It’s the early days of May in Dori, the main municipality in the Province of Séno and the capital of the Sahel Region in Burkina Faso. Despite the sweltering heat that characterizes this part of the country, UN Volunteers Boukary Boureima Maiga and Eric Kondia - recruited to work on UNCDF’s “Local Cross-Border Initiatives” (LoBI) Program – are doing their tour of the city, meeting the local partners of the program to exchange on the vast development issues the region faces.

The national volunteers, always good-humored, are greeting the local livestock farmers, the cattle merchants and other local dignitaries. Since more than 4 months, Boukary and Eric are supporting the local authorities in the IIRSahel Region, which unites local governments from Burkina Faso, Mali and Niger, in implementing cross-border projects within the framework of the LoBI program.

Boukary is not only an expert in local economic development and livestock farming, he is in fact originally from Dori. He can therefore speak from own experience when it comes to the local living conditions and the priority needs of this arid zone where livestock herding represents the main economic activity. In fact, 90 per cent of the inhabitants of this cross-border zone are dependent on livestock to make ends meet. For Boukary, the LoBI program is therefore an opportunity not only to highlight the challenges that the local populations and livestock farmers face, but also to actively participate in the implementation of solutions that can contribute to the wider development of the IIRSahel zone. “Being a volunteer is a noble cause, something that comes from the heart and a commitment. As a son of this country, I can only take delight in the development of this zone and the sub-region”.

In partnership with the West-African Economic and Monetary Union (WAEMU) and with the financial support of the Government of Luxembourg, the LoBI program is strengthening the role of local governments in the governance of the IIRSahel zone. It does this through a process of local cross-border development that puts local authorities at the centre of regional integration. Sustainability is a key concern for the program, which is why LoBI supports institutions involved in cross-border cooperation at all levels of governance (regional, national and local) in the formulation of concrete policies on local development and regional integration and the promotion of decentralization as a pathway to more effective, relevant and promising development. Amongst the investments planned for 2015, is the construction of a slaughterhouse with a drying facility, two vaccination parcs, a production unit for animal feed in Dori and the marking of 200km of cross-border transhumance paths.

”I’m proud to contribute to the development initiatives that UNCDF has launched in this region because cross-border cooperation can be an important tool in conflict prevention. We face a lot of development challenges but one of our priorities is to ensure that livestock herders and farmers live in harmony thanks to the transhumance paths. We also plan to start construction on the production unit for animal feed, which will save the animals who suffer enormously from to the dryness of the area and the lack of available feeding grounds”, explains Boukary.

Volunteers committed to promoting the development of their country

Eric Kondia, on the other hand, is a young economist who originally comes from the Eastern part of Burkina Faso. He too, is keen to be involved as a UNV and contribute to a better future for the Sahel. For him, being assigned to this project in Dori is an opportunity to combine what’s useful with what he enjoys doing. Indeed, “I’m a specialist in project management at the local authority level and have experience giving advice to local authorities. Hence, I have the opportunity to put my experience at the service of the local institutions and support them in the implementation of the pilot investments. From a professional point of view, it’s a great experience because cross-border cooperation is extremely relevant for areas such as IIRSahel. We shouldn’t be thinking of development as something confined to one single country…” he says and adds: “this initiative from UNCDF represents an innovative programme that implements an institutional and financial cross-border mechanism and highlights the important role that UNCDF is playing in reinvigorating cross-border cooperation in the Sahel”.