KPOMASSE

The training and production center in Kpomassè began in 1999 on the initiative of the High Commission for Refugees (HCR). The ambition of the Komassè center is to minimize the impact of the presence of refugees on development programs in Benin. To attain this goal, the HCR initiated several programs, which, through social orientation and assistance in the areas relating to community development, seek to increase self-sufficiency and encourage socio-economic integration of refugees in the country.

The creation of a center for training and production in the refugee camp of Kpomassè makes it possible to endow refugees and local populations with skills in techniques of production/transformation and management in the different domains of agriculture (animal husbandry, fish farming, plant production, small-scale processing, etc.). This enables them to build an economic base that can supply food and primary health needs as well as women's specific needs, and also help them bear some of the costs relating to children's schooling.

The center specializes in the following areas:

• Processing activities.
  
• Craft industry through the installation of a commercial center to support and organize the refugees who show interest or have obvious talents in craft making and processing.
  

ACTIVITIES

The training/production center houses infrastructures in plant production, animal and fish production, and in processing activities including the following:

• Plant production through the development of a biological agriculture (production of organic fertilizers). A garden of beds for market vegetable production, a nitrogen bank, an agro-forestry shop, and plantations of bananas, papayas and other fruit trees.
  
• Animal and fish production in response to the recycling that is vital to the integrated system as well as to the protein requirements and manure needs for soil fertilization. The center has cages for laying hens and RIR chickens, chick houses, shelters for ducks and turkeys, a snail pen, a grasscutter (African giant bushrat) pen, a pigsty, fishponds, a feed mill, and a maggotery. The farm contains approximately 1,500 poultry, 200 mammals, in addition to the fish and snails.
  
• Processing activities that add value to the products and create other production opportunities. Two buildings are used for processing activities.
  

The center also has a shop where the farm products, both raw and processed, are availa

STRATEGIES

Conforming with the new approach of the Liaison Office of the HCR in matters of local integration and the desire to limit the period for which assistance would be given to the refugees, particular emphasis is placed on managerial and technical training in the various sectors of plant, animal, and craft production.
The training is organized by themes according to the various sectors of activity, and each lasts two and a half months. Half a month is dedicated to orientation (intensive training) in Porto-Novo and two months are dedicated to further training on the site at Kpomassè. The students wishing to start a small family business are eligible for a micro credit loan during which time the Songhai Center continues to work with them.