Faso Soap (Burkina Faso/Africa).

1. Faso Soap (Burkina Faso/Africa):

• Objective: A soap conceived to fight malaria by repelling mosquitos and killing larvae and bacteria.
• Source: http://www.faso-soap.info/
• Development challenge: Health.
• Summary: People of Burkina Faso, as many Africans, suffer from health issues as malaria and many other diseases related to water. In fact, Malaria is the first cause of death in sub-Saharan Africa. Malaria is transmitted by mosquitos that cause 300 million cases of malaria each year. Many products can prevent the disease but are toxic or too expensive.

In order to prevent that, two students from the National Engineering Water and Environmental Institute of Burkina Faso made a special soap: the Faso Soap. To help the project, a strategic support and a communication specialists join them. Some of the soap component are lemon grass, shea tree and African marigold. Also, all the components can be found locally, which makes it easy to produce and affordable for everyone. This soap rejects mosquitos by its smell for as long as 6 hours. Therefore, this soap can prevent the spreading of the disease. The Faso soap can also kill several type of larvae and bacteria spread in water.

The main issue faced by the project is a lack funding. To deal with this issue, a crowdfunding campaign has been used and the Faso Soap collected more than 70,000 euros, which is more than expected.

1. Fog Harvesting (Morocco):

• Objective: Give water access to people in remote areas by using huge nets that collect water from fog.
• Source:  http://www.darsihmad.org/
• Development challenge: Live hood improvement and water access.
• Summary: Some mountainous areas in southwest Morocco are water-poor and aren’t connected to the state water network. Communities living in these areas have often to walk several kilometers to have access to water. On the other hand, these areas are known for having an abundant fog for 6 months per year.

An NGO called “Dar Si Hmad”, named for a famous native from the region, decided to use the fog to collect water. The NGO is composed from several foreign consultants and specialists as well as people living within the community (specially women). In order to do that, they installed huge nets (600 m2) to collect the water from the fog. Then, 8 km of pipes were constructed to deliver the water to more than 400 people.

The project faced some cultural problems. The targeted people weren’t convinced by the quality of the water that was collected from the fog. In fact, many of them thought that the water wasn’t safe to drink. Culturally, women manage the water within the community. Managing the new system didn’t seem to be a good idea for them. Using trainings, trust-building and a user-centred approach the NGO succeeded to implement it and involve all the community.

This project won the Frame Work Convention on Climate Change (United Nations) prize.

1. The Fonio Husker Machine (Senegal):

• Objective: Make fonio easiest to peel and consume.
• Source:  http://www.wipo.int/ipadvantage/fr/details.jsp?id=5556
• Development challenge: Agriculture and undernutrition.
• Summary: Undernutrition is a main issue for many countries in Africa. Cereals source of carbohydrates and proteins. Fonio is a type of cereal that grows in west Africa. Fonio’s biggest issue is that it is very hard and time consuming to peel it. As an example, it takes many hours peeling and few days cooking and preparing 2 kg of fonio before it can be consumed. Also, a lot of water was needed to prepare it.

Sanoussi Diakite, a Senegalese researcher and engineer, built a machine that can peel and prepare 5 kg of fonio in less than 8 minutes. In addition to that, the machine uses a small amount of water. This innovation won the Rolex Prize for Enterprise in Applied Technologies in 1996.

The Fonio Husker Machine can then help remote communities to produce the fonio in a large scale. As a consequence, the fonio can be used as a main ingredient in these communities’ meals and reduce the undernutrition.

One of the issues faced by the project is the cost of the machine. In fact, the price of the machine varies from 1200 and 2000 euros. Therefore, the Senegalese government, NGOs and the World bank helped some communities in need to be able to buy and install the Fonior Husker Machine.

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