In Burkina Faso, Yaam Solidarité supports vulnerable communities in the Boassa district, in the suburbs of the country’s capital, Ouagadougou, in the rehabilitation of their homes, while promoting the use of local, sustainable construction materials.
Within the framework of the project “Living and living better in the non-housed areas” “Live, and live better in the non-off”, which is funded by the AFD and the Fondation pour le Logement des Défavorisés (FLD), and driven by the NGO Craterre, urbaMonde supports Yaam Solidarity in its consolidation as a member of the urban development and production of the habitat dignified and sustainable in Burkina Faso, in an approach to promoting the use of local and sustainable materials.
The project has also prompted reflection on the implementation of financial mechanisms, land, and organisational structures that are likely to strengthen the capacity of the inhabitants of the informal settlement of Boassa (district 7 of Ouagadougou) to own and develop their living environment.
The establishment of a revolving fund, managed by the Federation of the inhabitants of Burkina Faso, formalized in 2020, and powered by the savings of the inhabitants, is the result of this work.
The project also includes a multi-country component that aims to network existing or emerging residents’ federations in West Africa to promote the exchange of practices and advocacy for the right to decent housing in informal settlements across the sub-region.
In Burkina Faso, urbanisation, uncontrolled growth, and the shortage of urban housing have led to strong informal production and insecurity of land tenure, marked in the housing sector. However, the housing policies focused on the middle class, private property, and the formal sector. The problems of informal housing and the needs of the poorest populations are almost absent from public action, both national and local, and the related statistical data are incomplete. However, according to 2018 data from UN-Habitat, 57% of Burkina Faso’s urban population lives in informal settlements, and 21% of households live in unplanned areas.
Progress
In 2022, urbaMonde participated in various activities within the project. In March, a support mission partner, Yaam Solidarity, has been working with the team to meet clients and attend meetings with new groups of people requesting their integration into the Russian Federation.
A multi-country meeting also took place in March in Canchungo, Guinea-Bissau, bringing together representatives of the federations of Senegal, Togo, the Ivory Coast, Guinea-Conakry, Guinea-Bissau, and Burkina Faso. This meeting helped to lay the foundations of a confederation of the inhabitants of the WAEMU zone.
In September, a mission to bring together the representatives of the group responsible for implementing the project, “Dwell and Live Better in the Non-Off,” took place in Ouagadougou. It has allowed the partners to work on the final phase of the three-year project (evaluation and funding) and to prepare for the next phase, to be submitted to donors (2023-2026).
