CASE STUDY

Successful introduction of the Multifunctional Platform in Senegal

Following the successful implementation by UNIDO of a pilot project to put in place six Multifunctional Platforms in Senegal, UNDP has recently approved a budget of US$640,000 in order for UNIDO to disseminate now the platform concept in Senegal, mainly through capacity building and the installation of 45 multifunctional platforms

The multipurpose platform is a simple diesel engine that can empower different tools, such as a cereal mill, husker and/or battery charger. The platform costs around US$4,000 for engine, rice de-huller, stone mill, battery charger, and is easy to install and to maintain. Between 30-50 % of the cost is financed by the beneficiaries (see http://www.ptfm.net/mfpwhat.htm for more information about the platform).

The platform concept is a well-known UNIDO initiative developed initially in Mali. It is expected that 450 multi-functional platforms will have been installed in Mali by the end of 2003, thus covering approximately 10% of the rural population.

So far, outside Mali, some 40 platforms have been installed (Burkina Faso, Guinea and Senegal). Mali, Burkina Faso and Benin have included the platform in their Poverty Reduction Strategy Papers.

The main results achieved with the introduction of the platform in Senegal through the pilot project are typical of outcomes in other parts of Africa:

i) great improvement of quality of life for rural population, and this thanks to access to energy through the platform, specifically for women who were used to spend many hours collecting water and firewood for food preparation and agro processing;

ii) significant increase of revenues to the village shareholders in a platform, which covers the maintenance and running costs and returns a profit.

iii) each platform create income or provides permanent jobs for7 to 10 persons, such as mechanics, millers, cashiers, etc.

iv) the platform increases automatically the rate of school attendance for girls, since they are no longer obliged to permanently assist their mothers;

v) the quality of products processed through the platform, like the mill, is of best standard compared to those produced manually, moreover, less raw material is lost with the use of the platform ;

vi) thanks to the revenue generated by the platform, this tool is acquiring gradually the status of a small enterprise. There are already requests from Senegalese emigrants in Europe and the USA to act as investors in platforms to be established in their villages of origin.

The successful introduction of the platform in Senegal is one of the steps to expand the multifunctional platform experience into the sub-Saharan African LDCs under the umbrella of NEPAD. The programme has attracted a number of sponsors, Denmark and Sweden having already indicated their intention to give between US$4 and 5 million for a large scale five-year programme of some US$10m which is to start in 2003, covering 12 African countries, most of them LDCs with a South - South cooperation approach.

Senegal's President Wade reiterated his praise for the Multipurpose Platform, to a UNIDO delegation in Dakar, on 25 March, 2003, referring to it as the type of project that mobilizes the goodwill and energies available within the rural population and among young people, and consequently makes a valuable contribution to the UN's Millennium Development Goals.