In Burkina Faso, learning about the environment is no longer enough — students are protecting it, planting it, sorting it, and debating it in class. That’s the wager behind Burkina Djigui, a Burkinabè civil society organization, through Phase 2 of the “Acting for Nature Conservation” project, run with support from IUCN-PAPACO’s Youth Conservation programme, the Fondation Audemars-Watkins, and Play for Nature. Between November 2025 and July 2026, the organization worked with three schools — two returning from Phase 1, one brand new — to turn awareness into concrete, lasting action.
A Growing Partnership Within the Acting for Nature Conservation Programme
Burkina Djigui is one of ten African NGOs supported under the pilot project “Acting for Nature Conservation,” which now reaches more than 40 schools across five countries. After a successful first phase between March and June 2025, the organization chose to narrow its focus to three schools for this second phase, following a clear logic: consolidate what had already been planted rather than spread efforts thin. Two schools continue the journey started in Phase 1; a third joins to test whether the Burkinabè model can travel to a new setting.
KUA C Primary School, Bobo-Dioulasso: Building on Solid Ground
At KUA C, a public school of roughly 600 students in the Hauts-Bassins region, nothing started from scratch. The school had already taken part in Phase 1, and this second stage was about making the habits stick. Thirty-five teachers were trained in November 2025, followed by a major awareness day that brought together around 600 students for waste collection and the upkeep of seedlings planted during the previous phase. In July 2026, the school received five sorting bins and launched its own Environmental Club, made up of 12 students, one teacher, and one parent representative. The result: 619 students reached overall, including 142 trained specifically in waste sorting — proof that sustained support pays off.
Bittou A Primary School: Proving the Model Travels
New to the project, Bittou A, in the Nakambé region, counted 562 students who were strongly engaged from the very first activities, alongside their school leadership and Parents’ Association. Twelve teachers were trained in November 2025, followed by an awareness day that led into a large sanitation operation involving the school, the town hall, and Bittou’s local education authority. In May 2026, the official handover of five sorting bins and the launch of an Environmental Club sealed the commitment of an entire school community. Bittou A’s experience makes one thing clear: Burkina Djigui’s model isn’t tied to a single school — it can be reproduced.
CEFP Gampéla: An Agroecological Garden as an Open-Air Classroom
At the Vocational Education and Training Centre (CEFP) of Gampéla, in the municipality of Saaba, theory quickly gave way to practice. Thirty-four teachers, supervisors, and administrative staff were trained in November 2025, ahead of a more ambitious undertaking: building, step by step between December 2025 and March 2026, a full agroecological school garden. Tilling the land, setting up vegetable nurseries, treating for termites, transplanting, and sowing a range of crops (tomatoes, onions, cabbage, carrots…) — each stage became a hands-on learning experience for students. Fifty-nine fruit and shade trees (guava, banana, papaya, lemon, and more) were planted, and 23 garden beds are now in use. A Green Club was launched in March 2026, and the garden’s harvests now enrich the centre’s canteen — with surplus produce even sold to benefit the student council’s budget.
Phase 2 by the Numbers: Burkina Djigui’s Cumulative Impact
In total, Phase 2 trained 81 teachers, supervisors, and education staff, reached 1,511 students and trainees, created 3 environmental clubs, installed 10 sorting bins, and put 1 agroecological school garden, planted with 59 fruit and shade trees, into use. Three regions of Burkina Faso are now covered: Hauts-Bassins, Nakambé, and Centre. On social media, 18 Facebook posts and 8 LinkedIn posts reached, on average, around 48,000 people per Facebook post — extending well beyond direct beneficiaries.
Field Challenges, Local Solutions
Fitting project activities around the school calendar was never straightforward: exam periods, curriculum constraints, and teacher availability all called for flexible planning, adjusted school by school. Building the CEFP’s agroecological garden required close, sustained follow-up over several months — Burkina Djigui responded with regular site visits and by progressively handing over responsibility to trained teachers and Green Club members. Finally, to outlast the project’s own timeline, the organization leaned on durable levers: environmental clubs, parent involvement, and equipment left in schools’ hands for good.
From Awareness to Ownership: What Changed Since Phase 1
Comparing the two phases is instructive. Where Phase 1 covered four schools with an introductory goal, Phase 2 narrowed to three in order to allow for closer, more hands-on support. Teachers, once simply trainees themselves, are now active relays to their own students. Students, in turn, no longer just attend one-off activities — they run clubs, tend a garden, and look after equipment. Reforestation and waste sorting, the pillars of Phase 1, have given way to permanent structures — a school garden, green clubs — built to outlast the funding itself.
What This Project Changed for Burkina Djigui Itself
Beyond the schools it supported, this project also transformed the organization behind it. Burkina Djigui now has a structured intervention model built on five components — teacher training, student involvement through clubs, hands-on activities, engagement of school communities, and regular follow-up — which it’s ready to replicate elsewhere. The success of the CEFP garden has already drawn interest from other schools hoping to reproduce the experience.
A Model Ready to Scale Across Burkina Faso
With two successful phases behind it, Burkina Djigui is now looking to scale up: strengthening existing Environmental Clubs into genuine youth leadership spaces, developing new agroecological school gardens elsewhere, and setting up exchanges between schools to spread good practices. The ambition is clear — to make environmental education a lasting pillar of Burkina Faso’s school system, not a one-off initiative.
Continue the Journey with Youth Conservation
Burkina Djigui’s experience is its own demonstration of what the Acting for Nature Conservation programme has set out to prove since 2025: that children and young people, given simple tools, close support, and the backing of an entire school community, can become genuine agents of change. To explore Youth Conservation’s free resources and follow the project’s next steps, visit youth-conservation.org.
If you want to know more about the NGO, please contact them directly via Facebook.
