Economic Interest Groups, Thiès
Thiès – December 13- 17, 2011, January 4-7 2012. Members of eleven community associations met to form Economic Interest Groups (GIE) and for business and life skills training by ChildFund Senegal, Options Senegal and the Kajoor-Janken Federation of Thiès.
This group of 150 trainees, representing eleven community associations from the Thiès region of Senegal, were recruited by the Kajoor-Janken Federation of Thiès to participate in the training program and form their own businesses, in the form of GIEs.
Participants were motivated and eager to learn. They represented both rural and urban areas in the Thiès region. Below are statistics compiled from a survey that each participant completed on the final day of the training program. Participants typically had completed at least part of their secondary education; however there is no formal education requirement to participate in the training program. While many of the participants were previously unemployed, some did have jobs that include: tailor/seamstress, clothes washer, metal worker, milk vendor, car washer, community activist, and barber.
Number of participants who completed the training program: 137 (91.3%)
Number of women: 93
Number of men: 44
Average age: 21.54 years old
Average daily income before Options Senegal (for those who were employed): 2010.7F CFA (approx. US$4.02/day)
Average number of people in household: 13.1 people
Average number of employed people in household: 3.23 people
We will be administering the same survey to all 300 of our initial participants and others beyond that. We will post all survey data on our website and as our data increases, we will provide more statistics.
