Summary
The Toukan festival took place from 17 to 21 December 2022, with 30 young people receiving training in film-making (scriptwriting and directing) from 2 to 4 December, in support of the fight to protect the environment.
Some fifteen donors, including 6 new ones, contributed in cash and in-kind to make this event possible.
The wide range of activities attracted many visitors from the region and beyond.
Given the success of this first ecological festival, Yirikan immediately started preparing the second version, scheduled for December 2023.
Tips and lessons learned
1. Whatever you want to do, you have to be committed and convinced, and willing to work with others (call on outside expertise) - "alone we go fast, but together we go far". Hence the creation of a permanent festival secretariat with volunteers (people who are not members of the association but who have made a significant contribution).
2. Daring to ask potential local donors, who are often only too happy to help. For us this had a twofold result: the donation of resources but also assistance in implementing the project from start to finish. They even coached us to get in touch with other donors.
3. It's very important to get to know your potential donor in order to prepare the speech that will convince him or her.
4. Failures are not failures but lessons for the next session.
Review by Wilde Ganzen Foundation
Yirikan's ultimate aim is to create a micro-project fund to benefit the local populations around the Parc National des Deux Balé. As a first step, they decided it was necessary to carry out a project called the Toukan Festival, an environmental and cultural event designed to raise public awareness through activities for the general public.
Strengths :
* The variety of activities.
* The emphasis placed on communication through brochures, leaflets and social media.
* The way potential donors were approached with a request for support (financial or in-kind) and help with implementation.
Details
Short description of the organisation the funds were raised for
The YIRIKAN association was created in 2018. It is made up of an executive committee and a coordinator who oversees the association's activities. The association's bodies are: the general meeting, the executive board and the auditors. The organisation's ambition is to contribute to the restoration and protection of the Deux Balé classified forest by raising awareness, as well as educating and training our populations in the preservation of our ecosystem. The creation of the association was prompted by the success of a solidarity chain set up to save a lost elephant calf from certain death.
Short description of the project or programme the funds were raised for
The "Toukan" festival was initiated to raise awareness among the population through activities for the general public, such as :
►Projections of films on the environment and also by national and local authors in the town of Boromo and the villages bordering the classified forest.
►The children's area for puppet shows, storytelling and children's film screenings for primary school children.
►Merchant street, an opportunity for processors of products from forest resources to make themselves known and do business.
►Communications, panels and a Business to Business area to enable financial or community institutions to make themselves known and forge business partnerships.
►Exhibition of photos of ethnic scars from the province.
►Training of 30 young people in the film profession (scriptwriting, directing) in support of the fight to preserve our ecosystem.
Summary of fundraising action
The Deux Balé National Park covers an area of 80.600 hectares. This tourist gem, which straddles the Bale and Tuy provinces, is currently under heavy human pressure. Poaching, gold panning and overgrazing damage the fauna and flora on a daily basis. Aware that the future of the Parc National des Deux Balé lies in the hands of young people, we felt it necessary to focus our actions on raising awareness of internal ecotourism and environmental education.
The Toukan festival is an environmental and cultural event whose theme for 2022 was 'Cinema and presentation of our ecosystem'.
The mobilisation of resources consisted of identifying potential donors interested in the activity, contacting them to give them a presentation of the activity and explaining what we expect of them and what they stand to gain from supporting us.
Over eight hundred to nine hundred visitors from everywhere, along with all the communities living in Boromo who brought the fair's five days to life through their ethnic alliances, all contributed to the festival's success.
For communication purposes, we used posters, leaflets and brochures.
The posters were put up 2 weeks before the event from Sabou to Boromo to announce the event. The larger ones were put up a week beforehand at the entrances and exits of the town on large boards and also in strategic places in the town for greater visibility.
The flyers contained brief information about the association and the festival. These flyers were distributed during the festival.
The leaflets contained information about the association (creation, objectives, mission, vision, activities) and were distributed at all times to make the association known to as many people as possible and above all to sell its skills.
Objectives
1. The support and participation of the local population.
2. Obtaining the sustainable material and financial resources needed for the activity to achieve our objectives.
3. To be autonomous and not dependent on external funding.
Targeted donors
1. The population in general, but in particular the decentralised technical services of the state (environment, education, agriculture, livestock, customary and religious authorities), as well as the processors of timber and non-timber forest products.
2. Traders, entrepreneurs, SARLs (Limited Liability Companies).
3. Former residents living elsewhere, representatives of financial institutions.
Results
| Cost/benefit |
National currency (XOF |
Euro |
| Total amount raised |
10,050,000 |
15,321 |
| (-) Total amount invested |
0 |
0 |
| Net amount raised |
10,050,000 |
15,321 |
Accounting details
Revenues:
Approximately 1,050,000 CFA francs raised and injected entirely into the festival.
Expenses :
Production of visuals (advertising posters), T-shirts, flyers, TV and radio spots
Stand hire
Podium hire
Fixtures and fittings for the shopping street
Paying trainers
Purchase of training materials
Catering for the 3 days of training
Hire of projection equipment and fuel for screenings in 5 villages
Internal travel for festival-goers
Payment of service providers (puppeteers, technicians)
Snacks for 1,500 primary school children watching the puppets and children's films
Hire of space for panels, conferences and B-to-B areas
Result comments
- 25 companies and partners were contacted, of which 23 supported the project.
- Production of some of the posters, T-shirts and TV spots.
- Billboards and display space donated by the town hall.
- B to B space for entrepreneurs.
- Exhibition of photos of ethnic scars by the tourist relay.
- Conference room at the High Commission for two days of training for three of the 30 young people.
Description of preparatory work
- Meeting with members to set up the mobilisation strategy.
- Identify additional needs.
- Identify potential donors.
- Find out about potential donors.
- Identify a mobilisation plan.
Description of implementation
- Contacting potential donors and making appointments.
- Meeting potential donors directly to explain the project and outline our expectations and what they stand to gain.
- Schedule calls and reminder visits with the donor.
Follow up: Donor appreciation and acknowledgement
We appreciated and thanked the donors with certificates of thanks, but we also visited some of them and gave them a thank-you gift.
Plans to repeat the action
We're planning to do the same thing again, and we're already hard at work, taking into account the lessons we've learnt from our failures. For the second edition of the festival, which will take place in December 2023, we hope to screen films made by the students last December under the guidance of professionals. Finally, the major achievement remains the commitment of all the partners to support the festival for the second edition, as well as getting the new partners we already identified on board.
