The partners in the FAMFISK project are helping to improve conditions for farmers in West Africa through their work. Maschinenring Foundation gGmbH (MRF), Weihenstephan-Triesdorf University of Applied Sciences (HSWT) and Bildungswerk der Bayerischen Wirtschaft (bbw) are working hand in hand with the machinery rings in Senegal.
The work of the FAMFISK project in Senegal is bearing fruit: During the summer school, which lasted several weeks, 22 students from the Senegalese university Université du Sine Saloum El-Hâdj Ibrahima NIASS (USSEIN) developed equipment in seven individual projects to make work easier for farmers in the West African country. The concepts range from maintenance and spare parts systems to irrigation systems and the development of a mini-tractor.
The aim of the FAMFISK project is to strengthen the links between vocational training and higher education in Senegal and East African Kenya. The German partners of the Maschi-nenring Foundation gGmbH (MRF), the Weihenstephan-Triesdorf University of Applied Sciences (HSWT) and the Bildungswerk der Bayerischen Wirtschaft (bbw) are supporting Senegalese and Kenyan universities in the project to promote the establishment and expansion of machinery rings in Senegal and Kenya. The summer school took place as a multi-week joint project between the German project partners and the Senegalese university USSEIN. The aim of the work was for the Senegalese students to use the design thinking method to recognise problems and develop prototypes to solve them within six weeks. Lea Hillenbrand and Ignaz Völk from bbw taught the students the necessary working techniques on the premises of the still young university USSEIN in Kaolak, Senegal. The students then conducted interviews with farmers to find out what they needed to solve relevant problems in Senegalese agriculture. These discussions resulted in the concrete projects that the students then developed and presented last week. This resulted in a maintenance system with sensors, a pellet machine for crop residues for animal feed, a quick-use spare parts kit, a mini-tractor, a grain store with moisture sensors, a machine for irrigation and spraying systems and an irrigation system. ‘As a machinery ring, we want to promote rural development and have therefore founded the machinery rings in Africa to promote mechanisation in agriculture. Well-trained young people in particular need prospects in the agricultural sector. That's why we see great potential in cooperation between universities and local farmers,’ says Lena-Maria Russ, Managing Director of the Maschinenring Foundation. Expertise and trained local staff are an essential success factor in driving forward the establishment of an additional 300 machinery rings in Senegal and Kenya.
Projects such as the FAMFISK Summer School ensure a stronger link between vocational training and higher education in Senegal and Kenya. The aim is to enable Senegalese and Kenyan universities to support the development and expansion of machinery rings in Senegal and Kenya. This will be continued in the next step in a comparable form with the winter school at the Kenyan university Jaramogi Oginga Odinga University of Science and Technology (JOOUST).