Schools in Dori have access to drinking water thanks to water trucking

Amina Dicko is a 14-year-old pupil in CM1 at Nyarala C elementary school in Dori. Originally from Seytenga, she was forced to flee her village two years ago after an attack by armed men left several people dead and nearly 30,000 displaced. Since then, she has lived in Dori with her parents and brothers. This episode in her life was not easy for her but now, Amina is finding her bearings, and has been able to return to school. In her new school, there are 668 internally displaced children including 329 girl like her, out of 7,700 pupils.

“I'm not the only one to have left my village. Here, I've even found some of my friends. Fortunately, I've been able to go back to school with some of them. At first, we weren't very motivated because here in Dori, we face a lot of problems too. At home, it is hard to find enough food. And once at school, it was also difficult to get food and water,” says Amina. 

Insecurity in the Sahel makes it hard to find water in Dori. Several parts of the town have no water, and schools and hospitals have no drinking water.

Maimounata Kabore, Nyarala C Elementary Headmistress remembers how difficult it was to find water in the neighborhood where the school is located.

“We've tried to drill borehole in vain. We were told there wasn’t enough water on the site. With insecurity prevailing, we can't get water any other way and we don't have the means to hire a truck to bring water here”, she explains.

With support from the United Nations Central Emergency Response Fund (CERF), the Government of Burkina Faso, UNICEF and its partners have launched a project to supply drinking water by tanker truck, commonly known as "water trucking", to serve educational and health institutions, as well as communities in the commune of Dori. Every day, 36m3 or 36,000 liters of water are distributed to internally displaced families and host communities, equaling 7.5 liters per person per day. This quantity of water can serve up to 4,800 people per day, following WASH cluster standards of seven liters per person per day. Nyarala C Elementary is always supplied with water, much to Amina's satisfaction.

“We've had water at school for a year now. We come with our water bottles to help ourselves. Thanks to this water, our school is clean and what's more, the school canteen can operate because without water, it's difficult to prepare food”, she says.

The school's regular supply of drinking water and the meals served at the canteen have a positive impact on children's education. Absenteeism has dropped.

“Before, it was difficult for children to come to class. Now they come because, in addition to the education they receive, they can eat and drink at school,” she explains.

In 2023, UNICEF provided access to drinking water, improved sanitation and hygiene promotion in North, Centre-North, Sahel, East, Centre-East and Boucle de Mouhoun, the six regions hardest hit by the crisis. UNICEF has also facilitated the repairing of water points while ensuring water trucking, thus reducing the vulnerability of communities mainly women and children in hard-to-reach areas. 

In total, UNICEF has provided drinking water to 191,553 people including 58% children, thanks to the construction and rehabilitation of water supply systems and the injection of high-flow boreholes into the network of the national water agency, ONEA. In all, 116,772 people in the Centre-Nord and Sahel regions and another 1,415 in the Soussou camp in the Nord region were supplied by water trucking

Supplying households with drinking water reduces women’s burden to walk long distances to collect water and gives them more time for income-generating activities. As a result, their purchasing power increases, and they can better meet the needs of their children and families, which may also increase their power of decision within the community.