Benin report - Institut Africain de la Gouvernance

CHAPTER FIVE: CORPORATE GOVERNANCE__________________________________________________________________________instances of environmental pollution. The private sector should also beencouraged to disseminate best practices in environmental management.Good practice 5.1: The association ‘Qui dit Mieux’: employment promotion andenvironmental protectionQui dit Mieux is an association of women of the Department of Ouémé Plateau, initiallycreated as a drama troupe of women of Porto-Novo in 1980.First activity: Recycling of plastic bagsAfter a few years of cultural activities in 1996, the women realised that drama could not earnthem enough money to meet their basic needs. Therefore, they decided to focus theiractivities on the protection of the environment. Their initial aim was to help poor women andout-of-school girls to fight against poverty by carrying out income-generating activities, whilefocusing on the protection of the environment. Their objectives were to sensitise thepopulation to the disadvantages of plastic bags and on the need to protect the environment.Urged by their chairperson, Mrs Grâce Dotou, they decided to launch activities for therecycling of plastic bags that were scattered in the streets and polluting the environment. Withthe support of the prefect and the UNDP, the association became operational in 1999. Theassociation‟s members collect bags and recycle them in a small workshop in Porto-Novo.Products manufactured by Qui dit Mieux from the recycled bags cover a very wide range ofobjects, including works of art, bags of different shapes, ladies‟ dresses, dolls and mats. Thetechniques for recycling plastic bags were promoted throughout the Department of OueméPlateau. The women who produce the bags are paid according to the quality of the product,and their incomes vary between 30,000 CFA franc and 100,000 CFA franc – depending onorders and the quality of their products.Qui dit Mieux has popularised the techniques for recycling plastic bags not only in Benin, butalso in several African countries where the chairperson has conducted training workshops ontheir techniques.The association has won many national and international awards, including the first prize forthe best initiative at the Benin Handicraft Fair in 1998, the Excellence Prize awarded by theNational Lotteries Authority of Benin in 2000, and the Africa Initiative Prize awarded byWestern Union in Paris in 2004.Second activity: ReforestationIn 1994, the association launched a campaign to sensitise women of the Department ofOuemé Plateau on the need to protect the environment through the planting of trees forfirewood. Each woman who plants a tree can cut the branches every one or two years withoutfelling the tree itself. This enables some of them to earn up to 4,000,000 CFA franc per year.Hence, about 5,000 trees have been planted by the women. Many women in the region havejoined this programme, which is unfortunately competing with the illegal exploitation of virginforests. The CRM also observed that the association‟s programmes are not supported by anypublic or private organisation, which does not help to increase the association‟s popularitynationwide – as was the case in Burkina Faso.iii.Recommendations of the APR Panel673. In this regard, the APR Panel wishes to recommend the following:228