Girls' Computer Literacy & Leadership Program

FAVL held the first workshop for this project, hosting six youn women from the village of Dimikuy to spend one week on Houndé.  The young women had been participating in a health reading club using smartphones (supported by EIFL), and we wanted to giv ethem an opportunity to advance their computer skills.  So they worked with a graphic designer from Ouagadougou, Michel Gama.  The training was very practical: the idea was for the young women to work on making small health booklets that would then be printed and distributed to the libraries.

Here is a summary of the workshop in French by FAVL volunteer Alyssa Miawotoe:

Tuesday morning at around 10:30 five EIFL girls arrived from Dimikuy with Salimata. Michel Gama arrived around 2pm so we had some time with the girls. Clara and I spent that time teaching the girls how to use a mouse and keyboard, then the basics of Microsoft Word. We then went to lunch at the Auberge and Michel Gama met us at the Centre Multimedia afterwards. For the training, Gama used his own laptop as well as the computer Clara normally worked at. He also brought the corrected texts from Ouaga with him. Clara sat next to me while the girls were there and we worked on putting the text on Publisher and correcting the books. Since we didn’t have the scanner we couldn’t put the drawings on to Publisher with the text, but Gama helped us with that since his phone had a scanner on it. The images came out well and we used them on the books. The girls were in the Centre every day from 8am to 5pm, and we all went to get lunch at the Auberge each day at around 1pm. Michel Gama spent the first afternoon (Tuesday) with the girls showing them how to turn off and on a computer properly, use Microsoft Word, and get them more accustomed to typing. On Wednesday he went over Word with them again, and showed them Publisher, transferring files via a USB key, as well as saving files and creating folders. There were 3 girls working at his laptop and 2 girls plus Salimata working on the other computer in the center.

Michel Gama, Salimata, and the EIFL girls worked very well together. Whenever the girls had a question, they weren’t shy to ask each other, Salimata, or Gama. Gama made them feel comfortable and related the computer to familiar items. For example when showing them how to make a new folder and explaining the importance of keeping files organized, he used the example of a bedroom and how you know where things are in your room because you put them in a place where they can be easily located; it should be the same with computers, you should know where you put a file and where it should be placed for easy finding. He also told them that they need to hold the mouse like they hold a pen or pencil and they shouldn’t be afraid of it.

On Thursday Gama showed them how to put/ copy-paste images on Publisher and how to format each page. He used some of the drawings he made that were already on his computer. That afternoon we switched on the modem from Dimikuy for internet connection and the girls used the EIFL smartphones to access Facebook and post the pictures they had taken of their training. On Friday there was a power cut for most of the morning, but we hadn’t planned on doing much with the computers. When Clara and I arrived at the Centre I spent around 30 minutes talking to the girls, asking them more specific questions about the project. Gama the did some drawings with the girls. Each of us (the EIFL girls, Salimata, Clara, Michel Gama, and I) made one drawing for each page of a book that he wrote. His book was called “La Journée Scolaire” and it was about a young girl going through a typical school day. He scanned the drawings with his phone and I put the book together on Publisher later that day. We ate lunch with all of them before Salimata and the girls left, and after lunch the printer cartridge arrived. Gama returned to Ouaga that afternoon.

Here is a summary of the workshop in French by FAVL regional animator Alidou Boué:

L'association amis  des bibliothèques de villages africain (FAVL) a organisé du 28 au 31 juillet dernier, un atelier de formation de six filles en  l'informatique. C'est le centre multimedia de HOUNDE qui a accueilli ces jeunes filles venues du village de DIMIKUY dans la province du TUY.  L'objectif était de leurs initier aux outils informatique, aux dessins et les processus de création d'un livre. Durant quatre jours elles ont reçu plusieurs modules notamment comment démarrage un ordinateur, la saisie dans Word, le montage en Publisher et comment illustrer les dessins . Les exercices de raccourcis du clavier (copier-coller, couper-coller, enregistrer, annuler et imprimer) leurs ont été bien appris. Ce fut l'occasion pour les participantes d'apprendre comment faire les dessins d'un livre a partir d'une histoire. Très satisfait a la fin, elles ont beaucoup salué l'initiative et souhaitent que de telles actions se multiplient  pour une meilleur maitrise de ces outils