Burkina Faso faces mounting climate pressures – from extreme drought to flash floods. In the predominantly agricultural regions of Bankui, Guiriko, Nazinon and Tannounyan, women and young people are grappling with these challenges head-on.

An initiative supported by UNFPA, the United Nations Population Fund, which is the UN’s sexual and reproductive health agency, is helping people find solutions by offering training in developing sustainable businesses and women’s cooperatives – and putting female empowerment at the centre of these efforts. 

Women and girls are disproportionately affected by climate change in many ways, including an increased risk of gender-based violence if they are displaced from their homes. In light of this, the training programme includes rights-based information to help women increase their safety and autonomy. 

Now I know how to harvest effectively – and protect the forest.

Yao, cooperative leader

From forest harvesting to tech-driven pollution monitoring, these businesses and cooperatives are not only good for the environment, but for the livelihoods and futures of women and young people. Here, recipients of the training in hard-hit cities and towns describe their work and the lessons learned.

Members of the Ouémouyé cooperative have long created butter from shea nuts. A popular ingredient in skin-care products, shea butter is an economic lifeline for millions of women across Africa’s woodland savannahs. 

Thanks to the UNFPA-supported training, members of the cooperative, which is based in the city of Po, have improved their production methods, meeting the hygiene standards required for the international market and thus increasing market reach and income.

Women in the Sabari Kadi cooperative, in the city of Banfora, pound African locust beans to produce soumbala – a spice at the heart of cooking in Burkina Faso. 

Through the training programme, the women received guidance on issues such as the optimal time of year to pick the seeds, natural pest control and how to trade online and manage their finances.
 

The soumbala we produce is significantly better compared to previous productions. We have put into practice all the techniques learned during the training sessions, and this is really beneficial to us.

Traoré, cooperative president

Angélique gets creative with old tires, using them in various ways on her small farm, including covering chicken coops with them and turning them into planters for vegetables. 

She lives in the capital city of Ouagadougou, and received UNFPA training on business management as well as funding to support further development. 

It’s a small innovation with a big principle at its heart: Nothing should go to waste.
 

Another recipient of the training, Fati processes non-timber forest products – such as edible wild berries and mushrooms, and plants that have medicinal purposes – with members of the Louralana cooperative in Po.

Through financial management training, Fati learned about maintaining accounting records and using revenues to invest back into production, among other matters.

Her products not only provide an income, but also contribute to food security for people during droughts, floods or crop failures.

Yao creates juices from wild fruit in the forest for the Délices du Sud cooperative, which she leads in the town of Manga. 

She learned from the training programme how to optimize sustainable harvesting by picking fruit in a way that lets the tree keep on giving.

Before the training on sustainable practices, I didn't really take the environment into account. I didn't know there was a way to pick the fruits so that the tree continues to produce. Now I know how to do it – and preserve the environment.

Yao, cooperative leader

Another recipient of the training, Ouédraogo is a computer scientist who puts technology to work for the planet, and teaches others to do so as well, including women across the city of Ouagadougou, where he is based.

He designed a system that monitors environmental pollution, using sensors to analyse carbon dioxide emissions from factories. Understanding air quality is key to being able to address the problem. 

Thanks to the training, he knows how to plan, organize and manage the resources necessary to ensure that his monitoring system remains viable and lasts well into the future.
 

With support from UNFPA, trainers went from village to village across the regions hit by climate crises, focusing on three key issues: environmental sustainability, business skills and gender-based violence awareness. Through workshops and community leadership training, participants learned about how to identify, report and prevent gender-based violence, empowering women by increasing their safety and autonomy.

The training was made possible with support from the Government of Luxembourg, and was completed at the end of 2025. Its impact continues in the lives of these entrepreneurs and cooperative leaders, as lessons are shared from entrepreneur to trainee, from mother to daughter.