Mali : « Awareness and Information sharing is my lifeblood »
Mr. Mohamedine Ag Oufene, 50 years old, is a community mobilizer working with Première Urgence Internationale in the region of Kidal since 2015.
Married and father of 8 children, he worked in various jobs before joining the team of Première Urgence Internationale. Initially a mason, then a stonemason, his first humanitarian experience was with the NGO Médecins du Monde in 2004 where he held positions such as community development technician, trainer of traditional birth attendants, facilitator and trainer of community workers in the fight against guinea worm disease (Dracunculiasis). With the withdrawal of Médecin du Monde from Kidal in 2014, Mohamedine then joined Première Urgence Internationale in 2015 as a community mobilizer, his current position.
Mohamedine Ag Oufene, community mobilizer for Première Urgence Internationale
Mohamedine is a man committed to his role as a community mobilizer, which consists essentially of raising awareness and informing the population about the activities set up by Première Urgence Internationale. Mohamedine is also in charge of supervising the activities of community actors (community relays, recycled traditional birth attendants and community health workers).
In addition, he is one of the guarantors of the accountability mechanisms in place.
In this context, Mohamedine ensures that the population is informed about the functioning of the feedback mechanism. For this mechanism to be used, it is necessary to ensure that communities know that it exists, how they can use it, what they can complain about, and how long it will take to formulate the response.
Finally, every month, he collects the information collected (notably through the opening of suggestion boxes stored in each health center) and forwards it to the Field Coordinator of Première Urgence Internationale.
Mohamedine particularly enjoys his job and thanks Première Urgence Internationale for improving his family’s living conditions, but also for the experience he has gained through the training he has received and through the continuous reinforcement of his capacities.
Setting up Information, Education and Communication sessions on essential family practices
Première Urgence Internationale, with funding from DG ECHO, organizes formative supervision during which the population is made aware of essential family practices (EFPs), which are awareness-raising sessions for families, thus helping to improve the health, growth and development of children in households and families.
Community Health Centers of Intadeini on October 9, 2019, Information, Education and Communication sessions on EFPs by the supervision team of Première Urgence Internationale.
Opening of suggestion boxes by community mobilizer
In order to comply with the Basic Humanitarian Standard on quality and accountability, Première Urgence Internationale, during monthly formative supervision, opens suggestion boxes at the community health center level to receive feedback from the population on the services provided.
Community Health Center of Tanainait on February 19, 2020, opening session of the suggestion box by the RFP
Mohamedine is the Accountability Focal Point (PFR) of the Kidal base, he is in charge of opening the suggestion boxes and collecting the different complaints on a monthly basis.
The complaint mechanism takes into account the principles of confidentiality and non-retaliation. Complaints are forwarded to the Field Coordinator where they are then processed at the Bases level of Première Urgence Internationale. Depending on the seriousness of the complaint, some complaints may be forwarded to a higher level for investigation or may be assigned to persons with special expertise. The person in charge of the processing has a maximum of 2 weeks to provide a response.
All these activities are implemented by Première Urgence Internationale with the support of the European Union through DG ECHO (Directorate-General for European Civil Protection and Humanitarian Aid Operations).
