Transforming Energy Access – Burkina Faso, Benin

by Romain Olivier | 13 Jun 2020

« Transforming Energy Access – Powering Opportunities Partnership – Strengthening and developing the local added-value of LAGAZEL manufacturing facilities

Partners

The project « Transforming Energy Access – Powering Opportunities Partnership – Strengthening and developing the local added-value of LAGAZEL manufacturing facilities » is led by the enterprise Lagazel. The program Transforming Energy Access is funded by the UK Department for International Development (UKaid) and is managed by Carbon Trust with support from Energy 4 Impact. IFSRA is in charge of the Research and Development part.

Context

In many sub-Saharean Africa countries, the off-grid energy sector is dominated by Chinese products imported and commercialized by European or US companies, which hardly creates local added value. Carbon Trust funds the Transforming Energy Access program, whose component POP VA&EC aims at increasing access to energy services through a dynamised sector orientated toward positive impacts on the local economy and the creation of local jobs.

Lagazel is an enterprise created in 2015, which objective is to give access to solar products that are of good quality and cheap to the 650 millions of Africans who are in need of it. It is the first one to have industrialised the production of certified solar lamps and home solar systems in West Africa. It was selected within the framework of this program to implement the project « Transforming Energy Access – Powering Opportunities Partnership – Strengthening and developing the local added-value of LAGAZEL manufacturing facilities ». This project aims at reinforcing and developing the local added value of LAGAZEL plants to offer quality products to the solar off-grid industry and to create local sustainable jobs.

IFSRA is in charge of the Research and Development aspects, and will evaluate the viability of the local production, impact on employability, and the direct and indirect social and economic repercussions on the local population and the local communities.

Objectives of the study and expected results

The objective of IFSRA mission is to evaluate the viability of the local production, its impact on employability, and the the direct and indirect social and economic repercussions on the local population and the local communities.

The specific objectives include :

Revise the approach and the action-research plan (presented below), in link with LAGAZEL and Energy4Impact, including formulating the research objectives, developing the monitoring and performance indicators, identifying the technical and socio-economic data to collect, as well as elaborating the collecting tools and mecanisms
Collect quantitative and qualitative data
Observe and document action
Produce synthesis documents in accordance with the action-research plan

This study shall allow to deliver results that can be analysed, reported and communicated, in order to favor the replicability of this project in other contexts.

In the framework of this study, a student in Master 2 Crisis prevention and social peace management of the IAC Ouagadougou will write his Master thesis on Electrification and Conflict Management.

Research process

In order to reach the objectives, the methodology has been broken down into the following steps :

Define a methodological framework in partnership with CarbonTrust and Energy4Impact
Conduct fieldwork surveys in Burkina Faso and Benin
Implement indicators allowing to follow-up the evolution toward the achievmeent of the objectives
Produce a case study on the project concept, its activities, its results, the perspectives it gives and its relevance for the energy off-grid sector

Field work

The study takes place in Burkina Fase (Dédougou, Boucle du Mouhoun region) and Benin (Porto Novo, Ouémé region).

Partner institutions and project team

This study is led by the IFSRA, in collboration with LAGAZEL. Furthermore, the IFSRA team is reinforced by a student who will be in charge of collecting data and will actively participate in its analysis and the elaboration of the different reports.

Water use in artisanal and small-scale mining, study on Karengtenga site – Burkina Faso

by Romain Olivier | 13 Sep 2019

Preliminary study for a research programme on Karengtenga artisanal mining site (Bam province)

Partners

Leiden University (Netherlands)

Background

In order to prepare a grant application for a research programme, the Leiden University needed to conduct a preliminary study on the Karengtenga artisanal mining site.

The site had to be described regarding spatial and social aspects: geo-referenced delimitation, water point identification, socio-economic organisation regarding extractive and processing aspects, water use and situation of water users in the area.

Study objectives and expected results

The study main objective was to develop a system focusing on water shared management for the mining sector (industrial and artisanal), through the proposition of a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) addressing the role of each stakeholder (Ministry, CMB, companies, SP-GIRE, AEN).

