Description

Benemnoma - “a centre for basic and further training in an open setting†- was founded by Koudbi Koala in Koudougou, Burkina Faso and is aimed at children who have been rejected by the standard school system. Financed by the activities of the Saaba Dance and Percussion Company, this project has given rise to a very active NGO, to an Emmaà¼s International centre, and to a festival named “Nuits Atypiques de Koudougou†(untypical Koudougou nights), the first international musical festival to arise from private initiative in the “land of men of integrity.â€
In January 1985, the allotment of four hectares of land in Koudbi’s family neighbourhood enabled him at last to firmly establish his project for schooling children with no access to the standard schooling system. Having said this, the cultural constituent remains the backbone of the Benemnooma project, and today it represents 60% of the organisation’s activity.
Over the years, Benemnooma’s work in favour of the development of culture has been a model to others.

Former use : new building
Surface of the site : 4 ha/ 300 m2 built
Foundation year : city
Type of occupation : private land
Owner of the building : Koudbi Koala

Infrastructures

Venue
Projection room
Multi-purpose space
Associative space
Bookshop / documentation centre
Exterior space
Office

Social and artistic disciplines

Contemporary theatre : Creation / Production / Diffusion / Training workshop

Music : Residences / Creation / Production / Diffusion / Training workshop / Debates / Conferences

Dance : Creation / Production / Diffusion

Multimedia : Training workshop

Audiovisual : Training workshop

Radio : Diffusion
Radio Palabre settled on the Emet centre allows to invite the village population to exchange and practice the african democraty.

Solidarity - Citizenship : Training workshop / Debates / Conferences

For more information :
Since 1996, Benemnooma organize the festival of atypics nights of Koudougou (NAK) in partnership with the atypics nights of Langon.

Financial partners

 own incomes thanks to Saaba company tour. Today, the Saaba company is divised into four groups of 8 personnes who tour in Burkina Faso and in Europe.
 Fédération des Oeuvres Laà¯ques (F.O.L) of Vienne
 Ligue de l’Enseignement
 Agence de la Francophonie
 Afrique en Création (Afaa)
 The government approve morally the Benemnooma activities but give very little money

Networks

 Numerous contacts in Europe : Atypics Nights of Langon ; Radio France Montpellier, the festival Mundial of Tilburg (Netherlands)...
 Benemnooma is part of numerous networks of solidarity and technical assistance to development.
 Each worshop set up in Benemnooma is affiliated or proposed by association or interest group in France. Numerous links with the networks of agricultural school in France for example.
 Since 1990, the Benemnooma project is validate by Emmaà¼s International and Koudbi Koala becomes the president of the burkinabian associations coordination vocation Emmaà¼s.