Assignments in Mali and Senegal
Sharing knowledge and expertise is at the heart of the commitment made by the Artemisia Houses, which are centres of expertise responsible for overseeing the sustainable distribution of Artemisia in malaria-endemic countries. As part of this commitment, Darling Guidigan, head of the Bohicon Artemisia House in Benin and who provides support to the Maison de l’Artemisia France for projects in West Africa, headed off to Mali and Senegal last autumn.
Basé au Bénin, en appui sur 9 pays (Bénin, Nigeria, Togo, Côte d’Ivoire, Sénégal, Mali, Burkina, Tchad, Niger), Darling Guidigan porte la vision et les missions de La Maison de l’Artemisia. Il assure des formations en ligne aux responsables des Maisons de l’Artemisia mais se rend aussi régulièrement à la rencontre des représentants des MdA et des acteurs locaux. Son rôle consiste à partager et diffuser les connaissances autour de l’Artemisia qu’elles soient agronomiques, technico-médicales et institutionnelles, grâce à une vision transversale et les retours d’expériences des Maisons de l’Artemisia dans les différents pays d’Afrique de l’Ouest. En septembre et en novembre dernier il s’est ainsi respectivement rendu :
Mali, where 9 local Artemisia Houses are grouped together within a National Artemisia House. The aim of the mission was to:
– support the reorganisation of the National Artemisia House by organising and conducting a General Assembly and validating the statutes and regulations.
– strengthen the capacity of communities and Artemisia Houses directors through meetings and workshops adapted to their local models: cooperatives and individual businesses.
Senegal, where two pilot Artemisia Houses, one in Podor in the North and the other in Kolda in the South, are currently being set up as part of an overall agroforestry project led by Mansour Ndiaye, director of Afrique verte et fertile.
The aim of the mission was to raise awareness and engage with the farming communities of the two Artemisia Houses in order to :
– provide information on the benefits of Artemisia as a local solution with no side-effects for the most vulnerable in the treatment and prevention of malaria
– explain the plant’s active ingredients and its benefits for human, animal and environmental health (One Health vision)
– prepare the herbal tea, explain dosage and provide tasting sessions
– distribute 1 kg of herbal tea to people who have family or friends suffering from malaria attacks
– structure production to meet the objectives set by these two Artemisia Houses.
” I would like to pay tribute to the considerable technical support provided by the Maison de l’Artemisia France through the visit to Senegal at the beginning of November of one of its members: Darling Guidigan. His visit helped to consolidate the knowledge acquired by the farmers from the two local Artemisia Houses and the members of the AVF team, in particular on the cultivation of Artemisia and its dosage in the treatment and prevention of malaria and bilharzia”. Mansour Ndiaye, Director of Afrique Verte et Fertile.
By sharing knowledge, the network of Artemisia Houses boosts the expertise of each and every one. Together, we can progress!
