Joker, Senegal

For those who were wondering: we are not talking about ‘The Joker’ from Batman. This project is about the travel organization Joker, which is also involved with projects regarding social entrepreneurship.

“Can you do good while doing business?”

Yes you can! That is what social entrepreneurship is all about. Apart from profitability, a social entrepreneur creates attention for sustainability and justice in his or her surroundings. It is with this vision in mind that Joker set up the ViaVia travel-cafes. The ViaVia mission is: ‘Create more tolerance by bringing people from different cultures together in a safe environment of openness and respect’. ViaVia’s are meeting places for travellers, meant as a sustainable form of tourism with respect for the environment and the local community. They try to include the local population in the social projects as much as possible in order to create jobs for vulnerable groups, like women and minorities. In this way, ViaVia aims for profitability while taking the surroundings into account.

These ViaVia’s work with the idea of soft social franchise and are thus managed by independent entrepreneurs. When building their cafe, these entrepreneurs use the joint ViaVia concept within the range of their own possibilities. The goal of the AFD team is to enforce the idea of social entrepreneurship, to map the best practices and possibly link those to the Sustainable Development Goals (SDG’s) of the United Nations. Next, there will be a study on how the involvement of students, travelers, organizations etc. can be enhanced while looking for amplified financing as well. The ViaVia in Senegal, Dakar is a pilot project where the students can research possible strategies and communication tools. If the implementations prove successful, they can be used as an inspiration to other ViaVia’s all over the world.

The main goal of the project is to improve the financial empowerment teaching program. To make sure that the current teaching program, which educates 1000s of Jamaicans concerning basic personal finance, can grow bigger, it is necessary that an e-learning site is designed. This e-learning space needs to serve as a hub for among others training videos, schedules, and fact sheets. Project students will be expected to conceptualize the architecture of such an e-learning space and to train the JN Foundation team the skills they need to administrate the site in the future.

As with all our projects, the first step of the project will be the formation of a multidisciplinary team of excellent and highly motivated students. After the formation, the students will prepare themselves in the Netherlands for their trip to Jamaica in cooperation with AFDU and JN Foundation. The Preparation Phase will take place from October until June. The Implementation Phase takes place in July and August and consists of executing the project in Jamaica for 6-8 weeks.

As with all our projects, the first step of the project will be the formation of a multidisciplinary team of excellent and highly motivated students. After the formation, the selected project students will prepare themselves in the Netherlands for their trip to Uganda in cooperation with AFDU and Oxfam-Wereldwinkels. The Preparation Phase will take place from October until June. The Implementation Phase takes place in July and August and consists of executing the project in Uganda for 4 weeks.