Jocelyne Yennega Kompaore

Jocelyne Kompaore seeks to take advantage of recent advances in technology to develop a new way to systematize and disseminate knowledge across rural Africa. Through her work in Burkina Faso, Jocelyne has successfully enabled rural communities to develop their own training materials and distribute information to both improve their own conditions as well as expand the lines of communication between rural and urban populations. Her results have inspired wide-scale interest from farmers’ organizations across West Africa and throughout the region she is positioning her organization as the premier communication agency geared toward rural area residents.

Jocelyne is working to overturn West Africa’s current exclusive communication system where knowledge exchange especially between rural and urban spaces in topics such as education, health, politics or history, happens only between literate French speakers. The perspective and experiences of the vast majority of West Africa’s rural populations are not being captured. To address this problem, Jocelyne has created a new profession in which individuals serve as “synthesizers” of rural experience. This is the first step in an ambitious effort to disseminate knowledge from and within rural areas across Burkina Faso and throughout West Africa. Advances in technology and training in communication now enable a “synthesizer,” armed with a laptop and trained in research and publication, to become a rural community’s professional editor and publisher. This individual records information, history, and local experience while closely working within the community so that citizens can co-author their own learning materials. The resulting products—often books or audio cassettes, and sometimes both—tend to be of interest to a niche audience, such as a village or group of villages, an association or a range of institutions, and government or citizen organizations interested in the development of that region. The end product is distributable information of high quality published at an affordable price.

Jocelyne’s process of co-authorship is appealing to local organizations because it engages communities in group learning that involves a high level of popular participation. It also shifts the political lens away from external organizations and onto local groups. As a result, communities rely less on outside experts and instead develop their own local literature based on knowledge from their own communities. They also for the first time can present their knowledge and their experiences to broader populations, particularly city dwellers.

The long-term goal of Jocelyne’s work is the development of a cohesive but practical African identity. Rather than focusing on history and customs, she seeks to engage a pan-African audience that is becoming increasingly aware of the importance of including the voices of rural people in their decision-making. Through her work, Jocelyne hopes to ground a new generation of city-raised children in their African heritage while also eliminating the prejudices city dwellers have about people who spend their lives in rural areas.

If people are to be active participants in the democratic process, they must make their voices heard directly, unfiltered by the views of others. In rural Africa, this ideal is difficult to achieve because of two very prominent obstacles: Illiteracy and limited access to educational materials. Most knowledge is passed down orally through family lines; unfortunately this traditional educational system is breaking down. As greater numbers of organisations and institutions are working for the development for rural areas, it will be increasingly important to capture a diversity and richness of voices and experiences.

Rural populations, even when they are literate, do not produce written materials accessible to the public nor do they regularly get information outside of their own circle. Traditional publishing does not generally reach rural areas, preferring to focus on the more accessible and literate city-based market. Because the profession is strictly commercial, it tends to be unwilling to participate in the larger social purpose of generating literature from rural areas or gearing literature towards rural markets. In addition, traditional reporting and publishing incurs costs substantially beyond the financial capabilities of these niche markets.

Jocelyne’s first step has been to demonstrate both the local demand and broader interest in her project. In addition to the demand among dozens of rural associations, a host of potential buyers have shown considerable interest in teaching this locally generated and authored information in schools, the citizen sector, and other institutions interested in the opinions, knowledge, and practices of people in particular local areas. For instance, one of her first products focused on “the Logeur”— city dwellers who host young women that come from rural areas seasonally to work—and shed new light on both their protection and the exploitation of these young female migrants. Stories like theirs are simply not getting captured elsewhere.

Jocelyne has received an enthusiastic response from other fellow “synthesizers” who are eager to take up this kind of work. Many are recent graduates of schools of journalism or publishing, and see her vision as more professionally rewarding than apprenticeships in traditional publishing. She offers through her program not only a service to the rural community but also an education and opportunity to work with literate young city dwellers.

Jocelyne has begun to recruit a strategic group of African peasant associations to help promote her plan. And a new development piece in her program is to launch a line of children’s books and audiocassettes specifically targeted to rural children but that could be use in city settings. To do this, she is building a strong team of young people interested in developing and sharing information.

Jocelyne Komapore is the daughter of Prospere Kompaore, who was elected an Ashoka Fellow in 1997 for his groundbreaking work introducing social intervention theatre across West Africa. Because Prospere’s work each year brought together artists and performers from all over Africa for a major arts festival, Jocelyne grew up in an environment that respected the traditions and creative abilities of people from across the region.Entrepreneurial at a young age, she took on responsibilities for the Boy and Girl Scout’s organisation at the age of ten when the adult responsible for their group had to move. She also led the association of students at ILEA while based in Dakar, Senegal.

Jocelyne worked to save enough money to pay for her continued education in France and completed her Master’s degree in Communication and Marketing. She used her skills in communication to earn enough to buy her first computer and explore the profession of publishing. Dissatisfied that she had not found what she calls her life’s “larger purpose,” she left a publishing job to work on a project that sought to better understand the views of rural people in Burkina Faso and to record them. This experience was a turning point for Jocelyne, and inspired her work with “synthesizers” for rural experience. She has since met many young people with knowledge and leadership abilities looking to apply them outside of the academic framework.

After completing the assignment, she created her own independent company to launch her new idea, and negotiated several projects that have allowed her to demonstrate the potential of this new profession, attract others, and awaken a larger rural audience to its potential.

Jocelyne is also a published author of children’s books.