Burkina Faso/Water resources management: In Ziga, the IWRM generation is tracing the first furrows of water awareness

ZIGA (Sanmatenga), May 3, 2025 - Under an already relentless sun heralding the rainy season, the courtyard of Ziga's departmental high school was transformed on this particular morning into a meeting place: some 100 students from three schools gathered to form the first multi-school "Integrated Water Resources Management" (IWRM) cell. The initiative, spearheaded by Burkina Faso's National Youth Parliament for Water (PNJBE) and supported by the Belgian Cooperation Agency (ENABEL) within the framework of the Sahel Climate Thematic Portfolio, is part of the drive to turn Ziga's humble middle and high school students into true relays, guarantors of a measured and respectful use of the "blue gold" that thrives beneath their feet.

Diving into a territory under water stress

The province of Sanmatenga, like the rest of the Centre-Nord region, is characterized by increasingly erratic rainfall. Excessive exploitation of water points, erosion accelerated by deforestation and contamination of certain springs illustrate a now critical situation: several water points dry up before the rainy season, depriving farmers and households of a vital resource.

Here, as elsewhere in Burkina Faso, the hydraulic reform of 2001 established a legal framework for concerted management, but it is at local level that the survival of the resource is now at stake. This is why the Burkinabe National Youth Parliament for Water (PNJBE), in partnership with other players such as the Nakanbé Water Agency (AEN), a public consortium bringing together the State and local authorities in the basin, is working to raise awareness in villages and schools: IWRM aims to go beyond the sectoral approach, which emphasizes supply without constraint, to include all stakeholders, right down to their daily lives.

Between grassy savannahs and sparse forests, water flows in the opposite direction to the emergency. The Nakanbé River, a vital resource for hundreds of thousands of inhabitants, is in danger. The resource is increasingly threatened and subject to growing competition.

A morning of awareness

Around a hundred students from the three Ziga schools (Lycée Départemental, Lycée Privé Les Chercheurs and CEG Ziga Centre) gathered at the school at the crack of dawn. Speakers from the PNJBE, the Agence de l'eau du Nakanbé (AEN) and the Centre-nord water police took their places among the neem trees and two tents set up in the lycée courtyard. The presenters opened the morning with a presentation of the fundamental principles of IWRM: the growing scarcity of resources, aggravated by global warming, calls for coordinated, sustainable management. They spoke of the increasing scarcity of water, and explained, with anecdotes, all the challenges facing water: the harmful effects of human activity, and conflicts of use. In the audience, some nodded silently, others took notes. The students were able to appreciate the consequences of pollution and waste, as well as the sanctions now in place to protect watercourses and their users.

The gender issue is not forgotten: "It's women and girls who often walk four kilometers to fetch water," recalls Mr. Salam Battista Sawadogo, President of the Centre-Nord Water Police Department. "They are the first to suffer the effects of the shortage. But, beyond this observation, it is their integration into the decision-making bodies that inspires conviction: "Who better than them to bear witness to the difficulties and propose improvements? Their participation in decision-making and local governance is essential," insists Catherine Tankoano/Zonou of the NEA.

Charter and election: the responsibility to serve

In the next phase, the charter of the Ziga IWRM unit was submitted for discussion and adoption. A demanding text: its members must, among other things, remain exemplary academically, respect their teachers and commit to disseminating good water management practices to those around them.
The election, which took place in accordance with the democratic principle, resulted in the appointment of a board of twelve students, including six girls and six boys chosen from forty statutory candidates. After two rounds of voting, Toundou Sawadogo, a 16-year-old student in the second year of secondary school A4 at the Lycée Départemental de Ziga, was elected president of the new cell. In his speech, he promised to promote the rational use of water and to raise awareness among his peers and the general public of the harmful effects of water pollution.

ENABEL, PNJBE: anchoring climate and water as priorities

The Projet de mise en place et d'opérationnalisation des cellules GIRE (PMPOC GIRE) initiative of the PNJBE is part of the Portefeuille thématique climat Sahel (PTCS), the Burkina Faso component of ENABEL. The first phase, launched between 2023 and 2024, has already led to the creation of similar cells in Méguet (Central Plateau) and Koupéla (Central East). For the PNJBE, the challenge is twofold: firstly, to raise awareness among young people who are particularly vulnerable to the effects of the climate crisis; and secondly, to establish a chain of responsibility at local level.

"When a pupil talks about watersheds or groundwater recharge in his village, information circulates more quickly", observes Tuwend Nooma Jean Damase Roamba, technical coordinator of the PMPOC GIRE/PNJBE. Among the challenges to be met, the ongoing training of young leaders in advocacy techniques, participatory governance and community leadership is a priority.

"Our ambition is to show that IWRM is not just an abstract concept, but a concrete approach that benefits everyone, here and tomorrow", he explains. To achieve this, the young office will soon be attending a capacity-building workshop on IWRM themes, community leadership and advocacy: tools designed to transform initial awareness into tangible action in Ziga's schools and villages. "For them, it's first and foremost tomorrow's drink, the survival of their crops and the health of their loved ones", concludes Mr. Roamba.

Local authorities mobilized

Several local officials made the trip: the Regional Director of Youth for the Centre-North region, the representative of the President of the Ziga special delegation, the technical servicesand Forestry, Agriculture, Water and Sanitation, the water users' committee, as well as NEA agents. The Comité local de l'eau (CLE) Ziga Amont is the technical arm of the Agence de l'eau at local level, represented by its president Adama Sawadogo, undertook to invite the young ambassadors to periodic meetings on water management in their sub-basin: "Children are the future of the nation; involving them today in thinking about water management is essential. We will support them with theoretical and practical training sessions, and invite them to our worksites."

ENABEL has been working for several years on the socio-economic development of Burkina Faso, particularly in this context of security and humanitarian crisis, in close partnership with local organizations to increase the effectiveness of its actions. PNJBE, for its part, is dedicated to engaging young people in water and sanitation issues, in order to create a sustainable dynamic throughout the country.

Beyond this inaugural day, the stakes remain high: to change mentalities and practices in a region where access to drinking water can remain precarious. By mobilizing high school students, the PNJBE and ENABEL intend to generate a knock-on effect: each member of the IWRM cell will become a field player responsible for spreading simple gestures around them: saving water resources, protecting water points from pollution, warning against risky behavior.

In the shadow of tall trees and in the shadow of certainties, the IWRM generation is now tracing the first furrows of a future where water will be less a privilege than a common good protected by all.

Source: lefaso.net