Landlocked Burkina Faso in West Africa suffers from recurring droughts benefited greatly from a recent WASH project led by the Gorta Self Help Africa, aimed to provide better sanitation and hygiene conditions in the Sanaba, Yalog and Gaongo communities in particular. Gorta Self Help Africa set out to:
- Provide equitable access to water for 600 people for human and agricultural use.
- Provide access to sanitation facilities for 150 people.
- Ensure sustainable management of water points.
- Promote good practice in hygiene and sanitation to 1,500 people.
With a donation of €14,000 from Electric Aid, Gorta Self Help Africa had sufficient funds to drill two new boreholes close to the homes of all in the community, this has added countless benefits to the lives of all affected.
On completion, all initial objectives were exceeded, with 730 people getting access to a clean water source and 165 people with improved sanitation facilities. Furthermore, the project reached 1,800 people with their hygiene and sanitation awareness activities including radio broadcasts, community wide group training and home visits. Other benefits of the project include:
- Time to collect water has fallen to less than 30 minutes for 63% of the population in comparison to just 32% at the start of the project.
- The prevalence of diarrhoeal diseases has decreased by 1.14%
- 80% of those trained in hygiene and sanitation practices were found to be using improved hygiene and sanitation practices.
- Increased sense of security for women and reduction in their workload.
Overall, the project was deemed to be highly successful and directly addresses UN Sustainable Development Goal number 6 (Ensure availability and sustainable management of water and sanitation for all) positively impacting the lives of hundreds of people. As always, we would like to thank our generous members, whose selfless donations allowed us to make a difference to the people of Sanaba, Yalog and Gaongo.
Ref: 16-A-016
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