Workshop for the Physically Disabled

Tigoung Nonma (TN) is a cooperative for persons suffering from physical disabilities in Ouagadougou. FBF and TN formed a partnership in 2014 in an effort to raise funds to build a workshop for TN members. The cooperative operates two primary income-generating activities: handicrafts and a catering service. Artisans with physical disabilities make and sell jewelry, baskets, textile products, ceramics and sculptures. Other members living with disabilities operate a catering service that prepares and delivers meals to clients living in or near Ouagadougou.

Ashoka and Social Entrepreneurship

Ashoka is a non-profit organization that promotes social entrepreneurship throughout the world. FBF formed a partnership with an Ashoka fellow from Burkina Faso in 2012. This fellow launched a nursery/forestry project designed to train youth about methods to cultivate and develop plantations of eucalyptus, jatropha, acacia, and fruit trees within the Bendatoege zone near Ouagadougou.

The Moringa Reseau

Moringa is the name of a “miracle tree,” originally imported from India, which grows well in savanna regions of West Africa. Food prepared containing moringa ingredients is an affordable and nutritious source of vitamins, minerals, and protein. Moringa leaves and powder are a valuable and enriched food source during portions of the year when fresh vegetables are not available. In collaboration with PCVs and local farmers in the village of Ténado, FBF resources helped launch a seedling nursery in 2009-10.

Shea-Butter Entreprises

Two Burkinabe NGOs--Association ASUDEC and Association NOWON--approached FBF about collaborating with them in efforts to promote shea-butter as a source of income for women’s cooperatives in the villages of Babora-Pegora and Tiogo. FBF provided funds to ASUDEC in 2003 and to NOWAN in 2010 to purchase a hydraulic oil press in Babora-Pegora and Tiogo, respectively. The mills, in combination with ASUDEC’s and NOWON’s educational programs, provided incentives for cooperative members to collect shea nuts, process them into shea butter, and sell the butter in the market.

Garden Cooperatives in Lake Bam

FBF funds were used to purchase garden tools and irrigation equipment for women’s garden cooperatives in the villages of Loulouka and Koumbango in 2007, and Darigma in 2009. The irrigation equipment allows for increased food security and revenue for the members of the three cooperatives and their families.

An Integrated Farm Fostering Orphans

Omigbéfitè, loosely translated as “help our brothers,” is an organization of 30 Burkinabé adults residing in the village of Loropeni in south central Burkina Faso. Each of its members grew up as an orphan or in a single parent household. The group welcomed the arrival of many young orphans into their community in 2006-07 due to the influx of people crossing the border from war-torn Ivory Coast in the mid-2000. Omigbéfitè provided these youth with food, housing, and apprenticeships educating them about farming grains, vegetables, and livestock.