As a result, IFSRA had to deliver to Leiden University:

GIS of the Karengtenga site (.shape files)
Report about the mining site, including maps
Report about the mining sector activities (Ministry, Chamber of Mines, companies)
Report about the roundtable

Fieldwork

The methodology was tested on Karengtenga artisanal mining site, Bam province, Burkina Faso.

Partner institutions and study team

This specific study is a multidisciplinary effort between a university in the Netherlands and a research institution based in Burkina Faso. The study core team consisted of the following research institutions’ teams:

Leiden University, Netherlands, Sabine Luning
IFSRA, Ouagadougou, Burkina Faso, Dr Peter Hochet, Alizèta Ouédraogo, PhD Student, and Aziz Diallo, Master

The broader team was comprised of experts from the following institutions:

The Permanent Secretariat of Water Resource Integrated Management (SP-GIRE)
The Nakambé Water Agency (AEN)
The Ministry of Mines, Quarries and Energy of Burkina Faso (MMCE)
Mining companies
The Burkinabe Chamber of Mines (CMB)

Research process

In order to meet its main objective, the specific study followed three main steps:

1. Study of Karengtenga artisanal mining site

1.1 Cartography

Gold mining site area
Extraction holes
Underground water pumping system
Sites dedicated to ore processing (washing sites, chemical treatment sites)
Rivers and lakes

1.2 Site description

Land tenure statutes in the gold mining site
Demographic data (number of gold mining workers, origins, men/women/children)
Describe gold origin (alluvial deposits, gold rocks)
Describe the extraction and ore processing steps, in particular work organisation and techniques
Describe for each step the chemical products that are used
Describe for each step water uses, procurements methods (water wells, rivers, lakes, etc.) and waste water systems and treatments
Regarding habitations, describe water procurement strategies and sewage system (toilets, waste water)

2. Mining sector study

Activities of the companies and Ministry of Mines
Description of the ongoing activities of the Ministry of Mines to apply the mining code, in particular regarding gold mining
Description of the ongoing activities of the Chamber of Mines and mining companies regarding water shared management

3. Organisation of a round table

Invite SP-GIRE, AEN, CMB, the gold mining management board and companies
Hold the round table
Reach an agreement between partners and stakeholders regarding the forms of collaboration necessary to implement a pilot project on an artisanal mining site
Propose a MoU regarding the role of each stakeholder (Ministry, CMB, companies, SP-GIRE, AEN)

Household socioeconomic vulnerability of Bagré Growth Pole – Burkina Faso

by Romain Olivier | 13 Sep 2019

Socioeconomic study of 200 households in the 4 areas of Bagré Pole (developed area, concentration area, out of concentration area, downstream area)

Partners:

Study coordinated by CIRAD

Background

This study was performed as part of the project entitled “Managing Bagré for equity and the environment“, coordinated by CIRAD and funded by the CGIAR Water Land and Ecosystems programme. CIRAD asked the IFSRA association in Burkina Faso to participate in the preparation and implementation of the complementary surveys focusing on the households’ socioeconomic vulnerability in and around the concentration area of Bagré Pole.

Study objectives and expected results

The main objective of this study was to perform a socioeconomic survey on 200 households, in the 4 areas of Bagré Pole (developed area, concentration area, out of concentration area, downstream area).

Specific objectives:

Contribute to the questionnaire design
Sample the 200 households by cartographic analysis
Perform the survey with the 200 sampled households in each type of area (developed area, concentration area, out of concentration area, downstream area)
Build the input mask for the questionnaire with CSPro
Enter and check the data
Export the database using the formats chosen by CIRAD

Research process

In order to meet its objectives, the study was implemented in three phases:

Sampling of the households to survey and finalisation of the tools
Implementation of the survey
Export of the database using the formats required by CIRAD

Fieldwork

The methodology was tested on 200 households in and around the concentration area of Bagré Pole in Burkina Faso.

