The idea began in Paris, explains Gianluigi Mignogna, who describes himself as a "a small-town shoemaker" from the Italian region of Molise, which has also contributed resources to the project.

"I became involved in this project through researcher Alessandra Polidori, who completed a doctorate at the Ecole des hautes études en sciences sociales (EHESS) in Paris working with Professor Jean-Bernard Ouédraogo. The Professor is originally from Burkina Faso and is among those who are in charge of the Popular University of Burkina Faso "Yaya Karim Drabo" (Upf-Ykd) in the country's capital, Ouagadougou," explains Mignogna, an artisan from Campobasso who works with leather.

"Once they found the partners for the initiative, they searched on the internet for profiles such as mine to conduct the professional training on-site. Many did not want to participate but despite the fact I had never been to Africa before, I never regretted my choice," Mignogna adds. This summer, he spent two weeks in August working in Burkina Faso, training 35 people from all over the country, using material collected in Italy.

A mutual exchange

The artisan brought his know-how and skills but feels the whole exchange was mutual. Mignogna said he learned a lot about what might motivate people to leave their country and gave him more understanding of some of the migrants arriving in Italy.

"The people of Burkina Faso are quite hospitable and filled with humanity, yet they struggle to make ends meet. To give an example: candies and cigarettes are not sold in a package but individually because that would be too expensive. To buy a handful of rice is also a challenge. I found a great deal of determination and I thought of all those desperate people on boats [arriving in Italy]. The truth is that if they leave their country it's because they have nothing. They would prefer to stay in their own country with their loved ones but there is no food. Often the villages get together to raise funds with the aim of having their youths leave for Europe, so that they may send back money to the entire community. Even €50 represents a huge amount of money in a place where most people live on about €1.50 a day."

Learning new skills creates opportunities at home

"The project's objective is to create a cooperative that will produce goods that can be exported worldwide, through an Instagram page which is already online (projectcuir_burkinafaso)," explains Mignogna.

In the meantime, the 35 people who completed the first training course will then be taught to train others. The university of FASO and ESTA hope to launch a theory component to add to the courses, teaching about the use of iron and wood.

Mignogna says he intends to return again soon to offer more practical training. Meanwhile, in Italy, Mignogna is trying to find support to acquire more leather and materials for the next round of courses. He has appealed to private companies who might be willing to donate leftover stocks.

The artisan from Molise created his first website eighteen years ago and is used to deploying social media to publicize his work. He has developed relationships with several big international companies over the years. He wants to use social media to help market and sell the products once they are made.

Mignogna found a lot of people willing to help in the private sector but was surprized at how reticent some of the public institutions seemed to be when he began talking about the project. "It is difficult to reach out to [public] institutions, despite the fact that many stakeholders talk about the importance of not having Africans leave their continent. These people would by far prefer not to have to leave and stay in their home country," thinks Mignogna.

If someone with influence were to address this issue perhaps this project could grow and become a model for similar initiatives in the future.