BY SAMIR AHMED

The Centre International d’Expérimentation et de Valorisation des Ressources Africaines, CIEVRA (the International Center for Experiments and Development of African Resources), which lies on a 40-acre land in the suburbs of Cotonou, Benin (West Africa), is an ultra-modern multi-field complex that seeks to promote Africa’s endogenous resources and knowledge. It is the latest initiative of Fondation Espace Afrique, a Geneva-based African humanitarian organization committed to the development and promotion of African values by mobilizing financial resources to support workable projects and initiatives. The vision to create the Foundation crystallized in the mind of Samuel Dossou-Aworet, 60, more than a decade ago. Established in 1994, the Foundation has been recognized by the Canton of Geneva, in Switzerland, as a public utility organization (1996) and by the government of Benin (2004).

The brand-new CIEVRA complex, which became operational early this year, is equipped with a production division that consists of vast land surfaces of agricultural experiments for the development of organic agriculture; an industrial unit specialized in the processing and drying of agricultural produce and in experimenting medical products; a sewing workshop for the promotion of the African craft industry; and a carpentry shop for the research and promotion of African species.

The CIEVRA offers its researchers and partners additional facilities that include an communication center equipped with state-of-the-art information technology infrastructure; a research and data center housing a digital library; a conference room consisting of an adjustable auditorium seating 800 to 1000 guests, with a cafeteria convertible into a banquet room for 500; a seminar center consisting of 16 adjustable and multipurpose rooms. Accommodation facilities comprise an 11-suite guesthouse with its restaurant, six buildings of 16 bedrooms each, and seven houses for the CIEVRA staff. The medical center focuses on research on herbal medicine, including proven African traditional medicine, with its healing and nutritional values.

The Wellness Center, with its rooms for reflexology, relaxation, massage, hydrotherapy and fitness will prove useful to people eager to experience and enjoy the traditional medical recipes and treatments developed at the CIEVRA

The Botanical Garden is an absolute delight for all garden lovers. With its large variety of plant species, the Garden is intended to support the CIEVRA’s research and teaching program about the diversity of the African flora, including its nutritional and curable values. Research on health and nutrition is, indeed, a key component of the CIEVRA’s health program. The Program for Experimentation and Research on Pharmacopoeia and Health through plants seeks to reduce the medical dependence of Africans by bolstering research and experiments on good-quality and affordable herbal medication. Fondation Espace Afrique is working hard to mobilize African and international human resources in an effort to create synergies and partnerships in the field of pharmacopoeia and traditional medicine.

It is often said in Africa that the death of a senior citizen is like a library burned down, for old people take away with them precious knowledge that ought to be transmitted from generation to generation. So CIEVRA’s health program also seeks to promote the safeguarding of ancestral knowledge on traditional medicine by supporting scientific research, publications, and the creation of database systems.

The erection of the expensive CIEVRA complex, entirely funded by Fondation Espace Afrique, is only the latest demonstration of Dossou- Aworet’s rejection of afro-pessimism and his deep belief that Africans must acquire the means necessary to become actors of their own development. The Foundation also funds activities as diverse as music production to help young African talents come to life; the promotion of small and medium-sized businesses; education for disadvantaged children; healthcare for the needy; and even the promotion of democracy in Africa, often at a high cost. For instance, a forum titled “Women and Democracy” sponsored by the Foundation in Gabon a few years ago cost no less than 15,000,000 CFA francs.

Dossou-Aworet also believes in international cooperation to help Africa develop, and he appreciates working with other organizations. Thus he welcomed the assistance the Foundation has received from a French non-governmental organization called Agir, which, a few years ago, sent teachers and doctors to assist Fondation Espace Afrique on the field. Basically, Fondation Espace Afrique was required to cover their travel expenses and to provide accommodation.

The CIEVRA complex is open to potential partners of all backgrounds who have workable projects capable of contributing to the socio-economic development of Africa. In sum, in addition to using his own hard-earned money generated by the revenue of his Geneva-based oil company, Dossou- Aworet could use the assistance, in kind or in cash, of donor organizations or individuals anywhere in our shrinking world.

The humanitarian organization also supports initiatives aimed at creating a positive image of Africa outside the continent. In that vein, four years ago, the Foundation fully financed the publication of the French version of a book titled “The Legacy,” which highlights former U.S. President Bill Clinton’s unique legacy to Africa. (The original English version of the book was published by the African Communications Agency, an organization of Africans and African Americans who are committed to changing the negative image of Africa in the world, especially in the media. Samuel Dossou-Aworet, a member of the board of directors of ACA, plans to use the proceeds of the sale of the book to fight HIV/AIDS in Africa.

Fondation Espace Afrique was involved in the latest Cannes Film Festival through an association with Agoralumière, an African organization based in Nice, Southern France, which promotes African cinema. It enabled African students of cinema to attend the Festival so as to interact with professionals in the field.

In an editorial published during the Festival, Espace Afrique’s coordinator, Maryse Dossou, pointed out its staunch commitment to making sure that the world sees and thinks about Africa in a different way, as a continent of men and women who work, create and fight to promote positive achievements. “It’s an honor for Fondation Espace Afrique to be associated with Agoralumière Cinema Series, an initiative that emphasizes the dynamism of continental Africans and of those in the Diaspora, and which, through cinema, reveals to the world that multi-facetted Africa, the Africa that moves, lives, creates and modernizes itself, and yet does not call into question its culture, its values or its traditions,” Dossou, a graduate of Georgetown University, writes.