Peace Corps Volunteers
Valuable Actors for Food Security and Data Reporting in Guinea
Written by Fatoumata Diallo
Like many West African countries, Guinea lacks the financial resources to carry out regular and complete food security monitoring. In response to this challenge, the World Food Programme (WFP) trained for the first time 32 American Peace Corps volunteers in food security data collection techniques on the 19th and 20th October in Dubreka, Guinea. The training was carried out in cooperation with WFP’s Vulnerability Analysis and Mapping Unit (VAM) based in the Regional Bureau, in Dakar. This newly established cooperation is both cost efficient and effective.
As Dominique Ferretti, former Peace Corps volunteer in Guinea and Togo and head of the training, says “The advantages of working with Peace Corps Volunteers are that they live in the villages, they know the communities, and they can ensure a certain quality in the data collection.”
The training’s principal objective was for volunteers to learn how to collect key information on household food security in their respective region’s language and how to transfer collected data to WFP and its partners. On Thursday, volunteers learned about the principal indicators for food security and the mobile data collection software. The use of mobile phones allows data to be directly transferred to WFP via the local 3G network. Friday was dedicated to a field mission where volunteers tested the new application installed on their phones. In pairs, they administered questionnaires in Soussou language to households in the Dubréka region. Thanks to the households’ willingness to cooperate, this first round of data collection was a success. “The women are ready to share personal information on their everyday live” says Shelby, Agroforestry volunteer in Dabola.
Collaborating with WFP allows volunteers to gain first-hand experience through extensive contact with local communities. Jessica, a Public Health volunteer near Kissidougou, finds it particularly interesting to “help explain food insecurity to my community, to talk about where they are on a scale within Guinea and worldwide.” Shelby is excited to “understand what is going in my village.” Carrying out the surveys therefore benefits both volunteers and local communities. For the WFP, collaborating with the Peace Corps enables them to collect data that would otherwise be inaccessible, thus helping the organization in its fight against structural malnutrition and food insecurity in Guinea in an innovative manner.
