Small project, big impact: US improving lives in Burkina Faso

Aug 31st, 2011 3:28 PM UTC
By ONE Partners

Elaine Kelley of the US Embassy Ouagadougou shares her experience visiting “self help” project sites in Burkina Faso. These projects are making a huge impact on the quality of life for many Burkinabé.

The US Embassy in Ouagadougou, Burkina Faso will hold an Agreements Signing Ceremony in September for the 23 new micro-development projects it will support for small associations and communities in Burkina Faso. They plan to kick-off more than a dozen additional projects this month. These “self help” projects are a great example of how different US government agencies can work together to meet a common goal.

This year, the US African Development Fund contributed $50,000 and $100,000 from their development budgets to support the US Ambassador’s Self Help Fund, which has a huge impact on the quality of life for Burkinabé. As a presidential management fellow from the Federal Emergency Management Agency, I was lucky to be part of the State Department’s team charged with visiting potential project sites across Burkina Faso.

After three hours of off-road driving to one project site, I was greeted by a circle of women, dancing, clapping and singing a welcome song to our delegation. I shook the hands of everyone present, an upwards of 50 villagers gathered in the shade of a large tree for our meeting that day. I noticed how coarse their hands were from a lifetime of hard work on the farm or milling grain. They greeted us with water, and by pulling me into a circle, insisted that I dance with them. They welcomed me as one of their own, and this reception became the norm for me in all corners of this country.

One women’s association in a remote village received a grant for a grain mill so that they can provide enough food for their families, and no longer have to grind grain into flour by hand or walk more than 8 miles per day to and from the nearest village with a mill. Many groups received funding for boreholes or wells –- a way to access potable water. Some villagers are walking 5 miles or more to the closest source of potable water, while others have been drinking water they know is unsafe. Other communities were granted financing for seeds and fertilizer in order to grow vegetables. Not only will this mitigate food insecurity, but it will create revenue for the families to use for their children’s education or health care costs.

Two common themes among all communities I visited was their hospitality toward us and a positive, hardworking spirit. With these grants, we hope to enable these communities to help themselves out of the hardships of poverty. As an American visitor to remote Burkinabé villages, I know I will be memorable to them. But I tried to explain how far more memorable they will be for me.

-Elaine Kelley, Economic Section, US Embassy Ouagadougou

TAGS: Burkina Faso, ONE, ONE App, State Department, USAID