This July 24, 2020 was held at OCADES Bobo-Dioulasso, a training session on prevention and protection measures against the corona virus disease. Initiated by Solidar Suisse, as part of the “project to support people’s resilience to Covid-19 in Burkina Faso”, the training, whose main target was leaders from ten (10) development organizations in the Hauts-Bassins region, was attended by some fifty participants.
It was in strict compliance with barrier measures that this training course was held for facilitators on the best attitudes to adopt in the face of coronavirus disease. As reference points for communities at grassroots level, they will act as relays to raise awareness, inform and make people understand the need to observe barrier measures. The facilitators come from ten (10) grassroots community organizations in the region’s three (3) provinces. At the outset, Valentin ILBOUDO, deputy coordinator of Solidar Suisse Burkina Faso, welcomed all participants on behalf of his organization. He assured everyone that his organization, beyond this training, would be permanently with the beneficiaries to follow their awareness-raising work in the field as part of the fight against COVID-19. “You are our relays, our respondents in the provinces, and we know we can count on you to protect our communities”, he reassures us. Following the deputy coordinator, Yamba Louis NIKIEMA, Head of the Education Division at Solidar Suisse, explained the background to the emergence of the pandemic and the actions undertaken by the NGO to support the protection of the population. For him, “with COVID-19 having taken hold in Burkina Faso since the beginning of March, Solidar Suisse, as an NGO working for the development of populations, deemed it necessary to take an interest in this pandemic with the aim of helping populations to better understand and above all create resilience against the pandemic.”
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Solidar Suisse and its partners in battle against corona virus disease.
LEARNING TO UNDERSTAND AND PASS ON
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Solidar Suisse works with a number of organizations across the country on education, in particular the Literacy and Inclusive Training of Young People aged 09 to 15 for Development (AFIDE) program. The training was led by Monica SANOU, a pedagogue and specialist in adult education. The first involved learning about the disease itself. The second, aimed at helping participants understand how to protect themselves against the disease, focused on barrier gestures. The third axis focused on the use of the image box, a communication tool that will enable facilitators to raise awareness through the use of tailor-made illustrations.
For trainer Monica SANOU, who led the training from start to finish in the Dioula national language, ” each learner has a mandate to raise awareness in his or her area of intervention. Each learner will be equipped with materials that will enable them to raise awareness of Covid-19 and make their community understand that this disease really does exist, and that they need to take theappropriate precautionsto protectthemselves and avoid its spread “. In the opinion of the participants, who came from Orodara, Houndé, Léna, Faramana, Dogoni, Toussiana, Bobo-dioulasso etc., this training was crucial and eagerly awaited. According to Germaine DEMBELE, many people in the villages play down the existence of the disease, and there is a lax attitude towards respecting barrier measures. That’s why this training, which has enabled them to master all the contours of this pandemic and how to guard against it, will enable them to criss-cross all the villages and farming hamlets of their locality to spread the message and thus contribute to breaking the chain of contamination and eradicating this evil. This view is shared by all the trainees, who have pledged to be true relays of awareness within their communities. In addition to the training, a large consignment of equipment was handed over to numerous organizations and institutions in the region. Governor Antoine ATIOU received these donations for the benefit of the local population.
DROTECTION EQUIPMENT TO BOOST RESILIENCE POPULATIONS
Alongside the training of facilitators, Solidar Suisse has donated a large consignment of equipment to a number of organizations and institutions in the Hauts-Bassins region. The governor
Antoine ATIOU, who received these donations for the benefit of his population. The governorate of the Hauts-Bassins region received the Solidar Suisse delegation in fine rain, accompanied by representatives of their partners in the region’s three (3) provinces. The aim of the visit was to provide the region, through its development structures and educational institutions, with suitable equipment to protect against the corona virus disease. The equipment, valued at 25 million CFA francs, is intended for the elderly, internally displaced persons, places of worship and markets, educational structures and animators working to raise awareness of the disease. On receiving the material, the Governor pointed out that ” we need to redouble our efforts, because all around us, in neighboring countries in particular, we are seeing peaks in the corona virus, and it is important for us to keep up the fight to prevent this disease. That’s why, “on behalf of the regional epidemic management committee, I would like to thank Solidar Suisse for this gesture of solidarity towards those most in need”. Both the training and the donation ceremony in Bobo-Dioulasso are part of the “ Covid-19 resilience support project in Burkina Faso”. The project covers six (6) regions: Plateau Central, Centre-North, Centre-East, North, Sahel and, of course, Hauts-Bassins. Micheline OUAMEGA, Head of the Decent Work Division at Solidar Suisse, believes that similar activities, followed by donation ceremonies, will also be organized in these regions. She also urges the population to remain vigilant and rigorously apply the barrier measures laid down by the health authorities.
