Burkina Faso: Bringing smiles to flood-affected communities in the North and Centre-North regions

By Mohamed El Habib Cissé, Communication and Advocacy Officer

Sitting on her djembe with a smile on her face, Aminata is in perfect harmony with her surroundings. With her tiny hands, she taps her instrument as hard as she can to get her friends dancing.We're in Sector 2 of Yako (Northern Region of Burkina Faso), on the site of the child-friendly mobile space. Here, children can meet and do fun activities together. "We can see that the children are very happy. Some of them even ask us if the activities will continue because they feel fulfilled when they come to participate in activities such as dancing, singing, skipping rope, etc", said Idrissa Tougma, the trainer.

As part of the implementation of the project “Reducing the vulnerability of populations to flooding in the North and Centre-North regions by providing an anticipated multi-sectoral response”, several mobile child-friendly spaces were set up in Yako, Gourcy, Ouahigouya, Kongoussi, Boulsa and Kaya. This activity was carried out with the support of regional social action departments, and reached more than 2,752 children.

In Schools A and B in Sector 2 of Yako (Northern Region), the implementation of this emergency project enabled the distribution of 100 school and food kits to the pupils, helping them to keep up with school activities and overcome difficulties at the beginning of the school year. 

Blandine, student from the elementary class level 2, told the project teams:

"I am happy because I received a bag, school supplies and food. I thank World Vision".

Mr. Illy, the school principal, added: “

The distribution of the kits was mainly concerned internally displaced (IDP) children, who are numerous in the school. This will bring some relief to the families. We're still going to ask World Vision and other partners to broaden their scope of action by supporting the school canteen, to enable the pupils to work with more serenity.”

This project was implemented through a consortium between World Vision and ACTED, with funding from Start Fund. The project covered various sectors, such as WASH, shelter and basic household items, food security, education, protection, health and nutrition through capacity building, distribution and awareness raising activities, either face to face or through mass media.

“We have carried out a number of activities to help people affected by the floods. More than 204,000 people were reached by this multi-sectoral project. If we've achieved these results, it's partly thanks to the involvement of the stakeholders, in particular the decentralized state services at provincial and regional level, for the success of the project,” said Ange Koumaré, project manager. She added that the implementation of this project was a great challenge for the teams, who demonstrated their ability to work in an emergency context to improve the quality of life of vulnerable communities. 

Some key results of the project:

1,200 school kits distributed 

600 food kits distributed

150 hygiene kits distributed

120 surgical kits distributed

2,740 infants flour kits distributed