1. Beyond the End of the Road
with Natalie Elwell
Associate Vice President
Action Learning Communication & Gender
World Neighbors, Inc.
Burkina Faso:
Not all who wander are lost…

2. Three years ago I traveled to Burkina Faso
Natalie’s Travels in Burkina Faso
for the first time. This was an emotionally
difficult trip as, despite visiting during the
harvest season, the poverty was the most
extreme I’d seen.
World Neighbors had recently begun
working in several new communities
situated far from even a dirt road. These
communities suffered from a severe lack of
natural resources: water, fuel wood, soil, As distant drums beat
compounded by natural hardships: draught, in anticipation of our
arrival we feared we
insect infestations, and soil erosion to name would be stuck until
a few. If that weren’t bad enough, the dry season. The
government services such as health care, villagers eventually
infrastructure and education rarely made came and pushed us
their way to these remote villages. to the footpath
leading to their
village.

3. Burkina Faso has one of the highest infant and
child, as well as maternal mortality rates in
Africa. Imagine traversing a day or more along
Natalie’s Travels in Burkina Faso
those gullied paths to access a health clinic
when complications arise while delivering your
baby in your home, or carrying a child sick
with malaria or diarrhea on a bike, or donkey
cart if you’re lucky. A packed mud slab in a
thatch-covered hut served
World Neighbors works with communities to as a birthing and pre and
establish village health centers and to train post-natal care center in
volunteer community health workers to many villages – often
recognize danger signs during pregnancy, and built as an outpost for
to provide information on improved nutrition, government health
personnel. Lydia Tapsoba
hygiene and disease prevention. Zanze, pictured, is World
Nutrition surveys and health center records Neighbors West Africa
show that this strategy is working to reduce Area Health Coordinator.
disease, increase child nutrition and the
number of births attended by professionals in a
clinic.

4. While geographic remoteness marginalizes
these villages, patriarchal traditions marginalize
Natalie’s Travels in Burkina Faso
women within their villages. Even when
healthcare is available women were often not
permitted to use family funds to access the
services.
An assessment of women’s status in new These women were
illiterate and only able to
program areas revealed that the value of communicate in their
women was on par with that of a mule. village dialect,, one of
Although I noticed that while the mules had many factors isolating
padding on their burdened backs, women’s them from inter-village
were bare. and market activities.
Women’s heavy workload was but one barrier
to their participation in development activities.
When I met these women three years ago they
were so shy and insecure they wouldn’t even
tell us their names. They knew their lives were
difficult, they just thought that was a woman’s
lot.

5. World Neighbors programs had made some
advances in the status of women involved in our
programs, but in 2005 we initiated an effort to
Natalie’s Travels in Burkina Faso
strengthen our work in this regard. With the
support of New Field Foundation, World
Neighbors identified the key factors for women’s
advancement and tested the application of those
key factors in several programs, including West
Africa, with the result of more rapid, widespread
advancements for women. And let’s not forget
that advancements for women translate into
benefits for their families and communities! These were the only
Those key factors: literate women in a
group of 200
Awareness of rights
Literacy
Economic empowerment
Decision making
Leadership
Not to mention a little attitude adjustment for
men☺!

6. This seems like a tall order when you consider
the starting point – read about “A Day in the
Natalie’s Travels in Burkina Faso
Life of a West African Woman” in this WOW!
issue brief :
http://www.workofwomen.org/2008-08-
Issue-Brief.php.
But our team in West Africa went to work Our local partner’s roaming
theatre troupe treated me
training community members to campaign to a special performance.
door to door about issues such as domestic The troupe goes from
violence, dowry, forced marriage and village to village performing
discrimination in the schools; fostering skits about inequitable
communication skills between couples - which situations in the family and
community and prompting
goes a long way in helping men support discussions about change.
women’s advancements; providing literacy
training for women; organizing women into
associations for income generating activities;
and identifying and strengthening the skills of
women leaders.

7. In 2006 and 2007 a couple of women involved
in our programs who exemplified leadership
Natalie’s Travels in Burkina Faso
qualities received support from the New Field
Foundation to participate in the World Social
Forums held in Mali and Kenya. Inspired and
motivated, these women returned to their
villages and began organizing.
Prompted by reports of their dramatic
achievements, I returned to Burkina Faso this
past January, during a dry season aggravated by
drought. Although the forecast from district
After Tindanu spoke
chiefs about food scarcity was grim, I met of the changes in her
woman after woman confident that her children community, her
would not go hungry. husband confirmed
they were for the
In every village we visited, women stood in better with a rare
front of the crowd and “visiting dignitaries,” and public display of
spoke of their accomplishments while their affection. Read about
husbands listened with respect and pride. their story in the Fall
issue of Neighbors

8. Pauline was involved in a self-help women’s
group in her village that loaned money to
members to initiate individual income-
Natalie’s Travels in Burkina Faso
generating activities. However, when Pauline
returned from the World Social Forum she was
full of fresh ideas and the knowledge that other
women were doing more than loaning money,
they were affecting social change. It wasn’t long
before her group began to leverage their
Pauline’s leadership skills
collective voice to prioritize women’s
recently got her elected
community development needs resulting in to the vice president
literacy training, HIV screenings, rainwater position of the inter-
collection tanks, and awareness raising on rights. village association which
guides the development
Some women were initially forbidden by their activities of 22 villages.
husbands to participate. However, once they
witnessed the benefits gained by participating
women’s families, those husbands not only
opened their doors, they started helping with
their chores so they’d have time to participate.

9. Knowing the importance of sharing experiences,
the women in Pauline’s groups dedicated
Natalie’s Travels in Burkina Faso
themselves to traveling to other villages to train
women to start self-help groups.
The women in these groups report significant
improvements in their well-being: Individual
The women in Gorgo
and collective income generating activities give village formed their group
women decision making power over a portion after hearing from Pauline.
of the household money so they can purchase With some of the profits
more nutritious food, send their kids to school, from their collective peanut
marketing activities they
access health services, and maybe even buy new
purchased a uniform which
clothes. they call their “cloth of
Literacy classes, couple communication joy”.
exercises, and sensitization sessions about rights
and gender relations have helped reduce
domestic violence, forced marriage, polygamy,
female genital mutilation and risky sexual
behavior.

10. In Burkina Faso it is customary for villagers to
Natalie’s Travels in Burkina Faso
collectively give a gift to their departing visitor.
On my first visit I felt like I was taking food
from the mouths of children when I was given a
couple of chickens. This year I am confident
that no one will go hungry because of my visit.
On behalf of World
Although I’m not entirely sure that the goat Neighbors I accept gifts of
and guinea fowl weren’t really a symbol of my goat, guinea fowl, peanuts
betrothal to become the seventh wife of the and cloth from the Prefect
district chief - as my colleagues teased. and Inspector of Basic
Education in Yargatenga
who represent the local
government and
Department Chief.

11. Thanks for your interest.
Please feel free to contact me
with questions or comments.
Natalie Elwell
Associate Vice President
Action Learning Communication
& Gender
World Neighbors, Inc.
4127 NW 122nd Street
OKC, OK 73120 USA
(405)752-9700
nelwell@wn.org
www.wn.org
Check back soon for
updates on our efforts to
address gender inequity in
Central and South America