Partner institutions and study team

This specific study is a multidisciplinary effort between a public institution based in Paris and a research institution based in Burkina Faso. The study team was composed of the following institutions’ teams:

CIRAD, International Cooperation Centre in Agronomic Research for Development, Industrial and Commercial Public Establishment (EPIC) in Paris, France, represented by William’s Daré, Françoise Gérard and Abdoulaye Tapsoba (PhD Student), researchers of the GREEN UPR
IFSRA, Ouagadougou, Burkina Faso, represented by Dr. Peter Hochet

Sustainability issues of yam cultivation in West Africa – Burkina Faso, Ivory Coast

by Romain Olivier | 13 Sep 2019

Implementation of a companion modelling approach for studying the sustainability of yam cultivation in West Africa: the J’IGNAME Role-Playing Game

Partners

Study funded by ETH Zurich

Background

Yam is the staple food of 300 million people around the world. It represents a significant food crop in terms of food security, income and culture for the people who cultivate it in West Africa. Despite this potential, the current crop practices of yam producers, mainly oriented towards slash-and-burn agriculture with very little or no inputs, are very unproductive and not environmentally sustainable.

The research-action YAMSYS project therefore aims to develop accepted innovations in biophysical, institutional and economic management of soils and plants to increase the sustainability of the yam production systems in the African subregion. In order to (1) test the innovations developed and their degree of acceptability by all the stakeholders in the yam sector in the countries of the project (Burkina Faso, Ivory Coast), and (2) create a support for the diffusion of these innovations, a role-playing game called “J’IGNAME” was set up.

Study objectives and expected results

IFSRA was mandated by the YAMSYS project to participate in the design and implementation of the role-playing game through participatory workshops. These play sessions were conducted on the Burkinabe field with the double objective of validating the J’IGNAME game protocol, and of progressively passing on the facilitating approach to the project team so that they can then realize by themselves the participatory workshops for the project sites in Ivory Coast.

Partner institutions and study team

This specific study is an interdisciplinary effort between a Swiss University and research institutions based in Burkina Faso and Ivory Coast. The core team of the study consisted of members of the following research institutions:

ETH Zurich, Switzerland, Prof. Dr. Emmanuel Frossard and Anne Dray
CSRS, Ivory Coast, Dr. Kouamé Hgazat Kouassi Valery
CNRST-INERA, Burkina Faso, Dr. Kiba Delwende Innocent
IFSRA, Burkina Faso, Yéri Kambire and Dr. Hermine Papazian

Research process

The design and implementation of the J’IGNAME role-playing game took place in several stages:

1. Co-design of the role-playing game with all stakeholders

The design of this role-playing game followed an iterative and participatory process of a ComMod approach. Thus, different versions of the game were gradually produced by a collective of students and researchers from ETH Zurich, INERA (Institute of Environment and Agricultural Research), CRSR (Swiss Center for Ivory Coast Scientific Research) and IFSRA, until obtaining a “final” version which can be tested with local actors.

2. Training on the facilitation of a role-playing game

IFSRA has realized a 2 days training in facilitation for the YAMSYS project team in charge of implementing the J’IGNAME game in the field. The training workshop consisted of the interactive transmission and learning of J’IGNAME objectives and game protocol, of the guidelines of a facilitation process through a ComMod approach, and of data collection methods during and after a role-playing game session.

3. Experimentation of the J’IGNAME role-playing game through participatory workshops co-facilitated by IFSRA and the YAMSYS project team formed

Following the training, 8 participatory workshops were carried out on the YAMSYS project sites in Burkina Faso, with the objective of (1) validating the game protocol and (2) allowing the project team to become autonomous in facilitation in order for them to conduct by themselves the participatory workshops on the Ivory Coast project sites.

Fieldwork

Participatory workshops were carried out in 4 villages (Onliassan, Nadion, Sinaperdouo and Kalembouro) localized on the two project sites in Burkina Faso: Leo and Midebdo.