Build Workshop for Physically Disabled Burkinabes

Fundraising

We reached our first official fundraising goal early in October: $17 500. This is a great achievement and one which we should all be proud of. Thanks to your support and to TN’s partnership with Friends of Burkina Faso we have accumulated around $23 200 into our workshop fund. We recently submitted a new application to the GlobalGiving site to continue fundraising on the platform. We have enough now to purchase a plot of land, however it is not enough to buy terrain centrally which we are all eager to do. We want to see TN develop!

A letter of recommendation has been written and sent to TN by Mead and Tom of Friends of Burkina Faso, to give to the Burkina Faso’s secretary of state, who heads the department for disability and inclusion. This is to bolster TN’s appeal for financial support for the project. TN’s operations were commended by government representatives who requested the letter. We are hopeful that this recognition will translate into support.

Sales

Arts and crafts

Another order has been placed with Léonie for two men’s shirts and four sets of women’s pyjama trousers. Overall six sales have been made on craft website Etsy for TN products which doesn’t seem like many, however all of this makes a lot of difference to the artisans receiving the money.

The UK charity LAFI participated in ‘Africa on the Square’ in Trafalgar square in London in October. This was a large scale event celebrating African culture organised by the Mayor of London, with music, markets and food stalls filling up the whole square. The LAFI stall was busy and the TN products sold well.

I will be selling TN products at two Christmas fairs in the coming month.

Cereal sale

Little by little, clients are coming to buy TN’s cereals and juice drink products: a drink made of hibiscus flowers, for example. This first experience of selling different food products has meant that TN has been able to identify which cereals are the most popular to prepare to sell in 2017.

Events

TN participated in the 9^th edition of the theatre and art festival Récréatrales. During this week, $93 worth of Arts and Crafts were sold of which 20% will go to the co-operative and 80% will go to the artisans.

The catering service made $465 and spent $452. The majority of expenditure was to pay the 11 members working.

Meetings

The members held monthly meetings and called extra ones in cases of urgency.

IMPACT:

TN’s participation in the art festival Récréatrales increased visibility of the co-operative and contributed to the reduction poverty among some of the members, despite low sales overall.

Conclusion

Although there have been low sales due to the economic situation in Burkina Faso, TN was able to contribute to the reduction of its members poverty through sales in England via Alice and Lafi Burkina.