Empower Women and Girls through Menstrual Health

Dear BARKA Friend,

2018 was one of the most successful in BARKA's history. As the year draws to a close, we wanted to take a moment to reflect on what we accomplished in the past year:

• BARKA's Menstrual Hygiene Management (MHM) program sensitized 500 more girls and formed a partnership with a new Partner School in Namoungou
• BARKA was part of the coalition of NGOs that organized Burkina Faso's MHM Day national celebration
• The Water Fair: BARKA produced and hosted Burkina Faso's national World Water Day celebration in Fada N'Gourma. This 5-day event included a Walk for Water with over 1000 people; an Exhibition for water-centric enterprises, nonprofits and local sellers; a Forum for NGOs to share best practices; concerts, a SLAM competition and comedy performances in The Nights of the Fair; and culminated in a Gala Dinner. This event was chronicled in a new short film. It was so wonderful and such a resounding success, we hope you'll watch the film to get a sense for yourself.
• At the Water Fair's Gala Dinner, the First Lady of Burkina Faso herself launched a new financial mechanism to fund water projects in the eastern region of Burkina Faso-- the International Water Fund-- and inaugurated the fund with her own $2000 donation!
• The most recent well BARKA drilled in the village of Lampiadi and the impact our work has had for its 700 inhabitants was profiled in another new short film created this year.
• We worked with 3 villages to establish sustainable community gardens next to the wells BARKA drilled
• A delegation of 4 BARKA staffers from Burkina Faso came to the US for 3 weeks and attended the Annual Board of Directors Retreat in Maine
• Two new members were added to BARKA's Board of Directors
• And finally, to get an indication of what's coming up in 2019, BARKA has developed two new major projects for which it is currently seeking funding: one is to drill 24 wells in a community of 150,000 people and the other is to be the first NGO in Burkina's history to distribute menstrual cups in a comprehensive program to address reproductive and sexual health for 15,000 girls and women.

We couldn't have done this without you, and we'd like to take this opportunity to thank you once again for your generosity, your belief in BARKA's mission, and for your partnership in all of the work mentioned above.

We wish you and your family blessings for a happy and healthy 2019!