Photo credit: Dramane Sessouma
With the support of the Organisation Internationale de la Francophonie (OIF), Action Education is developing the Formation au Service du Leadership Féminin (FORSELF) project in Ouagadougou. On 12 September 2022, the association's teams handed over grants to finance the business plans of 30 women taking part in the project.
In Burkina Faso, there are many obstacles to female entrepreneurship (illiteracy, low levels of education and qualifications, difficulties in accessing credit, psychological barriers, etc.). Action Education has set up a vocational training project in the capital's tenth arrondissement specifically for women who have no education. FORSELF enables them to learn a trade and take part in income-generating activities.
Building confidence and the desire to act
The technical training courses are organised around 9 trades (processing local products, recycling fabric, weaving, sewing, soap-making, stove-making, hairdressing, catering and pastry-making). Participants also have their skills enhanced in the areas of public relations, marketing, social networks and management (drawing up business plans, financial services, etc.). The association's teams support the young women to give them the confidence and desire to take action, and also raise community awareness of the benefits of developing women's work.
Grants totalling FCFA 9,770,500 (€14,895) to support the development of individual businesses were handed over on 12 September at the Maison de la Femme in Ouagadougou. The 30 participants in phase 2 of the project (which will train a total of 400 women) received these grants, enabling them to run their businesses successfully.
Highly committed participants who attend training sessions regularly
Madame Ouédraogo, president of CARTPL (Collectif des Associations des Restauratrices et Transformatrices de Produits Locaux) explains: "We trained 5 women for a month in food processing. This involved making juice from monkey bread [baobab fruit], tamarind and lianas. The training also covered the production of monkey bread biscuits, ice cream, peanut paste and sweet and savoury peanuts. The women were very committed and assiduous at the training sessions".
Félicité Compaoré, who works in hairdressing, is very satisfied with the training she received: "The training covered weaving, nail placement, the mat, the different cuts, braids, additions and plating. This has enabled me to improve my services and satisfy the increasingly demanding clientele. The amount received [from the grant] will be used to purchase equipment. My heartfelt thanks go to the people behind the project".
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