Pô A delegation from the European Union (EU) visited, Thursday October 19, 2023, localities of the Pô-Nazinon-Sissili ecological complex (PONASI) and interacted with those involved in the implementation of PONASI projects 2 and Resilient Communities in order to immerse themselves in the actions carried out by these projects that it financially supports.
The European Union (EU) was, on Thursday, following in the footsteps of the achievements of the PONASI 2 and Resilient Communities projects, the implementation of which benefits from its financial support to the tune of 4,415,000 euros, or approximately 3 billion CFA francs.
The delegation, led by the Head of EU Cooperation in Burkina Faso, Diego Escalona, visited the achievements in the area of intervention of the said projects carried out by a consortium of NGOs, including the Guardian Angels of Nature (AGN) . These are the PONASI protected areas, an ecological complex shared between the Centre-South, Centre-East and Centre-West regions, which brings together the Pô national park (PNKT – Kaboré Tambi National Park), the Nazinga and the Sissili classified forest.
The factory for processing cassava into by-products such as attiéké, tapioca and gari, under construction in the village of Tiakané (Nahouri province), was one of the sites visited by the delegation. This is a unit whose start-up is planned, in principle, for December 2023, and which will create 80 direct jobs and produce 2 tons of attiéké, or 4 tons of cassava per day, before reaching its full planned production capacity of 10 tons of attiéké, or 20 tons of cassava per day, explained the executive director of the NGO AGN, Benjamin Bassono.
According to Mr. Bassono, the idea behind the construction of the factory is to provide alternative income following aid from partners, to continue the activities of securing protected areas, to create direct and indirect jobs for host communities, strengthen the income of cassava producers locally and nationally, and make cassava-derived products available to consumers in sufficient quantity and quality.
In addition to visiting the implementation sites, the European Union delegation interacted with stakeholders in the implementation of the PONASI 2 and Resilient Communities projects. The meeting brought together administrative authorities, representatives of the defense and security forces, representatives of the associative structures involved, beneficiaries and representatives of the structures responsible for implementing the two projects.
Concerning the PONASI 2 project, the Executive Director of AGN confided that it reinforces the achievements of the PONASI 1 project which has come to an end and which made it possible to reduce the vulnerability of the complex, to support the improvement of its natural capital and to increase the resilience of local communities. He cited, as an example of the achievements of PONASI 2 in progress, the reinforcement of rolling means and equipment of the security operations center, human resource training, security patrols and support for production. vegetable like cassava. In summary, for the first semester of implementation of the PONASI 2 project, we note an overall physical achievement rate of 47% with a budgetary consumption rate of 39%, said Benjamin Bassono.
As for the Resilient Communities project, he indicated that it enabled the implementation of activities enabling the strengthening of social cohesion and social organization, the development of income-generating activities and the establishment of social safety nets.
For the head of European Union Cooperation in Burkina Faso, the management of the PONASI 2 and Resilient Communities projects gives reasons for satisfaction. “We are very satisfied with what we saw. Despite a complicated situation in the PONASI complex, there are significant activities being carried out to protect the area, but also and importantly, in support of local populations,” declared Diego Escalona.
Continuing, he suggested that the European Union remains committed to continuing its support for the implementation of the two projects and, at their end, to discussing “opportunities or financing needs that there could be for continue to support this region.”
Officially launched in April 2023, the “PONASI 2” and “Resilient Communities” projects cover a period of 24 months and 35 months respectively. With the PONASI 1 project, a total of 8 million euros, or approximately 5 billion 300 million CFA francs, is being invested by the European Union to secure the PONASI complex and strengthen the resilience of communities. local residents.
Source: Burkina Information Agency