Water and Environment
The BO Foundation is committed to achieving universal and equitable access to safe and affordable drinking water and sanitation facilities, combating and reversing desertification and land degradation, and reducing the environmental impact of urbanization.
The main objectives of the Water and Environment Program are:
- Promote and engage in activities, events, and projects that improve equitable access to safe and affordable drinking water
- Ensure greater access to safe, clean, and modern sanitation facilities for all, especially women and girls, and people with disabilities
- Promote and engage in activities, events, and projects that increase the share of built up area that is green and open for public use for all
- Promote and engage in activities, events, and projects that reduce the environmental impact of urbanization through waste management and sustainable forest and land management, and other activities that mitigate, control, or reduce the impact of urbanization on the environment
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How BO Foundation Helps
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The BO Foundation’s Village Wells Project was launched in 2016, and since then we have built 4 wells in different communities in Burkina Faso improving access to a safe and reliable drinking source to over 1,200 families. Here is a snapshot of our annual work with the Village Wells Project:
Nessemtenga, Kaya $7,500 pop. Affected: 1,200+
Iryastenga, Kaya $7,500 pop. Affected: 1,200+
Saponé, Soaped $7,500 pop. Affected: 1,200+
Bassemyam $10,000 pop. Affected 1,200+
The communities where the wells are built are much larger than the estimated affected population, however our calculations are based on the actual daily output of the wells.
In 2021 The BO Foundation implemented the Clean Up Burkina project which brings together volunteers from different cities to perform mass street cleanups. The initial clean up was launched in April 2021 in Ouagadougou, the capital of Burkina Faso, to which around 200 volunteers showed up to clean up. The city of Ouagadougou made available dump trucks which were filled by the volunteers and taken to dumping sites by municipal employees. The second clean up later that year was held in the city of Kaya, and attracted over 500 volunteers, mostly internally displaced women, who would come together themselves and form a total of 9 community organizations that periodically organize individual clean up activities. Clean Up Burkina inspires the community, and other than the 9 community organizations that formed as a result of our first clean up in Kaya, at least half a dozen similar organizations have sprung up over the past year in Ouagadougou and Bassemyam. This has led to the cleanup of dozens of hectares of land, some of which has been reincorporated into the city Green Belt program.