The RESICOM project aims to improve women’s incomes through the AVEC self-financing approach.
With a view to facilitating the adoption and appropriation of this AVEC (Association villageoise d’épargne et de crédit) approach by its beneficiaries, the RESICOM project intends to take advantage of the support of endogenous coaches.
To this end, from September 15 to 18, 2022, the local animators responsible for monitoring the project’s activities at communal level were given training in the techniques and various key stages involved in setting up and running AVEC groups.
Over the course of the 04 days, participants went through the various key stages in the operation of an AVEC group: contacting local community leaders, creating the AVEC group, electing board members, drawing up and applying internal regulations, meetings to collect contributions, grant loans, reimburse funds and share the funds collected.
Interviewed at the end of the training, Mr. Eli ZERBO, RESICOM project coordinator in the TOUGAN commune, confided : “I’ve come away from this training well-equipped in the techniques and different stages of setting up and running AVEC groups. The knowledge I’ve acquired will enable me to easily coordinate the implementation and follow-up of AVEC groups in my commune”.
Mr. Alain KAMBOULET, AVEC specialist and trainer of this session, expressed his satisfaction with the level of participation and understanding of the participants.
In his closing remarks, Mr. SOME, RESICOM Project Manager, urged participating facilitators to put the knowledge acquired into practice to ensure the success of AVEC groups and the improvement of women’s incomes in the project’s intervention zones.
As a reminder, the aim of the RESICOM project is to contribute to the sustainable strengthening of the resilience of agro-silvopastoral households, including that of IDPs, affected by the security crisis and climate change in the North and Boucle du Mouhoun regions. The AVEC groups were set up in response to the need to facilitate women’s access to financing (without the need for prior collateral) to carry out income-generating activities and improve their families’ living conditions. The project is being implemented by the Solidar Suisse-SOS Sahel International Burkina Faso consortium in collaboration with local partners: Organisation Catholique pour le Développement et la Solidarité – Dédougou (OCADES/Dédougou) for the Boucle du Mouhoun region and the Fédération des Professionnels Agricoles du Burkina – Yatenga (FEPAB) for the Nord region. The project, which covers twenty communes in both regions, is financed by the Danish government through its new strategic framework for bilateral cooperation between Denmark and Burkina Faso for the period 2021-2025.
