WASH to raise girls' enrollment rate in the Sahel region

A partnership agreement has been signed with the Local Government of Dori

Credit: WaterAid in Burkina Faso

1 June 2011

WaterAid in Burkina Faso officially started a project in the Sahel Region  on 6 May 2011 to help reduce water-related diseases and raise girl’s enrollment rate by improving sanitation facilities in schools.

A partnership agreement has been signed with the Local Government of Dori. Through this signature, WaterAid in Burkina committed itself to support the Local Government of Dori, in the Sahel region, in realising its WASH sector plans and to finance WASH facilities for vulnerable people. WaterAid will also support water resource management in the context of climate change.

Halidou Koanda, Country Representative for WaterAid in Burkina Faso, said: “The Sahel region deserves special attention because of its specific climatic and socio-cultural context. Up until then, we have been working with other partners in the region to build rain harvesting tanks, but for now we will conduct sustainable projects.”

With an access rate to drinking water and sanitation estimated respectively to 30% and 10%, the commune of Dori is among the most vulnerable areas of Burkina Faso due to its close proximity with the desert.

"In the Sahel, something needs to be done as quickly as possible because the variations and climate change may create, in a few years time, water shortages that cannot be handled" said the Mayor of Dori, Hama Arba Diallo, whose ambition is to reach the Millennium Development Goals on WASH.

WaterAid in Burkina will invest 41 million FCFA in Dori this year. The Country Representative has also promised to inform the Mayor of any financing opportunities in the sector.

Mayor Diallo is confident that the WASH projects will reduce water-related diseases and raise girl’s enrollment rate lowered by the lack of sanitation facilities in schools.

For more information, please contact Inna Guenda, Communications Officer.