Burkina Faso – Orezone Partnership Project: Clean Water for Léo Women’s Shea Butter Co-Op Phase 3

The 4,000 women of Léo are building their lives and their community through this shea butter co-operative. The co-operative is a fair trade initiative of Centre for International Studies and Co-operation (CECI) and Uniterra. Clean water is needed in this region for the villages of the co-operative members and the processing of the shea fruit. Access to clean water and sanitation at the processing area is vital to the women’s efforts and their time spent at the cooperative.

Our partners at Federation Nununa, formerly known as UGPPK, have identified 36 member villages in need of wells and sanitation along with the need for approximately 4 wells at the co-operative itself.

Phase 1 and Phase 2 were our first steps towards supporting the women and families of Léo.

Activities:

• Construction of 4 new village wells
• Construction of 8 latrines
• Hygiene education training
• Establish & train village water committees

*Costs include (in Canadian dollars): water quality monitoring, hygiene education activities, water source committee training, project monitoring, reporting & partner coordination for WASH sustainability, all construction, drilling, materials and labour as required.

Project Sites:

• Dabiou Village Well – completed to serve 1150 people
• Cassou Village Well – completed to serve 1250 people
• Boura Community Latrine – 200 users per week plus 151 shea butter producers
• Kia Community Latrine – 365 residents without household latrines
• Cassou Community Latrine – 150 users per week plus 328 shea butter producers
• Mouna Community Latrine – 385 residents nearby plus 45 shea butter producers
• Poin Community Latrine –
• Oupon Community Latrine –
• Saboue Community Latrine –
• Baouiga Community Latrine –

Updates:

March 2013 – The community latrines and wells in the Léo region are now complete!  More details to come.  Please see the updated photo gallery.

May 2012 – It has been a busy year at UGPPK! The co-operative has evolved into Federation Nununa – an organization of shea butter and now sesame producers with a strong social mission.

To date, the first half of the project activities have been completed and the second half is already underway. Four community latrines and 2drilled village wells have been completed. The wells and latrines serve both residents of the area and women members of the shea butter production co-operative.

Some latrines are built with 2 toilets while others have a toilet and a bathing room for positive hygiene practices. These facilities support the members of the shea butter co-operative to have more comfortable working conditions and help economic development thrive.

Thanks to the commitment of Orezone Gold and their associates, this project is now fully funded!

• Canaccord Capital Corporation
• Orezone Gold