New developments
The French Ambassador passed Benin City on one of his field trips in 2006. He then was touched by the sight of begging leprosy patients at the side of the road. He decided something had to be done and contacted CO Foundation if a new PRP could be set up in the existing Rehabilitation Centre of the Daughters of Charity (a Catholic Convent) in Ossiomo, near Benin City.
At the same time CO Foundation was fortunate to employ two Volunteers through Voluntary Services Overseas (VSO). Mart van den Berg and Elly van Breukelen, a Dutch retired couple, took up the challenge and saw to it that two well functioning PRP’s were establshed in the following years. These projects produce independently from each other but collaborate in the procurement of materials and the marketing and sales of the products.
Although Mart and Elly already left back to the Netherlands the PRP’s are currently running strong with close ties to VSO. This results in a continuation of the placement of VSO volunteers in our project and the subsequent support we are experiencing when it comes to management and local capacity building. This is key to achieving the ultimate goal, making the project self sustainable. Proof of this support is the hiring of Mr. Haruna Garba who is supervising the production manager Virginia and overall responsible for the PRP’s as a whole.
At the moment approximately 20 ex-leprosy patients and 10 HIV/Aids patients and/or their direct relatives are working within the two PRP’s. They all have a fixed monthly salary based on the production and sales of the different products. Greatest challenge remains holding on to our main customers. We are trying to achieve this by guaranteeing the quality of the products as well as promoting both the PRP products and the background of the project itself in the best way possible. We are hoping and expecting that 2010 will be the year in which the PRP products will also hit the international market. You can assist yourself by going to the cofashion website and order for one of the beautiful PRP products.