Burkina Faso update November 2003

Burkina Faso is one of our newest country programmes and the second in Francophone West Africa. The recent appointment of the new country representative means that work is now developing at a great pace.

Burkina Faso is one of the poorest and driest countries in the world where less than 30% of the population have access to fresh drinking water or latrines.

To help address the huge need WaterAid began work there in February 2001 with three partner organisations in three rural provinces. These partnerships are now developing, and with a new country strategy approved in May, new areas of work have been added, a country office has been opened and work has also begun in the urban area of Ouagadougou.

WaterAid's experience so far in the country has shown great successes. On 30 October 2003 the Prime Minister launched the country's WASH (water, sanitation and hygiene for all) campaign during the opening ceremony of the African Ministries Council on Water. WaterAid were there at the fore, talking on local and international radio and on national television about the importance of WASH and WaterAid.

In Ramongo, our partner, the Association les Mains Unies du Sahel (AMUS), have been carrying out hygiene education and, by December 2003, hope to have built one new borehole and rehabilitated another.

So far they have found that, after hygiene education, 70% of people in the communities they have worked with are now washing their hands at critical times.

Sahel Solidarite (SAS) have started a credit and sanitation project in Bokin. The credit committee has been established and training the committee members has begun.

Meanwhile WaterAid's third partner, DAKUPA has already trained 16 masons and 32 hygiene promotion volunteers to help with a latrine building and hygiene programme. During the rainy season (from August to September) the masons built 200 of the 553 latrine slabs needed, which households will then buy and use to build their latrines in December and January.

The new country plans that are now in place mean that over the next three years WaterAid's work in Burkina Faso will continue to grow and develop to ensure that more of the poorest communities gain access to safe water and effective sanitation.