Virtual Tours Our Work in Burkina Faso

Freedom from Hunger respects the work our implementing partners have accomplished in West Africa and hopes to extend Credit with Education to new communities in the future. Our very first efforts to implement Credit with Education were launched in nearby Mali in 1989. Over time, Credit with Education was refined and transformed into a cost-effective partnership methodology that now serves women in four, but soon to be six, West African countries, including Burkina Faso, where success in implementing Credit with Education has come quickly.

Our Work in Burkina Faso

Today in Burkina Faso, Freedom from Hunger works with a credit union network called Réseau du Caisses Populaires du Burkina (RCPB). Freedom from Hunger and the RCPB launched Credit with Education in 1993. In just ten years, Credit with Education now serves nearly 60,000 women in Burkina Faso, most of whom live in very remote and impoverished areas of the country. The rapid expansion of the program is attributed to the wide acceptance of the Burkinabé as well as to the hard work and dedication of RCPB.

Credit with Education has produced significant results socially as well as financially. With an average loan size of only $68, the RCPB has lent to date $23 million, concurrently achieving an amazing 99% loan repayment rate. The interest repaid on those loans completely supports RCPB's operational costs, which means that the program has achieved sustainability. Not only have Burkinabé women, most of whom cannot read or write, gained access to financial resources that support them and their local business endeavors, they also receive important weekly educational sessions on nutrition, family planning and business management.
Freedom from Hunger provides ongoing technical assistance to the RCPB in the form of program management, expansion, and new product development. RCPB currently reaches six different regions of Burkina Faso.

The RCPB is also a key partner in our West African Malaria Initiative. In fact, it was the staff of the RCPB who first requested a special education module on malaria. To learn more about the Malaria Initiative and see pictures of how it is being implemented in Burkina, click here.