Interview of Pascale Couderc, volunteer at Pesinet

“Use her useful time to make things progress”. This sums-up well Pascale Couderc’s philosophy and explains why she chose to  work as a volunteer in Mali to help Pesinet teams.

• Pascale, what was your background before joining the team Pesinet?

My career allowed me to hold various positions, primarily as Sales and Marketing Director in companies of the tourism, distribution and services sectors. I held very recently the managing direction of the French subsidiary of an American group, world leader in prepaid gift cards. I recently left that job, and rather than seeking immediately a new commitment, I decided to take a break and enjoy this free time usefully as a volunteer.

• Why did you choose to engage with Pesinet ?

I heard about Pesinet through a friend, an Ashoka Fellow like Anne (NDLR Anne Roos-Weil, pesinet’s CEO).

I had already made several trips to Mali with my husband. We very much like the country. Straight away, I was attracted by Pesinet’s actions that concretely address child health issues with a paying service, affordable even for low-income families, but also economically viable and replicable on a large-scale. I felt there were all ingredients for generating a strong social impact in the long run. I also like the opportunity given by Pesinet to beneficiaries to be actors of their children’s health with responsibility and dignity.

For all these reasons, I contacted Anne and offered to transform my time in useful work to help the project. We discussed various potential areas of involvement and indeed, with all the new expansion projects, there was room for some additional help ! In less than a week, I was on my plane to Bamako.

• What tasks were you given during your mission in Bamako ?

My main mission was to help the teams with the expansion of the Pesinet program in two new districts. I took part in various activities related to communications -  drafting of articles for newsletters, press kit, presentations for partners – and activities related to the preparation of the launching ceremony. I also worked on the development of new tools to complement the health data collection done by agents during the home visits as we now want to add measurement of height in addition to weight. Pesinet thus needed to identify appropriate equipement for height measurement, easily transportable to be used by mobile teams. Finally, I participated in testing the new technological application developed by our contractor. I tested all fonctionalities in order to identify bugs and anomalities.

• Which aspects of your mission did you find the most enriching  ?

I really appreciated touring with agents among families and was very impressed by the educative health taks animated by those agents in one of the intervention districts.  More than 20 subscribing mothers had come to discuss the benefits of exclusive breast-feeding. This health talk was very interactive and showed that Pesinet agents and healthcare personnel associated with the program are really listened to and respected.

• How do you see your involvement in the future ?

I am still in Bamako for the moment and I hope to take the opportunity to help as much as I can during my last days. But I would love to continue to support the teams when I will be back in Paris. And, why not, come back to Bamako in the future …  ?