U-Reporters deliver water to people in Barsalogho and promote social cohesion
Young and committed, Mamounata works tirelessly for social change and the well-being of her community in her country, Burkina Faso.
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Young and committed, Mamounata aged 20 works tirelessly to bring social change and well-being to her community in her country, Burkina Faso.
Mamounata has made delivering water her hobby to help improve access to water and hygiene in her community and thus promote social cohesion in the commune of Barsalogho, in the Centre-Nord region of Burkina Faso. Barsalogho is now home to over 89,000 internally displaced people, more than 80 per cent of the population of the commune.
"We travel than three kilometers away to fill the water cans for the most vulnerable populations. Every day distribute water to internally displaced families in various locations. We also distribute water to host families," says Mamounata, who has lived in Barsalogho for three years.
In Burkina Faso, the humanitarian and security crisis has forced people to flee their villages and has increased difficulties in accessing essential services, including water. As of October 2022, 58 attacks on water points were carried out by unidentified armed groups in 23 different localities, and in seven localities, water services were interrupted due to attacks on electricity pylons. In total, more than 800,000 people have lost access to clean water due to these attacks. This situation is further exacerbated by the scarcity of water due to the negative impact of climate change.
"In the past there were tensions at the water pumps between displaced people and local residents. It was really difficult," Mamounata laments. "Water points are quite far, so many displaced people were afraid to travel far to fetch water due to the risk of being attacked, having their carts or water cans taken away or even being beaten."
Faced with this situation, Mamounata in collaboration of 14 other young U-Reporters, decided to take action to address this problem. Thanks to the support provided by UNICEF and the Technical Alliance for Development Assistance (ATAD), they organized themselves into sub-groups to go directly to water points, refill household water cans and dispatch them by tricycles to provide the same amount of water to all families in need.
"In order to ease tensions, we also give water to the local residents who come to the water point, so that after the water is transported, there is no negative impact on the internally displaced people," she adds. According to Salifou Rabo, field coordinator at ATAD: "Every day, we manage to supply water to 300 households. The young people fill the water cans, and the tricycles are responsible for transporting the water to internally displaced households and host families."
Beyond providing water for her community, Mamounata and her peers are committed to raising awareness about hygiene. "Every morning when we go to collect the water cans, we first educate the community about hygiene." Salifou Rabo adds, "the U-reporters engage with community relays to raise awareness. They gather the women, check if the water cans are clean before taking them on board to fetch water. The results are very visible, because when we ask for clean water cans, in less than 30 minutes women are able to provide more than 150 very clean cans. They have adopted hygiene measures."
Since the beginning of the humanitarian crisis, UNICEF and its partners, alongside the Government, have been working to provide rapid response assistance to save the lives of communities by ensuring access to water, sanitation and hygiene, including monitoring the quality of water supplied mainly through water trucking in areas with high water deficit. Other key interventions include supplying dignity and hygiene kits as well as raising awareness on hygiene and building the capacity of community members on hygiene promotion. In 2022, 36,155 people gained access to water in Barsalogho and 10,934 internally displaced people gained access to water through water supply in the last six months of 2022.
