On Friday, March 29, 2024, the town of Yako hosted the official launch of the “Health Resilience and Community Adaptability to the Impact of Climate Change in the Northern Region of Burkina Faso” (RSAClim) project. Supported by Inades-Formation Burkina, this project aims to strengthen the adaptation and health resilience of vulnerable communities to the effects of climate change in the northern region of Burkina Faso.
In a country beset by the effects of climate change, it is essential to develop appropriate measures to ensure community resilience. It was with this in mind that the “Resilience Sanitaire et Adaptabilité des communautés à l’impact du changement climatique dans la région du Nord, au Burkina Faso” (RSAClim) project was launched. The project was launched on March 29, 2024 at the Yako youth center in the presence of local authorities and other local development players.
Lasting two years (January 2024 to December 2025) and funded by Foundation S, the RSAClim project is an initiative aimed at strengthening local adaptation and resilience actions in the face of the impact of climate change on the health of vulnerable communities. This project aims to change the way communities adopt healthy and sustainable production practices through the development of market garden production sites, and the integration of preventive gestures, attitudes and behaviors into daily life in the face of diseases linked to climate change.
According to Isidore DELLA, Director of the Inades-Formation Burkina National Office: “Climate change has many impacts on the lives of communities. It not only disrupts the ecosystem, but also has adverse effects on human life. The aim of this project is therefore to help people cope with all the consequences of climate change. In the opinion of Drissa OUÉDRAOGO, 2ème vice-président de la délégation spéciale de la commune de Yako, representing the president of the special delegation at the launch ceremony, noted that “this project, which supports adaptation to the effects of climate change on the health of vulnerable populations, is an innovative initiative”.
The RSAClim project aims to strengthen the food and nutritional security of vulnerable populations, reduce the vulnerability of communities to the prevalence and recurrence of diseases linked to climate change, and increase the availability and accessibility of drinking water and sanitation. A number of actions, such as support for the recovery of degraded land, capacity-building in agro-ecological practices, the development of market garden sites and nutrient gardens, the construction of boreholes with solar pumps, etc., will therefore be deployed to this end.
Awa BAMOGO, representative of the beneficiaries, is delighted and has high hopes for the project. She says: “Because of climate change, our harvests are getting smaller and smaller, and we’re finding it hard to feed ourselves properly. We are regularly faced with cases of malnutrition and malaria, particularly among children. We hope that this project will help us overcome our difficulties, especially with regard to child malnutrition.
As a reminder, the RSAClim project is being implemented in ten villages in the commune of Yako. Its launch therefore marks an important step towards a safer, more resilient future for populations in the face of the health effects of climate change. This project is funded by Foundation S – the Sanofi Collective
Patrice DA
Inades-Formation Burkina
