High impact launch in Burkina Faso
End Water Poverty campaigners in Burkina Faso
Credit: WaterAid
The End Water Poverty campaign has taken off in Burkina Faso.
The focus of the campaign here is on change at the local level and, in particular, more and better finance to reinforce the capacities of local government to deliver sustainable water supply and sanitation to the people.
A national steering committee was set up and an action plan formulated.
Ouédraogo Aline, head of advocacy and public relations at WaterAid Burkina Faso, takes us through the launch of End Water Poverty in Burkina Faso:
15 March: Press conference
A press conference was organised to introduce the campaign manifesto to local journalists, and to request their support in mobilising their different audiences. Representatives from 14 different print and TV/radio media responded to our call.
At the end of the presentation, many questions were asked about the water and sanitation crisis in Burkina Faso, the objectives of the campaign, and the actions we intend to carry out to achieve them.
The conference was successful in securing backing for the campaign from the journalists present.
18 March: Midi Magazine
Midi Magazine is a lunch-time TV show. It is in a great time slot for reaching a large and influential audience.
During the programme, WaterAid Burkina Faso’s country representative presented End Water Poverty’s origins, justifications, objectives and activities to date, nationally and internationally. The opportunity was also used to invite people to attend the launch ceremony and join the campaign.
22 March: World Water Day - launching the campaign
The End Water Poverty campaign was officially launched on 22 March 2007 in Ziniaré (35km from Ouagadougou), during the official celebration of World Water Day.
The ceremony was attended by over 500 people, including the minister for agriculture, water and fisheries, the minister for the environment and housing, the governor of the central region, regional and provincial directors, mayors, financial and technical partners from the water sector, as well as many national and local organisations.
The launch began with an exhibition of our pictures, publications, and information about low cost technologies. Member organisations united to give more visibility to the campaign and demonstrate its collaborative nature.
In the afternoon we presented a short documentary to draw the attention of decision makers and highlight the urgent need to act.
We concluded with a launch speech by the regional coordinator of the water resource unit of the Economic Community Of West African States (ECOWAS), Dr Rui Luis Silva. While recognising the effort of the government so far, he asked for even more commitment, especially in the area of sanitation, and called upon all those who want and can make a difference to join the End Water Poverty campaign.
Launching on World Water Day proved to be a successful, high-impact approach. This can partly be explained by the good use we made out of props such as t-shirts, hats, banners and placards. We even got some popular actors to dress in our t-shirts and share our messages with the decision makers!
The future: Meeting at the German Embassy in Burkina Faso
This meeting has not yet taken place. However, following our letter to the German Embassy, a representative from Deutsche Gesellschaft fur Technische Zusammenarbeit (GTZ) visited us to get more information on the campaign in order to prepare an answer to our letter.