Empowering women in the rural village of Napone, Burkina Faso
Background:
The rural community of Napone is an extremely poor rural village even with Burkina Faso standards. Most women still have to grind millet using a polished rock against a huge granite based table. In addition to having to grind millet by hand to make the flour needed to cook for the family, women still have to walk miles to fetch water and wood for cooking in addition to washing the family laundry by hand. Women are extremely poor and do not have any meaningful activity which can allow them to make enough money to buy clothing and the necessary things they need. In addition to the hardship they live on a daily basis, they have to endure polygamy and have to help their husband in cultivating millet in the farms.
The goal of this project is to operate a community-based millet grinding machine which will allow women to grind corn and millet at a much reduced cost, provide employment to women who will operate the machine and also allow women to use the profits from the operation to fund social projects that can benefit them:
Project description:
A millet-grinding machine allows the operator to make flour from corn, millet or sorghum. The flour is then used to cook a mashed dish called sagbo in Burkina Faso. The machine operates with diesel fuel and periodically requires that the millstones be sharpened.
Three women will be trained to operate the machine and will be paid from the revenues generated by operating the mill. A committee created specifically to manage the operation of the millet-grinding machine will oversee all operations: pay, training, repair, operation, etc.
To ensure sustainability of the project, families in the village will be given the opportunity to use the community-grinding machine at a much discounted and competitive price. The generated revenues will be used to:
• Buy diesel fuel and oil to operate the machine
• Periodic sharpening of the millstones
• Maintenance and repair of the machine
• Pay women operating the machine
• Fund small projects which benefit women and the community
Download Millet.pdf
