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Pinoussha
Produce, Educate, Feed, Heal, Dress
Origin of the project
The Pinoussha project is based on a 5-year partnership aimed at promoting the development of a growth center in Bilinga. For this, Échange Nord Sud works in close collaboration with the IFAP and Qatar Charity associations, the village committee of Bilinga and the local authorities, mainly the Northern Regional Council and the town hall of Oula. This project was set up at the request of a member of the IFAP association who heard about the association's achievements in Senegal ( Valorization of the Mahon forest ).
Agriculture in Burkina Faso is traditional, rainfed and of the extensive type (ie totally dependent on the rains). In the northern region of Burkina Faso, the villagers are faced with major agro-environmental problems linked mainly to the desertification of the land as well as the alarming drop in rainfall. Thus, crops are only possible 3 months a year and the rest of the year the villagers lack food but also a sustainable economic activity.
Towards a change in agricultural and food behavior: The Sahelian bocage
The Pinoussha project aims to restore the desertified soils of the region by introducing a new agricultural system: the Sahelian bocage.
So that our future actions are best adapted to this new area of intervention, we got in touch with the Pilot Farm of Guiè then that of Filly having already experimented with these techniques.
The concept is based on the creation of bocage perimeters in co-ownership, comprising individual plots and commons whose management is organized around a land grouping of beneficiaries. The result is a completely restored environment where agriculture is no longer synonymous with erosion, where livestock farming is no longer synonymous with overgrazing and where trees and shrubs are harmoniously integrated into the environment. The hedging of the rural space makes it possible to solve the problems linked to this extensive agriculture.
In consultation with the partners, it was agreed that a Growth Center would be built in Bilinga around the creation of several water reservoirs (five reservoirs over 5 years) near which plots, individual and collective, over 25 hectares. To date, a water reservoir has already been created by the villagers: always with the will that the local populations take over the projects, it is the villagers themselves who have dug the reservoir against partial remuneration from ENS. A pumping system will allow the irrigation of the plots for market gardening or off-season crops. Other plots will be allocated to livestock, other set aside to allow the regeneration of the land.
So that the change in agricultural behavior initiated through the center fully benefits the populations of Bilinga, the emphasis will be on raising awareness of health behaviors and more responsible waste management. The actors involved in the various activities of the farm will thus be trained in order to maximize the sharing of skills with the other villages benefiting from the center. The establishment of the ALIMENTERRE Film Festival in the region is a means of raising awareness that has already proven itself in Senegal and which will complement the work started within the Centre.
Project follow up
For the project to be carried out as well as possible, all activities will be carried out jointly by the village committee, IFAP and Échange Nord Sud. Everything will be managed collectively and transparently. To do this, we have launched the administrative procedures for the creation of an GIE (Economic Interest Grouping). This GIE will be endowed with a financial contribution from IFAP and ENS and land from the village committee.
Results objectives as well as verifiable indicators have been defined and are regularly updated thanks to our partners and during our travels (number of people trained (certificate); quantity cultivated, etc.
The July 2015 trip showed the progress of the project, the water reservoir having been completed a few weeks before our arrival. To our great surprise, the villagers had already started planting, without waiting for the donation of seeds, provided for in the budget! For us, this is proof that the local population is taking over the project. In addition, the training in the various techniques provided by the agricultural technician employed in the centre, as well as the cooperation with the pilot farms of Guiè and Filly seem to have borne fruit: the villagers voluntarily attempted to set up rice cultivation in more of their classical cultures. They therefore took an initiative by trying to bet on a different culture to which they are not accustomed.
This village involvement allowed us to leave confident of the sustainability of the project whose central objective is the empowerment of the local population.