Informative and educative tools and strategies

Pamphlets

Pamphlets explaining the process of dialogue on the Charter of Human Responsibilities have been produced as informative tools, with a view to representing a third pillar of international life (after the Charter of the United Nations Organisation and the Universal Declaration of Human Rights). Countries concerned : Togo, Benin, Ivory Coast, Burkina Faso and Senegal.

Total amount : 5000 copies

The 5000 pamphlets issued have been sent to the Ivory Coast, Senegal, Benin, Burkina and Togo for Charter promotion activities.

Several socio-professional colleges have been involved in Charter promotion activities :

- The college of law professionals (association bringing together Togo- and Burkina Faso-based legal advisers involved in conflict management in the Sahara) illustrated, during a regional meeting in Lome, that the values represented by the principles of the Charter of Human Responsibilities correspond to the constitutional provisions of the Charter of African Unity and the African Charter on Human and Peoples’ Rights.
- The college of non-governmental organisations, involved in the dynamics of the Alliance for a Plural, Responsible and United World, used the context of the Ivorian socio-political crisis, during a regional meeting in Abidjan, to demonstrate that conflicts in Africa could be prevented and managed by applying the principles specified in the Charter of Human Responsibilities.
- The Togo women’s college has employed the principles of the Charter of Human Responsibilities with a view to strengthening its advocacy on the promotion of gender and equity in the management of public affairs.
- Togolese civil society organisations have created a framework with which to reinforce the responsibilities of different actors in Togolese public affairs.
In addition, Charter promotion activities were financed in Senegal and Benin in accordance with the agreement signed between GARED and FPH.

Senegal : Charter translated from French to Wolof

You can upload it here

Audio tape : the Charter put to music

Will be available soon.

Popularisation

The idea was to give the tape and text in Wolof to particular social groups that would be able to effectively make use of them.

- peasant organisations, in particular the Federation of Senegal NGOs (FONGS), which develops popularisation methods based on listening and awareness.
- the Council of Non-Governmental Organisations in Support of Development (CONGAD) which has bases throughout the country.
- the Senegal scout movement which used these tapes in their jamborees and camp fires.
- groups promoting adult literacy in national languages, in particular the National Association for Literacy and Adult Education (ANAFA, which was involved in translating and putting the Charter to music) and the National Council for Literacy and Education (CONAF). The Wolof text is used at the end of the literacy process as a post-literacy document as well as providing an opportunity for the associations to discuss ideas in their national language.

Effects resulting from the Charter on tape

We were forced to readjust our approach, which was initially focussed on towns. We realised that, unlike people from the country, city-dwellers didn’t have a lot of time for listening (the tape is 24 minutes long). This is why we organised tours in the country-side ; it has preserved a culture of listening as reflected by the evenings of story-telling or listening to radio broadcasts centred on the rural world. In addition, the FM radio station Koungheul (based around the rural world) made the tape the focus of one of its broadcasts.

Thematic workshops

The relevance of realistic and pragmatic proposals are looked at, tested and assessed in meetings and conferences so that changes put forward by the Charter of Human Responsibilities can be put into practice.

Public conferences

The tours were an opportunity to organise public conferences on the Charter and on the translation of certain concepts from French to Wolof. There is still debate over the translation of concepts among Senegalese linguists. The Wolof text was liberally distributed to the newly literate in Wolof who used it as a post-literacy document.