together to share ideas, experiences, and data. They also provide links to their community with international organizations, funding opportunities, and partnerships with university students from around the world.

The vision of the Technology Center is to create a local space for sharing ideas and hope, for uniting people educated in universities with those educated by the land, and to encourage the use of everyone’s creativity for solving the health, environmental, and economic problems that afflict local communities as well as all of humankind.

We hope to deepen our impact by developing culturally acceptable solutions, demonstrating their success in pilot studies, and supporting the spread of viable ideas through our education programs and through partnerships with organizations working in different regions. Common projects of all the technology centers include: experimental gardens to test compost and urine fertilization techniques, provision of free UV treated water, water source microbiological testing and construction of public dry toilets.

The tech centers work to build up local confidence and skills for taking on technical projects and serve as an educational base in each community. It is also through the tech centers that SOIL establishes the important long term relationships that help our projects succeed in the communities where we work.

Learn more about our different Technology Centers!

Fatra Pa Egziste Contest

The Fatra Pa Egziste (Garbage Doesn’t Exist) contest encourages youth to creatively turn the discarded materials that litter their streets into useful or decorative resources. Regional contests are held in collaboration with youth groups in different neighborhoods and several champions are chosen for each neighborhood to participate in the Timoun Yo Se Lespwa (Children Are the Hope) Festival, which takes place annually and drawing over 10,000 people.

The most creative entries will be awarded marketing and sales support and eventually sold online through an online store. Contest entries have included sandals made from discarded water bags, cardboard, and cloth, jewelry made from chicken feathers and wire, and fully operational toys. Fatra Pa Egziste simultaneously promotes creative reuse of wastes and empowers individuals to engage in changing their reality.

Looking Through Their Eyes

 In the Looking Through Their Eyes photo project, youth identify resources and problems in their community using digital cameras. Participants are asked to answer the following questions through photos:

• What do you like about living in your community?
• What don’t you like about living in your community?
• What makes you happy?
• What makes you sad?
• What makes you angry?

Participants view the photos as a group and brainstorm ways that they can make change in the community. SOIL then provides the funding for the youth groups to organize a cultural event where they present their photos and ideas to their parents and adult community leaders. The goal of SOIL’s photo empowerment project is to encourage and support young leaders as they craft creative approaches to community development in collaboration with their peers. The photos are used in presentations and exhibitions to generate money for the projects proposed by the youth group.