The visit covered 7 different camps. I was struck by the strong determination of both men and women. Although the women, for traditional reasons, sat down apart a and were a bit shy talking in front of the men, they were the ones with the strongest wish to become literate in Fulfulde. It is true that a good number of the men had already acquired reading and writing skills in Arabic and/or Jula.

A point of interest was the high degree of organisation among these herder settlements. The visit to the camps had been well prepared. I was accompanied by the president of the Union, a man highly respected by all the herders. He laid out the conditions that must be fulfilled for obtaining funds for a teaching centre in the settlement (subscription fees, construction of a shelter with tables, benches and blackboard, a minimum of 30 subscriptions, possibly by a majority of women).

We were accompanied by a supervisor, a young man who already had a 6 year teaching experience in Jula. He is to be overlooking the 10 teaching centres that we decided to open on September 4th. The people themselves chose that date, because of their return from the seasonal migration with their herds by then. 10 teachers have already had a 3 week training course. The Union has decided to pay for an additional 2 weeks, starting on August 15th, led by a teacher from Tiou ( north of Ouahigouya, a large town in the north east of Burkina).
Once again we noted that among the Fulani there is now a strong wish for education, in the first place for reading and writing skills in their native Fulfulde. This was not always the case and it seems to me that it would be important to acknowledge this new development and try and meet the demand.

It is probably fair to say that the National Literacy and Informal Education Fund (FONAEF* - Fonds National de l'Alphabétisation and l'Education Non formelle) has failed with regard to the Fulani herder communities. Before the year 2000 they were not keen on learning to read and write and therefore the fund's rule of a 3 year teaching experience for eligibility now hits the Fulani particularly hard. There is also the fact that among most of the literacy operators there is, for various reasons, a cultural/traditional diffidence with regard to the Fulani. Therefore few have responded to the demands for training from the Fulani. There are also very few provincial education and literacy boards (Direction provinciales de l'Enseignement et de l'Alphabétisation) able to provide teachers on demand.

A part from private initiatives it is up to the government to find the funds needed to meet the demands of the Fulani community, for instance by asking the FONAENF to be more flexible in applying the "3 year condition" to Fulfulde teaching grants. The provincial educational boards could also be asked to carry out an inquiry among the Fulani in their respective provinces and take the necessary steps to support manifest Fulfulde literacy demands.

N.B.: *Provided the fund continues to exist, there are some worrying doubts about its future.