2017: Development of three district (“commune”) WASH master plans
In 2017, IRC Burkina Faso, with financial support from the Conrad N. Hilton Foundation started supporting the development of WASH master plans in three “communes” in the Cascades Region: Banfora (an urban commune of 190,000 inhabitants (2019)), Bérégadougou and Niangoloko (rural communes of respectively 13,000 and 102,000 inhabitants (2019)). However, essentially because of lack of fundings, only Banfora was selected to be an IRC focus district and benefit from long-term technical assistance for the master plan’s implementation. Banfora met the basic preconditions: a minimum level of internal capacity (embryonic technical staff, already financed from the municipal budget; elected municipal councillors with a higher level of education) and resources (economic poles, higher municipal budgets). Banfora also has an urban area where water and sanitation services are operated by ONEA.
2018-ongoing: Support to Banfora in the master plan implementation process.
See the Banfora district case for details
2020 – 2022: Scaling to five additional districts
IRC, in collaboration with the Centre of Water Professions of the water utility ONEA, undertook an almost three year (January 2020 to November 2022) 2.5 million euros project funded by the European Union, with the objective to build the capacity of the leadership of municipalities in the governance of drinking water supply, sanitation and hygiene services (WASH) in 9387 municipalities in the centre-east, centre-west and centre-south regions. Under this project, IRC, in collaboration with ONEA, supported the development of master plans for five additional “communes” and provided technical assistance for its implementation. These five urban communes were: Koudougou (176,226 inhabitants), Léo (73,722 inhabitants), Po (77,651 inhabitants), Tenkodogo (Tenkodogo :: IRC (ircwash.org)) (172,000 inhabitants) and Pouytenga (136,666 inhabitants). The master plans for these districts were finalise and published in by the end of 2022 xxxx.
2021 - 2022: Development of Regional Master Plans for three regions
Under the EU-funded project mentioned above, regional master plans for the three regions under the project (centre-east, centre-west and centre-south) were developed and published. These cover a total of 87 districts and some 4 028 578 people.
It should be noted that regional plans do not replace local plans. Regional plans focus exclusively on improving access to drinking water by proposing multi-village water piped systems. Communal plans take account of all aspects of the WASH sector (water, hygiene and sanitation).
Ongoing: Development of an expert pool
A pool of experts has been set up to draw up the strategic plans, thereby strengthening IRC's expertise in Burkina Faso in the implementation of this action.
In the years to come, district WASH master planning is planned to be scaled further in Burkina Faso, with a focus on its scaling to urban communes in the period before 2030, with further scaling to all communes post-2030.
A pool of experts has been set up to draw up the strategic plans, thereby strengthening IRC's expertise in Burkina Faso in the implementation of this action.
