Re: [Sarnissa-french-aquaculture] [{SPAM?} score 8.0] RE: Traduction/Valentin/Haiti

De : "Karen L. Veverica" <veverkl(a)gmail.com> Date : 3 mai 2010 18:27:51 HAEC À : sarnissa-african-aquaculture(a)lists.stir.ac.uk Objet : Rép : [Sarnissa-african-aquaculture] Valentin developing aquaculture in Haiti Répondre à : sarnissa-african-aquaculture(a)lists.stir.ac.uk Dear all, I find that Val 's story is inspirational and that many of us know of similar stories. However, note a few things from this story and from the videos that Will posted: 1. Val has spent over 13 YEARS to do this in Haiti. Those of us who work on development projects know that funding is assured only for a few years. Val originally went to Haiti on a small project for Rotary International. The courageous thing is that Val stayed on beyond the assured project funding and kept to his vision-no matter if there was a donor or not. 2. The numbers of Haitians directly assisted by Val is likely well under 1,000. I do not have a problem with this- but most of the donor agencies do. In the effort to "get the numbers up" by the end of the short projects, the lasting effects are almost always negligible. 3. Val did it the better way: start small, show small success that is very important to the families benefiting and the expansion will happen, (but only to the point that the next limiting factor appears). 4. Note that Val used his own money to start the hatchery because he could not convince the big government agencies to use some of their multi-millions to do this. One reason is that it is too SMALL of a request. The big agencies need to have big projects because their administrative costs are so high. This is where the NGO's come in and the donor that Val eventually found (from the UK). The big agencies are now getting to recognize this and changing some of the ways they operate. Small grants can be applied for under some of the larger development projects. Even USAID is moving towards using local organizations in some of the implementation of its projects. But they do not work with start-ups; they look for an oraganization that has a verifiable track record. Even so, you will not always be successful in attracting a grant for what you know will be really good work. 5. Val received a small bit of technical backstopping from his school- he didn't need much- but it is always good to have someone with whom you can discuss things and exchange information. Keep your contacts. Some advice: • Do not expect your efforts to yield significant and long-lasting results before 10 years. If they do, that is great. But if they happen in a short time, chances are, they will become un-done in a short time also. Early publicity is especially a deterrent. • Start small and with quality- good examples of truly profitable and sustainable fish farming will spread themselves. • You will likely need to make some personal sacrifices along the way. Time, money, career, sometimes family. Try not to make the personal sacrifice of health because we need people like you around. • You are more likely to fail than succeed and more likely to work un-appreciated than appreciated. It only serves to make those few occasions of success and appreciation sweeter. • Avoid competing with each other- there is plenty of work for everyone- especially the unpaid kind. Good work and good luck to all, Karen L. Veverica Department of Fisheries and Allied Aquacultures International Center for Aquaculture and Aquatic Environments Auburn University, Alabama, USA office: +1-334-844-7366 cell: +1-334-332-1560 cell in Uganda:+256-782-970622 On 5/3/2010 7:32 AM, William Leschen wrote: > Translated from French Forum > > Dear all > The activities and results of Valentin in Haiti are welcome, and should be encouraged and disseminated widely. This leads me to the contribution of the diaspora in various development sectors of our countries. Aquaculture has long been of benefit to many programs and development initiatives. Unfortunately, the results across Africa have been mixed. In addition to initiatives already under way, one might think to introduce measures similar to that of Valentine, ie the extent to which the Diaspora could contribute to the development of the aquaculture sector in Africa. What do you dear members of SARNISSA think ? > Cordially > Celestine Ble > Cote D’Ivoire > >