Solidagro (Burkina Faso)
Solidagro is a Belgian NGO which promotes the right to food and drinking water for all through agro-ecology. Solidagro works with local partners and members of civil society in areas of high food insecurity in Bolivia, Burkina Faso, Mali, Senegal and the Philippines to strengthen their technical, operational and institutional capacities.
In 2020/2021, the Eurofins Foundation provided a donation to the project “Right to healthy food and the promotion of women in Burkina Faso” taking place in the rural community of Zabré (Centre-Est region, Burkina Faso), in collaboration with the association Pag-La-Yiri (PLY). The project greatly improves household dietary diversity through training, investment and awareness campaigns to increase the consumption of fruit, vegetables, eggs and poultry. This project also targets the empowerment of rural women through functional literacy and supports the PLY association in proposing the integration of agro-ecological transition activity into the development plans of the municipality.
With this support, a community-based vegetable garden of one hectare was created and fully equipped with an irrigation system. Even in the dry season, which runs from November to May, this garden allows for two rotations of vegetable cultivation. The dietary diversity of 6,300 people has increased thanks to the fruits and vegetables from the garden.
Apart from self-consumption, women sell part of their produce and receive the funds to invest in other activities like chicken breeding. This activity increases income and contributes to a more diversified diet.
Additional training sessions were organised to strengthen the position of women in their families and the community, the sessions covered a wide range of topics included female leadership, literacy, administrative and financial management of cooperatives, communication, sensitisation to the involvement of women in social and political life, gender, hygiene and the consumption of local dishes.
In 2021/2022, the Eurofins Foundation supported Solidagro to instal improved cookstoves in the rural community of Zabré, Burkina Faso.
This project aims to reduce the quantity of wood needed for cooking for 4,000 households in seven rural municipalities in the Province of Passoré through the installation of improved cookstoves. The project will also contribute to the reduction of harmful smoke emissions and the time required for wood collection.
Field workers will train at least 15 women in each village, who in turn will each train groups of 10 women on construction techniques, and the use and maintenance of improved cookstoves, until all women in the village have access to at least two improved cookstoves.
The projected has also contributed to improving living conditions for individuals in the local community, particularly women. The improved cookstoves require 50% less the wood used for cooking which has decreased the burden on women to search for wood. It should also be noted that in some villages women used to buy wood, but with the improved stoves, they are able to save money. They have access to a clean kitchen environment, quick cooking of meals, improved health, and reduced instances of smoke related diseases, etc.
At a societal level, Solidagro noted an improvement in men’s involvement in activities traditionally considered to be female activities. They did not hesitate to help women collecting aggregates and transport the cooking stoves to households.
At the environmental level, this project has already helped reduce greenhouse gas emissions by reducing the use of plant biomass and decreasing abusive wood cutting. During this first year of implementation of the project, about 19.000 tons of wood were saved thanks to the use of the improved cookstoves.
This project contributes to the following United Nations' Sustainable Development Goals
