Burkina Faso: In Tougan, Food Kits to Strengthen Resilience
Dona is a displaced person who has been living in Tougan (in the Sourou region) since February 2025. He and his family had to move several times before finding refuge in this town. Since settling there, daily life has not always been easy. The main problem for him remains access to food. Without a job or regular income, he has to endure the lean season when food becomes scarcer and more expensive.
“I arrived in Tougan in February 2025 with my family. Since then, I have struggled to get food,” he tells us when we meet him at the SAVE project distribution site.
When the distribution team calls out his name, he steps forward, relieved and delighted, to collect his food kit: 50 kg of rice, 50 kg of maize, 25 kg of white beans, 10 litres of oil and 1 kg of salt.
"Today, I am so happy because I have just received food. My family will be satisfied, and the meals will be delicious,” he says, smiling broadly.
From 6 to 8 August 2025, 492 vulnerable households in the commune of Tougan, like Dona's, benefited from food supplies thanks to the SAVE project (Scaling-up Multi-sectoral Assistance to Vulnerable Populations in Emergencies). This operation, organised during the lean season, provided much-needed relief to families facing food insecurity. The smiles and expressions of joy at the distribution site bore witness to the importance of this initiative.
Dr Sidibé, the project's health and nutrition coordinator, said:
"We organised this activity during the lean season because food is inaccessible to communities at this time. These supplies should therefore enable families to meet their immediate food needs while waiting for the next harvest.”
Two additional distribution sessions will be organised for the same beneficiaries to help strengthen their resilience. In addition, 150 households have already received training in soap-making and livestock rearing. These families received starter kits to develop income-generating activities and improve their livelihoods. All of these initiatives on the ground are being carried out with the support of the provincial directorate responsible in charge of humanitarian action in Sourou.
It should be noted that this free food distribution forms part of a partnership between World Vision International Burkina Faso and APADE, via the SAVE project, which is funded by the Regional Humanitarian Fund for West and Central Africa (FHRAOC). The project aims to improve access to health, nutrition, protection and food security services for people in the communes of Tougan, Solenzo and Sanaba.