Nouna is located in the Boucle du Mouhoun region (MHN), one of the 13 regions that make up Burkina Faso and where agriculture employs 90% of the population.

50% of the population is under 25 years old with a life expectancy at birth of less than 60 years. 40% of the population lives below the poverty line, estimated at 153,530 FCFA ($265), making Burkina Faso one of the poorest countries in the world.

The Daughters of Charity in Nouna

The services rendered by the Daughters of Charity in this part of the world are aimed at cohesion within the populations and the unity of families. During the course of the year, more than 500 families were taken care of, especially women, most of whom can only count on themselves to look after their children, while men very often abandon their homes in search of a better life in Mali, Côte d'Ivoire and Ghana.

The Daughters of Charity have at heart to accompany these women who, in spite of the many problems they face, struggle to offer their children a better future.

The project: enabling women to become autonomous through entrepreneurship

These mothers need stability so that they can continue to look after their children on their own. Poverty and terrorist attacks are frequent, but the instability of their daily lives does not hinder their desire to achieve economic and social independence. Our objective is to help them become self-sufficient by giving them access to training to create a microenterprise in the field of their choice and to help them with start-up capital to start and manage their small business.

This project will enable them to take advantage of income-generating activities in order to ensure their basic needs and those of their children.

This project will last between 6 months and 1 year.

It will begin with a period of training in the sale of food products for some of them and in market gardening and farming or animal husbandry for others, depending on their preferred field.

We will accompany each of them in this personalised training first of all, then in the acquisition of products, the setting up of sales areas and the concrete follow-up of the evolution of their micro-enterprise once established.

8 hours of weekly assistance will be offered during the first weeks under the supervision of the Daughters of Charity. We will also help them with a bi-monthly point so that the businesses progress until their owners are perfectly at ease and we will remain present to support them.

We will be 6 people involved in the follow-up of the project, myself, Fr Kisito KONATE, and 4 volunteers Monica COULIBALY, Marcel KIENTEGA, Jean-Claude TRAORE and Roger KABORE.

11 women beneficiaries of the project

Amandine: Married and mother of 5 children. Her husband has no work. She would like to sell food products such as maize in bags.

Edwige: Widow and mother of 7 children. She works on the neighbours' farm to feed her children and pay the bills. We visit her from time to time with some food. She would like to have her own small poultry farm.

Awa: Single mother who had to drop out of school when her baby arrived. Her very poor family has not been able to help her, she cleans for richer people who sometimes don't pay her or only give her a meal. She would like to learn how to sell vegetables.

Sabine: Mother of 4 children, her husband left her for another woman and she fights alone to take care of her little ones. She would like to start selling food products such as bagged beans to support her family.

Marie: Married to Emmanuel who is in a wheelchair and mother of 5 children. Her husband is ironing some laundry for the wealthy people, it is really difficult because he cannot have a job cultivating because of his condition. Marie does not have a job and would like to set up a poultry farm so that she can continue to look after the children while she works.

Berenes: Married and mother of 8 children. After a difficult period for the couple 3 years ago, the husband left for Congo for a better life and never heard from her again. She would like to set up a small shop selling food products (especially local rice).

Zagnalo: First wife of her husband, he now has three wives. He only takes care of his third wife; Zagnalo fights alone to take care of his 5 children. She would like to set up a market garden.

Blandine: A charming and hard-working young woman, she loved to look after her father's sheep. When he died, the sheep were sold to cover the costs of the funeral. She dreams of continuing in this way to help her mother and her siblings.

Julienne: Widowed, she has to look after her 4 children alone. The deceased husband's brother asked her to marry him and when she refused, they took all her possessions and forced her to leave their home. We are following the case to seek justice. She dreams of starting to sell vegetable oil (the basis of cooking in the country).

Rosalie: She is a single mother, she could not finish school to take care of her sick mother. She is very motivated to open a food shop.

Eveline: She lost her parents at the age of 5 and was raised by her aunt. She got married at the age of 19, her husband sent her away from home because of a misunderstanding. By the time we heard about the case, the man had married another woman. She wants to fight and take care of her children and would like to have a sheep farm.

Your donation will help them to integrate professionally and become financially independent.

These women will finally be able to take their destiny into their own hands.

Thank you!