When WaterAid began a new project in her community, Josephine took advantage of having access to clean water by starting her own business.
Josephine, age 40, has opened her first shop in the Burkinabe village of Basbedo.
"We had harvests earlier, but it wasn't enough." "Then, one night, I considered what I could do to alter the situation. At that point, I began brewing beer."
Brand-new business
She set up her beer-brewing business two years ago, after WaterAid began a pilot project in Basbedo. The residents of this community, like those in other sub-Sahelian Burkina Faso communities, must suffer a dry season that can last up to eight months of the year, during which time rivers evaporate and groundwater levels fall due to high temperatures. Every year, families are forced by these terrible conditions to search in vain for water or make decisions that, all too often, mean the difference between life and death.
"Before, we only had one borehole. There were lines and even violent conflicts, "Explained by Josephine. "People suffered a lot in the past."
Making beer enables me to care for my kids.
Nearly 3 million people in Burkina Faso lack access to clean water, and every year, 12,000 children under the age of five die from the use of unhygienic toilets and contaminated water. Josephine, like many parents, is driven to increase her family's income by a personal tragedy.
She explains, "I had seven kids, but three of them passed away." "Sometimes those who died experienced both body and stomach pain.
"I didn't have the money available at the time to take kids to the clinic. However, now that I've started manufacturing beer, I have my own money to spend as I like.
A ground-breaking strategy
With the intention of applying this ground-breaking strategy in a total of 14 drought-prone communities in Burkina Faso, we launched our Project Sahel: Water 365 appeal after seeing the astonishing outcomes of our work in Basbedo and the two other villages where the pilot project was held.
This involves not just spending money on infrastructure and expanding access to water, but also educating the populace about water issues. They may then assist their communities in making decisions that will guarantee they have access to water every day of the year by keeping an eye on rainfall and water levels.
This strategy could alter life in the sub-Sahelian region when combined with cooperating with the government to ensure long-term investment in infrastructure and training.
According to Josephine, the new well has improved significantly life for her family. It gives her a steady supply of water for the brewing procedure, which entails combining red millet with water and yeast.
To brew my beer, wash our clothes, and perform all of our other household chores, I need water from the well, she claims.
"We just need to cross the street to go to it; it's not far from here. It helps us a lot. I wouldn't be able to do what I'm doing if we didn't have the well."
By supporting them with financial resources and by meeting vital basic needs such as access to clean drinking water, we offer people from disadvantaged regions the opportunity to discover new innovations and become creative themselves.
As in the case of Josephine, who built up a new business out of necessity and with the few means at her disposal, it gives many people, and especially women, the hope to become active themselves and to take a step towards independence and also to develop new sustainable forms and to simplify life in difficult regions of the world (regions with a lot of poverty, regions that are always hit by natural disasters) or generally make it possible again. Within a generation, the international non-profit organization WaterAid wants everyone to have access to clean water, adequate toilets, and proper hygiene.
WaterAid founded a global federation of member organizations in 2010. They currently consist of seven countries: the US, Australia, Canada, India, Japan, Sweden, and the UK.
Each member organization mobilizes support in its own nation, working with people, businesses, and institutions to collect money and shape regulations to further its goals.
In order to facilitate effective and efficient collaboration among the members of the WaterAid family, WaterAid international was established in 2010. Four guidelines are used:
Principle 1: Global interest. Global interest is of utmost importance, and achieving WaterAid's purpose as effectively as possible is crucial to all they do.
Principle 2: subsidiarity. Only initiatives that WaterAid International can and will carry out more successfully than member nations of WaterAid will be taken on.
Principle 3: One WaterAid, one nation. In each of the nations where WaterAid operates, only one organization will carry out its mission.
Principle 4: The organizations that make up the WaterAid federation will be those who are, or are anticipated to be, self-sufficient and capable of providing substantial resources to the implementation of WaterAid's plan.
More information: https://www.wateraid.org/ca/stories/josephines-beer-brewing-business-in-burkina-faso