If we had to translate the word development we would use the expression "somwata" which in the Moore language means "good relationships and benefits increase" and this is precisely the name of the project that sees NutriAid engaged in Burkina Faso alongside local authorities and associations from Piedmont and the Municipality of Saaba, on the outskirts of Ouagadougou, the country's capital.
Burkina Faso is characterized by high levels of poverty and malnutrition among the inhabitants, a situation which is also reproduced in the intervention area which has a high rate of food insecurity, aggravated in recent years by the high population density which has significantly affected the availability of natural and water resources, to which must be added a significant increase in the number of people forced to flee and move within the country - but also beyond national borders - due to increasingly frequent and violent attacks against civilians and security forces at the hands of jihadist groups; according to UNHCR data, 6% of the Burkinabé population is internally displaced. Others have found refuge in neighbouring countries, including Niger which, however, has been experiencing protests, riots and coups since the end of July 2023, further making the region unstable.
To this complex and difficult picture are added repeated attacks by locusts that have brought the country's agriculture to its knees, destroying the crops of recent years.
Local authorities find it very difficult to provide adequate answers to the problems they face daily, lacking the means and skills to be able to intervene in support of the population.
Numerous activities have been implemented to increase the response capacity of local authorities. It is in this framework that two days of training organized by NutriAid on malnutrition, nutrition and hygiene are inserted to provide the population with the tools to create complete, healthy and nutritious dishes with the products that the local market offers and all the precautions to avoid dangerous contamination which can cause life-threatening gastro-intestinal diseases in children.
