Burkina Faso – Access to Water

Partnership with Water Shed Management

In partnership with the  NGO “Water Shed Management” AMURT initiated a new program aimed at finding ways to collect surface water (rain water) and prevent  runoff. In collaboration with the communities we established varieties of small check dams, repaired existing dams, created basins to gather the water from around trees and the surfaces of crop fields. We also performed further studies on the bouli project (see below) which requires sponsors to proceed.

The Bouli Project

A dream for the future…“Bouli” is a word used in the local language to describe an artificial pond. A bouli contributes to the storage of rain-water and allows the local ecosystem to be recreated through the planting of trees; it regenerates the soil and flora at its perimeter and provides  greater access to underground water (instead of pumping it out through bore hole and endangering the whole ecosystem). Most importantly it will permit vegetable gardens during the dry season. This will make vegetables available for consumption and will help provide an income to 60 families. Sales will be managed by women and this should empower them significantly.

For all these reasons, we decided last year to rehabilitate an old bouli (dug by our late Dada Rudreshvaranda in 1993!) that the sands have now obstructed. We also plan to dig another pond just nearby to provide the cattle with water during the long dry season.