Burkina Faso

In Burkina Faso, women do the heavy lifting: under the sun, back bent working in the fields and plantations. The situation in the country worsened during the peak of the Covid-19 pandemic, but the emergency is not over yet. Health facilities are struggling, suffocating local communities, especially women, who are busy in the fields working and harvesting agricultural products for their livelihood and trade. Despite famine, drought, and desertification that add up to high infant mortality and reduced access to education, women in Burkina Faso are the pillar of rural communities, constituting the majority of the workforce.

Our greatest goal is women empowerment. Therefore, to make the community independent, we are working on a social reforestation project, allowing you to adopt species that are essential for generating an income: Baobab, Shea, Moringa, and Neré. These trees fight desertification, while contributing to the empowerment of Burkinabe women. They can learn how to take care of the trees, and process their fruits to produce oils and butters, useful for both the food and cosmetic industries. Indeed, these trees are planted and managed by the Union de Femmes in Garango. The derived products are sold in the local market, and in the capital, Ouagadogou.

We are also carrying out this project together with AES-CCC, an NGO from Padua, as part of a project funded by the Italian Agency for Development Cooperation. The goal is also to obtain an organic certification, in order to find new sales and distribution channels in Europe as well, particularly for cosmetic-related products such as shea butter, baobab oil, and moringa oil. Thanks to the work of the women’s association, some products have obtained the ECOCERT certification, and are moving to join the fair trade organization. By choosing one of our trees, you will be helping nature and local people. From shea butter to moringa flour, each of our trees has a story to tell. So far 5,000 trees have been planted, but It takes two to tango, so choose your tree!