In 2015 I dedicated an article to T.I.N.A., Tous Impliqués pour une Nouvelle Afrique (“All Involved for a New Africa”), an association of about twenty young people, from Africa and elsewhere, who shared one goal: to contribute concretely to the continent’s development. I was an active member, and I wanted to share the values it carried.
Its first pilot project focused on agriculture: a crowdfunding campaign to improve the daily lives of rice farmers in Glazoué, in central Benin.
Five things T.I.N.A. got right
- It was organised. Emails, video calls, project committees, monitoring and follow-up meetings: it sometimes felt like a company. Communication sat at the heart of everything.
- It was a family. Members supported each other’s own initiatives. Individual success counted as collective success.
- It had a global vision. Working groups covered agriculture, education, health, tourism and processing.
- It analysed needs first. Before acting in the field, the team assessed what people actually needed.
- It was connected. A presence online kept supporters close and involved.
What I carry with me today
Ten years later, I founded and now chair Les Pros de la Comm’ du Bénin, a professional association of communication practitioners. The lessons are the same. A community lasts when it is organised like a serious project, when members celebrate each other’s success, when it listens before it acts, and when it stays visible and open.
T.I.N.A. was proof, on a small scale, that people who are committed and organised, African or not, can achieve concrete things for the continent. That conviction has not left me.
