Rockflower Partner, Association Burkinabé des Femmes Battantes (ABFB), based in Burkina Faso, has just completed the training phase of their Weaving and Dyeing project. The year-long project aims to train and employ 20 women facing extreme poverty and joblessness through the installation of a weaving and dyeing loom in Godin village.
Burkina Faso is a small West African country that has long suffered from droughts, flooding, and increasing desertification, overgrazing, soil degradation and deforestation. Over the past decade, the country, which was once one of West Africa’s most stable, has been under constant attack by terrorists and local rebels, leaving many areas decimated, and many citizens displaced. In 2013, the French military intervened to counter terrorist violence. However, in June of 2021, France announced their intention to end this military operation, and the effects of this decision have the potential to devastate the nation.
“Things have become much worse in Tin-Akof recently,” Boubacar Dialo, a displaced citizen, told Al Jazeera. “Terrorists have a chokehold on the area. There are no more markets, so the vehicles no longer come and there is no work. Before, [fighters] just came to loot our animals, kidnap the people they were looking for and leave. Now it’s come to the point where they just burn down whole villages.”
The country also has one of the lowest literacy rates in the world, at 36% and only 1% of girls graduate from high school. This lack of education has led to a staggering 52% of girls married before the age of 18. The nation has the worst rating in the world for the health of mothers with less than 50% of Burkinabé having access to clean water. For women and girls seeking to support themselves and their families, there are very few options.
Given the desperation of the country’s current situation as well as the nation’s high unemployment rate of 77%, ABFB’s project is able to offer a light of hope to women, many of whom are victims of child marriages and domestic abuse, in the village of Godin. The 20 women who are currently participating in the program have completed a 30-day training in using the weaving and dyeing loom and will soon be able to generate income through the sale of yarn and cloth. In addition these 20 women will train additional women in the skills they’ve learned as the project progresses, ensuring a continuum of sustainability.
Aline W. Bontogho, ABFB president, told us, “This project is the very first activity that the women of the village of Godin will benefit from. Apart from this project, the women have no activities to do and are left on their own without any activity that will allow them to get out of poverty, but thanks to your support, they will carry out an Income Generating Activity (IGA) which will greatly contribute to their development and the development of Godin.”
As the organization moves into the next phase of this project, they are excited to begin generating income, and helping the residents of Godin Village gain financial stability during such an extremely challenging time for the nation. The women involved in the program will soon have the ability to financially support themselves and their families, which will allow them agency over their lives.
