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Entrepreneurship in the territories: is it the right time?
Libraries Without Borders (BSF), a French association under the 1901 law, has been working since 2007 to bring knowledge to those who are deprived of it. Today, 750 million people in the world cannot read or write and only 35% of people in developing countries have access to the internet (World Bank 2023). People’s vulnerabilities are exacerbated when they do not have access to the information they need to make decisions, acquire new skills and integrate into society. Access to knowledge allows people to exercise their rights, to be included in society and to be autonomous.
BSF intervenes in different areas where school time is reduced, where family units are broken up and where the lack of information and open spaces reinforces resentment between communities. BSF campaigns for better consideration of intellectual dimensions (information, education, culture) in the assistance provided to vulnerable populations.
To take action, BSF has created revolutionary tools such as the Ideas Box - a multimedia library in a kit designed by Philippe Starck - or the Ideas Cube - a digital and ultra-portable offline library. In all its projects, the association defends innovation, sharing, respect and cultural diversity. BSF’s expertise in content creation has been recognized for many years. This is why in 2019, BSF created the Lab. Both a product and a research and development center, the Lab is the embodiment of BSF’s spirit of innovation. The Lab is at the heart of BSF’s expertise and innovation.
Between 2020 and 2023, BSF implemented a first phase of the project, aimed at empowering refugees, internally displaced persons, returnees and host communities through access to information in Burundi, Iraq and Lebanon.
Following the first phase of the project, BSF is currently implementing a second phase, focused on the Middle East, with activities in the following countries:
- Lebanon
- Iraq
- Occupied Palestinian Territories
By equipping 4 partners with one or more multimedia centers (Ideas Box) and an ultra-mobile offline digital library (Ideas Cubes) containing contextualized content, the project aims to improve access to quality education and training programs, access to information and the development of psychosocial well-being, and to promote the inclusion and autonomy of vulnerable groups (including women and people with disabilities).
The project implemented by “Bibliothèques Sans Frontières, for which AFD is providing 80% of the financing, must undergo an external financial audit (interim and final) of the expenditure incurred under the project. The term “financial audit” used here refers specifically to an engagement to perform agreed-upon procedures regarding financial information in accordance with IFAC’s ISRS 4400 auditing standard; it is not intended to be a project financial audit (which would be performed under ISA auditing standards). The purpose of these terms of reference is to find an external auditor.
The selected auditor will be required to express a professional and independent opinion on the financial report drawn up by “CSO Name” for the expenditure incurred under the project. The auditor must:
- Comply with the list of checks to be carried out, presented in Appendix XI
- Ensure that the financial report complies with the format required by AFD
- Ensure that expenditure incurred during the project and reported in the financial report is eligible
- Give their opinion on compliance with the procedures listed in the Financing Agreement with AFD and in the Methodology Guide covering AFD’s CSO support mechanism (https://www.afd.fr/fr/les-organisations-de-la-societe-civile)
- Certify the financial report submitted to AFD.
Details are provided in attachment.
