When the GRCBC makes Shea the gold of Burkinabè women!
“Applied to my body since my birth without the slightest idea of its origin, it is thanks to GNDR that I discovered the shea production process as part of the implementation of its project “Institutionalizing community-based management disaster risks” as a representative of ENDA Energie.”
After a first visit to exchange experiences and many lessons learned in Niger, from August 7 to 9 it was the turn of the Union of Women's Groups Ce Dwane Nyee (UGF/CDN) from Burkina Faso to demonstrate that its initiative community deserved its place in the list of 25 best case studies in disaster risk management selected in Africa. Just like the initiative of the ADPE Bonferey group which restored the Féri-Féri Hill in Niger, this case confirmed to us that women are at the heart of community dynamics and a key player in environmental protection.
The commitment of the Kyon municipal council encourages the institutionalization and sustainability of the project. “It is thanks to the partners of the UGF CDN that the municipality has become emerging” proudly said Philomène Badolo, first deputy mayor of Kyon. Comments confirmed by the mayor of the city, when he joined the group a little later in the shea parks with the communities, adding that he was proud of the NGO. “We (local authorities) are ready to continue our support, this project must be integrated into our municipal development plan for its sustainability.”
“No project can be successful if it is not supported by local authorities,” said Adessou Kossivi, the Regional Development Coordinator of the GNDR network for West and Central Africa during the opening ceremony of visit.
Shea butter produced and exported to the four corners of the world by the women's group is identified by the head of the UGF/CDN production units, Marie Bayala Kanzoulé as "women's gold in Burkina Faso".
Coordinated by the Marp Burkina Network, this visit highlighted that environmental protection and sustainable community socio-economic development are not contradictory. Thus, the women shea nut collectors of the Dwi NYE group, previously without income, now manage to earn up to 350,000 Francs (CFA) per campaign (06 months). The UGF/CDN works with more than 6,000 women, organized in 52 groups throughout Burkina Faso.
Burkina Faso is one of the countries most vulnerable to climate change and the disasters that result from it.
This is what undoubtedly pushed the women members of the UGF/CDN to invest in a community initiative to preserve the environment through the promotion and valorization of shea and endangered plant species.
The project was developed in the Réo department, an urban commune in Burkina Faso located in the Sanguié province in the center-west of the country. In this area, the shea tree, a slow-growing tree, is threatened by human production activities and the various consequences of climate change...
Women and young people in the region have made collecting shea kernels an activity allowing them to fight against poverty. And to preserve the “shea” resource, the women of the UGF/CDN carry out a certain number of conservation activities: the development of shea parks, the preservation of endangered plant species, agroforestry, management sustainable land and natural resources, assisted natural regeneration, reforestation and transplantation.
The example of the initiative led by the “Gourounsi” women of Réo was striking for the participants in this exchange visit. A Nigerien participant committed to sharing the commitment of women from Burkina to Tuareg women for their investment in Natural Resource Management in Agadez.
As the visit came to an end, the Nigerien participants received Moringa and Baobab seeds offered by the Coordinator of the UGF/CDN, Bantiono Bahiomé to the President of the ADPE Bonferey Alzuma group Himero Moukila. A gesture welcomed by the independent Nigerien expert Zakary Souley Bana who thanked “the brothers of Faso for this gesture whose impact will have the lifespan of a baobab tree. Given the determination of Mr Himero and the members of the ADPE Bonferey group, the FérI-féri hill is ready to become a baobab park in the years to come”
Thank you to the GNDR network for initiating and facilitating this south-south cooperation!
At the end of the meeting, the UGF/CDN, implementing the recommendations of the participants in the exchange visit, decided to obtain the necessary administrative documents in order to secure the plots of land already acquired.
This very enriching visit showed us that with active participation of its members and good plannification, any attempt at community resilience can constitute a real economic lever and that development based on the exploitation of local natural resources constitutes the best way to sustain any activity.
