A presentation on women farmers in West Africa will be given by a woman with first-hand knowledge of the pilot project.
Lydia Tapsoba, a gender specialist from Burkina Faso, will be at the Vernon branch of the Okanagan Regional Library Wednesday, Sept. 27, at 6:30 p.m., to present information about the innovative project.
The talk is free, and open to the public.
“Lydia will be presenting information and results of a 15-month experimental project in 2020-21,” said Vernon’s Gabriel Newman, who is board vice-president for World Neighbours Canada, an organization which funded the project with a grant from Global Affairs Canada’s Fund for Innovation and Transformation (FIT). It was FIT who also provided funds to allow World Neighbours Canada to share the results of the projects.
“We are thrilled that Lydia is able to come to Canada to speak about the project and introduce a video.”
For the FIT project, Tapsoba provided information to lead gender training workshops for the beneficiary women and their families. She led focus groups and designed surveys during the project to help better understand the gender equality situation in the area.
Tapsoba lives in Burkina Faso’s capital, Ouagadougou, but has visited the project area many times and has first-hand knowledge of the challenges faced by rural women in the area and throughout Burkina Faso.
Following discussions with women in the rural eastern region of Burkina Faso, the pilot partner organization APDC implemented activities with 110 women to allow each woman to set up and manage a household sheep-fattening enterprise.
APDC provided training in basic bookkeeping, techniques in the care of the animals, how to choose an animal at the local livestock market, and entrepreneurial training – the traits of a successful business person. A key element of the project was engaging family members, and their embrace of the project was one of the highlights.
Following a short video, Tapsoba will participate in a facilitated discussion about the challenges and potential of economic empowerment of women farmers in a region affected by an increasingly unpredictable climate and frequent attacks by terrorists.
World Neighbours Canada was founded in Oliver 25 years ago. It supports remote communities in Burkina Faso, Nepal, and Honduras.
For more information, contact Judy Gray at judyworldneighbours@gmail.com or visit the World Neighbours Canada website at worldneighbours.ca.
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