Burkina/Boucle du Mouhoun: Lasso Santé and Lasso WaSH projects officially launched

It's now official: the launch of the Lasso Santé and Lasso WaSH projects in the Boucle du Mouhoun region. The official launch ceremony for these projects took place on Friday January 10, 2025 in the commune of Boromo. These projects aim to bring relief to the populations of the Boucle du Mouhoun region. They are being implemented by the Belgian Development Agency (Enabel), with financial support from the European Union to the tune of over seven billion CFA francs.

In its development policy, the Burkinabe government benefits from the support of several partners and NGOs. These development players support the country's authorities in a number of sectors, notably through innovative projects. It is in this context that Enabel, the Belgian Development Agency, has been implementing governmental cooperation between Burkina Faso and the Kingdom of Belgium since 1999. It also acts through several programs financed by the European Union and implemented in close collaboration with local authorities and local and international partners.

Faced with the security and humanitarian crisis that the country has been experiencing over the past few years, the government is in dire need of support from all stakeholders to meet the various challenges it faces, namely to provide better living conditions for its people at all levels. In order to make its contribution, Enabel is receiving support from the European Union for the implementation of two projects on the resilience of basic social services in the Boucle du Mouhoun region.

Worth a total of nearly 7.3 billion CFA francs, these two projects aim to "contribute to the resilience of the healthcare system by strengthening the accessibility, adaptability, inclusiveness and quality of healthcare services for the populations of the Boucle du Mouhoun regionand to "contribute to strengthening the resilience of populations, in particular women, girls and displaced persons in the Boucle du Mouhoun".es de la Boucle du Mouhoun par le renforcement de la qualité, de l'accessibilité et de l'inclusivité des services d'eau potable, d'hygiène et d'assainissement".

The two projects cover the health districts of Dédougou and Boromo, and are based on an integrated territorial approach, a human rights-based approach, and a gender-transformative approach, with women, men and children as the final beneficiaries.final beneficiaries are women, men, young girls and boys from the Boucle du Mouhoun region, including internally displaced persons (IDPs) and the region's host populations, as well as vulnerable people. The ceremony was organized to inform local, national and international opinion of the effective start-up of these projects, and also to celebrate the good partnership relations linking the various players. It was marked by speeches and presentations on the projects, followed by discussions.

Supporting the Burkinabe government

In his speech, Jozef Noordholland De Jong, representative of Enabel Burkina Faso's Country Director, began by thanking the European Union for its renewed confidence in Enabel to implement these two projects. He also acknowledged the government's various efforts in the fields of health and WaSH. "Although the country is going through particular times, the government has today succeeded, thanks to innovative strategies, in responding to the needs of the people of Burkina. I have no doubt that the Lasso projects will contribute to improving people's access to health, water, hygiene and sanitation services," he said.

He went on to stress the importance of these projects, which he believes are in line with the government's priorities and the needs of the population, particularly in the Boucle du Mouhoun region. In practical terms, this will involve equipping the various health centers benefiting from the projects with equipment, in particular medical-technical material, medical equipment and medical equipment.technical equipment, ambulances, medicines, digitization of services, as well as training and capacity-building for healthcare staff. A single center for the management of sexual and gender-based violence will also be set up, anchored in the health system. There are also plans to equip schools and health centers in the project's communes with drinking water supply infrastructure, sanitation facilities and hygiene equipment, etc.

In addition to these two projects, Enabel is supporting other projects in Burkina Faso with funding from the European Union, as well as from the Kingdom of Belgium. The Lasso Santé and Lasso WaSH projects are part of an overall European Union program known as the OKDB Program or OKDB Triangle (Ouagadougou-Koudougou-Dédougou-Bobo-Dioulasso). The program covers three regions of Burkina Faso: Boucle du Mouhoun, Hauts-Bassins and Centre-Ouest. According to Marc Duponcel, Head of Cooperation at the European Union Delegation, the program covers a variety of areas designed to support and strengthen the resilience of populations in these regions, particularly the most vulnerable and internally displaced.

"It's an ambitious program worth nearly 88 billion CFA francs, of which these two projects are a part. These two projects, with their slightly different themes, work in a highly integrated way," he said. At the same time, he expressed the hope that the Lasso projects would contribute to improving people's access to health, water, hygiene and sanitation services.

The projects' initiative hailed by the administrative authority

The project launch ceremony was presided over by the Governor of the Boucle du Mouhoun region, Pierre Bassinga, who praised the initiative. He announced that 17 communes in the region would be affected by these "important projects". "It's an integrated package of services that will be implemented in these 17 communes, and we are giving the utmost seriousness to their progress, because the populations need these projects to consolidate their resilience. These projects are fully in line with the priority actions of the country's highest authorities, as set out in the four pillars of the action plan for stabilization and development", he emphasized.

He went on to point out that these projects, which will facilitate access to water for the population, will enable the implementation of the agropastoral and fisheries offensive, a vast development program aimed at achieving food sovereignty in Burkina Faso. He therefore paid tribute to the European Union for this "healthy partnership" through Enabel. He also pledged the readiness of his local administration to support the implementation of these projects for the benefit of the local population. The projects are scheduled to run for four years. Starting in 2024 with a preparation phase, they will end in 2027.

Source: lefaso.net/