The Benkadi Program: A Regional Workshop To Plan Activities To Be Carried Out in 2025

From October 7th to October 12, 2024, Ouagadougou will host the 2025 regional planning workshop of the Benkadi program. Coming from Benin, Mali, Côte d’Ivoire and Burkina Faso, the program’s implementing actors will review the achievements made since the start of activities in 2021, capitalize on good practices as well as experiences and difficulties encountered.

In light of these successes and lessons learned, they will plan the activities that will be carried out during the year 2025, the last year of implementation of the Benkadi program. The opening ceremony of the workshop was held in the presence of the implementing partner, the Dutch cooperation, as well as the Minister of the Environment, represented by his chief of staff.

For the chairman of the board of directors of SPONG, also chairman of the steering committee of the program, Abdoulaye Ouédraogo, it will be a question for the actors of the different countries, to share their good practices in terms of climate change, so that the last year of implementation of the program can be used to strengthen actions on the ground.

Launched in 2021, the Benkadi program has strengthened over 786 organizations

“We expect from this workshop, which brings together the four countries, that there will be an in-depth analysis of the results obtained, of our common strength as well as the limits of the programming. These limits will make it possible to design an even more active 2025 program, which will be able to take into account the various problems that have been identified. It is about building an end-of-project program, which can provide a possibility for the future.”

“It is also about being able to think about the programming that we had in 2024, to see the levers on which we can rely to move forward and how to popularize what we have as results to make other countries benefit from them,” explained Abdoulaye Ouédraogo.

Launched in 2021, the Benkadi program is implemented in Mali, Benin, Côte d’Ivoire and Burkina Faso and aims to influence public policies on climate change adaptation and mitigation. In Burkina Faso, it is implemented under the leadership of SPONG in seven regions: North, Sahel, Center-North, Center-East, Center-West, Plateau-Central and Cascades. The Benkadi program focuses on advocacy and lobbying, to enable vulnerable groups such as women, young people and people with disabilities to realize their rights to development and be resilient to climate change.

Since the beginning of the Benkadi program, in terms of achievements, it is noted that more than 786 civil society organizations in the implementing countries, including 246 women’s organizations and 145 youth organizations, have seen their capacities strengthened. As for Burkina Faso, 65 organizations have benefited from capacity building.

The program has also contributed to the establishment of a single consultation committee on climate change and the adoption of the decree banning the export, manufacture and marketing of plastic bags, noted Abdoulaye Ouédraogo.

Ousmane Bawar, representative of the Minister of Environment, Water and Sanitation, patron of the ceremony, praised the very appreciable achievements of the Benkadi program observed on the ground. “The Benkadi program, through its training, awareness-raising, contribution to the formalization and operation of consultation frameworks and structuring of local actors, contributes significantly to the achievement of sustainable development goals, in particular SDG 13, which calls for urgent measures to combat climate change,” he rejoiced.

The Benkadi program is implemented with the technical and financial support of the NGO Woord En Daad, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Netherlands.

Maarten Van Den Bosch, Head of Cooperation, invited the Chairman of the Board of Directors of SPONG, at the end of the program in December 2025, to engage in discussions with all of his technical teams for the formulation of a new, more ambitious, more consistent program that will consolidate the achievements of the current program.

__

(Featured image by Markus Spiske via Unsplash)

DISCLAIMER: This article was written by a third party contributor and does not reflect the opinion of Born2Invest, its management, staff or its associates. Please review our disclaimer for more information.

This article may include forward-looking statements. These forward-looking statements generally are identified by the words “believe,” “project,” “estimate,” “become,” “plan,” “will,” and similar expressions. These forward-looking statements involve known and unknown risks as well as uncertainties, including those discussed in the following cautionary statements and elsewhere in this article and on this site. Although the Company may believe that its expectations are based on reasonable assumptions, the actual results that the Company may achieve may differ materially from any forward-looking statements, which reflect the opinions of the management of the Company only as of the date hereof. Additionally, please make sure to read these important disclosures.

First published in lefaso.net. A third-party contributor translated and adapted the article from the original. In case of discrepancy, the original will prevail.

Although we made reasonable efforts to provide accurate translations, some parts may be incorrect. Born2Invest assumes no responsibility for errors, omissions or ambiguities in the translations provided on this website. Any person or entity relying on translated content does so at their own risk. Born2Invest is not responsible for losses caused by such reliance on the accuracy or reliability of translated information. If you wish to report an error or inaccuracy in the translation, we encourage you to contact us