Improvement of sanitation in rural areas (Burkina Faso)

The case study focused on the rural commune of Béré located in the province of Zoudwéogo. It emerges from the diagnosis that 15 markets out of the 17 markets in total, 27 mosques out of the 44, 8 churches out of the 15 and 7 schools out of the 32, do not have latrines. For the low rate of public places that have them, there are more than 50% of these latrines that are in poor condition. These latrines are also dirty and poorly maintained. No public place in the villages of the municipality of Béré has grey water management structures and good hygiene practices such as hand washing are not part of the habits of more than 80% of users. Among the solutions formulated to improve this situation, we can retain in the short term, the mobilization of funds and awareness-raising activities at the local level to solve the problem of unsanitary conditions in public places. Those in charge of public places as well as the municipality could commit to this. In the medium term, the effective construction of sanitation facilities should be initiated in all public places, considering the standards and criteria for access to sanitation in force. To do so, a real commitment from the entire population and all actors working in sanitation is needed. At the same time as the construction of works is implemented, information, education and communication activities should be carried out, in order to encourage the populations to change their behaviour in the long term. The fundraising strategy is based on fundraising through special contributions at each public place, and also on mobilization for community work to build latrines.