‘Supporting livelihoods!’: India UN Fund creates dam in Burkina Faso; empowers farmers, students
Poa [Burkina Faso]: The India UN Fund has completed the construction of the historic Niangdo dam in Burkina Faso, which will serve 50,000 people and had remained a dream for the Poa commune for over four decades. The news of the completion of the Niangdo dam was shared by the Indian Mission to the United Nations on Friday.
In a post on X, the Indian Mission said, “Supporting livelihoods! A dam has been built in #BurkinaFaso under #IndiaUNFund.” In another post, the United Nations Office for South-South Cooperation stated that under the India-UN Fund, a 580,000m³ dam to restore 5,000ha of land has been constructed. Henceforth, 400 farmers, of which 60 per cent are women, have been trained; 344 students, of which 52 per cent were girls, learnt market gardening and 40 washroom facilities were built for the resettled families.
The UN Office for South-South Cooperation (UNOSSC) said that the dam had been a dream for more than four decades. Construction of the dam is significant as the West African country is landlocked and has historically struggled with challenges like unpredictable rainfall. These faultlines have further deepened due to the climate crisis. Hence, UNOSSC noted in its report that the mobilization of water resources and their development are central to ensuring food security and combating extreme poverty. The project was launched in 2020 as a partnership of the Government and UNDP, and with the support of the India-UN Development Partnership Fund. As per UNOSCC, along with the jobs, the community in Poa has experienced a welcome economic vitality. Established in 2017, the USD150 million India-UN Development Partnership Fund is supported and led by the Government of India and implemented in collaboration with the United Nations system, UNOSCC said. The Fund supports Southern-owned and -led, demand-driven and transformational sustainable development projects across the developing world, with a focus on least developed countries and small island developing States.
As per UNOSCC, UN agencies implement the Fund’s projects in close collaboration with partnering Governments. India’s engagements with Africa have increased manifold in the last decade. During India’s G20 Presidency in 2023, African Union was granted permanent membership of the grouping. While answering a question on India and Africa in the parliament earlier this year, MoS MEA Kirti Vardhan Singh had highlighted that over the years, India has extended more than 190 Lines of Credits amounting to USD 12.22 billion to 42 partner countries in Africa. He had underlined, “India’s development partnership with Africa is based on a consultative model of cooperation, sharing of development experiences and is focused on addressing the priorities and needs of the African countries.” These have been to implement projects in varied sectors such as power, hydroelectricity, transmission & distribution networks, dams, roads, railways, agriculture & irrigation, industrial units, skills development, amongst others.
