Discover our clean cookstove project in Burkina Faso with Radio France International!

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Livelihoods is investing in a new project: energy efficient cookstoves in Burkina Faso that will combat desertification. This project, which started at the end of 2014, will teach women how to make their own eco-friendly household cookstoves with banco, a mix of clay and straw. This very durable stove will allow the reduction of wood consumption by up to 60% in villages where wood is becoming a rarity.

Thanks to an extensive network of 2,000 women-leaders in these villages who will run training sessions on how to fabricate the stoves, this project will benefit more than 30,000 households in a region that is severely threatened by desertification. It will also contribute to improving the lives of women who have to walk long distances daily to collect wood and who are exposed to noxious fumes and smoke produced by the traditional stoves while cooking.

unnamedLivelihoods’ field coordinator Stéphane Perrier with the project beneficiaries

Burkina Faso is a poor landlocked country in the Sahel region with limited natural resources. Deforestation is particularly severe in the country’s arid north, which receives little rain and is menaced by desertification. With 80% of energy needs in the country fueled by firewood, Burkina Faso’s deforestation rate is alarmingly high.

This project is being implemented in the field by the Burkinabé NGO Tiipaalga. It will cover 222 villages in the provinces of Bam and Loroum in the country’s north. Additionally, it will generate 700,000 tons of carbon credits during the 10-year life span of this project!

Discover this project by listening to a colorful radio report from the program “C’est pas du vent” on Radio France International (RFI) presented by Anne-Cécile Bras here (in French): 

 

Watch the video report by Radio France International here (in French):