Fair Trade Zero Hunger and Education

ABOUT MOUSSO FASO

Mousso Faso cooperative has been founded with the aim of improving the precarious working conditions of women, and to dignify them with fair trade in their crops. They are the ones who traditionally carry out the work of planting and harvesting. In addition, we will provide the compulsory Schooling for the children of their members, health care and other social aspects.

In Burkina Faso, the percentage of girls who attend school is low, and it decreases even more when they reach secondary school. Most women do not have access to professional studies, so many of them work in agriculture.

The Mousso Faso cooperative works in the province of Poni, located in the southwestern region of the country. In this area there is a great tradition in the cultivation of tiger nut. Due to the lack of protection, the cultivation tasks involves exposing the workers to snake bites and scorpions, among other difficulties. Usually their crops are very poorly paid by intermediaries who, in many cases, break contracts and impose very low prices.

The creation of the Mousso Faso cooperative, which brings together 150 women around Gaoua, aims to promote fair trade and with it an improvement in the standard of living of women, as well as training and minimum conditions of safety at work.

On the other hand, Mousso Faso aims to expand and encompass more cultivation areas in the near future, as well as bringing together more women who work tiger nut in Burkina Faso and other neighboring countries, such as Mali and Niger; that unfortunately are in the same situation.

With this objective, this crowdfunding initiative is launched. The cooperative has defined a series of basic measures and farming tools with which it would be possible to revert to a great extent the current situation, as well as to alleviate the work of these families.

ABOUT THE INITIATIVE

Who will benefit from this initiative?

150 women who are part of the cooperative, women who work under extremely precarious conditions in order to support their families; women who would be the main beneficiaries of this fundraising campaign.

What do we want to achieve?

We are 7 organizations involved in the project:

In Burkina Faso:

- ASFES (Solidarity Association with women and children in the Sahel)

- Cooperativa Mousso Faso

In Spain:

- Association of Burkinabés of Barcelona

- Association of Burkinabés of Madrid

- Nourdine Association (Malian in València)

- CIM Burkina

- Sansana School

Objective:

Our goal is to reach € 7100 for different resources detailed below that will facilitate and dignify the work of women in the cooperative for the next campaign that will start at the end of July.

HOW YOU CAN CONTRIBUTE

Since this cooperative does not have sufficient means to offer any kind of reward in exchange for the donations received, the resources that would cover different contributions are detailed:

- Contribution of € 5: Covers the cost of 5 pairs of protective gloves for agricultural activity, avoiding scorpion stings

- Contribution of € 10: Purchase of 10 masks to avoid the continuous inhalation of dust (declared by the WHO as extremely harmful to health)

- Contribution of € 15: Covers suitable footwear for 3 women, which can prevent scorpion and snake bites

- Contribution of € 50: Cover a first aid kit against bites and to relieve small wounds

- Contribution of € 100: Purchase of organic fertilizers for the preparation of the land

- Contribution of € 450: Training course for 50 women

- Contribution of € 500: Artisanal manufacture of machinery (implements) to collect and sift the chufa obtained from the land, improving considerably the working conditions of women

Approximate budget to start the next campaign:

-150 € for 150 pairs of gloves

-150 € for 150 masks

-750 € to get adequate footwear for 150 women

-1350 € for the completion of 3 training courses

-100 € for 2 kits for 2 different work fields

-2600 € to cover the organic fertilizer of 10 hectares of land

-2000 € for two implements (cutter and thresher) for the cultivation and harvesting of tiger nut, as well as two sieves

TOTAL: € 7100

OTHER BACKGROUND

Recently a Documentary on this issue was launched in Spain (link attached, unfortunately only in Spanish/French) causing a big impact on local news.

Many interviews with local farmers, meetings with TigerNuts traders... and many other experinces gathered in a breath taking docummentary.