I. Visions
The internal vision of AGED: an innovative association serving as an effective counsel-support to the rural communities.
The association’s vision for the communities: a better equipped population for a socioeconomic development that is in harmony with the natural resources.
II. Goals, Missions and Objectives
The goal of the association is to promote the socioeconomic development of the various strata of the rural population by improving their knowledge and expertise. The mission of the association is to help the rural communities acquire knowledge, techniques and technologies in natural resource management, in contribution to the establishment of national policies on the fight against poverty and the preservation of natural resources.
Objectives of the Association :
- To help strengthen the capacities of the actors;
- To contribute to a sustainable management of natural resources;
- To contribute to land security among all rural actors;
- To support initiatives in improving the performance of economic activities;
- To support humanitarian and food sovereignty efforts;
- To promote human rights.
III. Principles of intervention
The Association attaches great importance to the principles it strives to meet in its daily activities, namely :
- Transparency and good governance;
- Free expression;
- Subsidiarity;
- Enhancement of local knowledge and expertise;
- Regular consultation and negotiation;
- Accountability.
IV. Field of intervention
The major fields of intervention of the association are summarized as follows:
- Sustainable management of natural resources/conflict management :
- Local conventions in natural resource management
- Alternative management of and intervention in land disputes
- Local land management
- CES / AGF
- Biodiversity improvement
- Agro-sylvipastoral production systems
- Water resource management and sanitation
- Decentralization and development
- Human rights
- Socio-economic/microfinance intitiative
- Humanitarian assistance.
V. Organization, resources and intervention zone
The organization of the association has the back-up of the following institutions:
- The General Assembly
- The Monitoring Bureau
- The Management Board
- The Implementation Structure.
AGED has diverse expertise at its disposal: rural resource persons, livestock engineers, agronomical engineers, agro-ecological engineers, sociologists, geographers, economist-planners, facilitators, etc. These resource persons have a long field experience (10-15 years on average) within the association’s major areas of operation.
The financial resources are generated from grants and various contracts, as well as proceeds from third-party handling.
The intervention zone extends throughout the national territory in general but is much more concentrated in the Sahel Burkinabe region, the Eastern and Central parts, the Hauts Bassins and the Boucle du Mouhoun.
VI. Several Experiences
Experiences gained by the association include, among others :
- Conduct of collaborative research projects between ILRI-CAPRI - IFPRI on the management of pastoral resources in Sahel Burkinabe (2000 - 2002);
- Conduct of research on collaborative agro-silvipastoral arrangements between FAO - CIRAD - AGED (2005 to 2006);
- Support in the establishment of development coordinating structures (CVGT and CIVGT) in the northern part of Burkina Faso (2002-2004);
- Counseling and training support for producers, associations, NGOs and development partners on conflict management, development of local NRM conventions, management of water and sanitation, improvement of agrosylvipastoral production systems;
- Set-up and implementation of a program to support the NRM and rural decentralization in Burkinabe Sahel (2001 - 2005);
- Implementation of a sheep feeding project in partnership with CRUS (2004-2005) funded by the PADDAB1;
- Implementation of a cassia tora development project in partnership with an organization of livestock producers (RECOPA) in the Burkina Sahel region, financed by the PADDAB 1 (2004-2005);
- Conduct of various studies in partnership with the CND / GTZ, GTZ, OXFAM-Intermon, the Development Program of Agriculture of GTZ, PAGEN / Sahel, the Ministry of Animal Resources;
- Management of “land intervention” and “local land management” components of the rural land project for Ganzourgou;
- Management of a support project for livestock farming in western Burkina Faso (PAEOB) in partnership with EDPA and CIRAD, funded by the French Development Agency (2004-2009);
- Management of rainwater collection projects in partnership with CREPA Burkina, Water Aid and the RAIN Foundation (2008);
- Management of humanitarian assistance projects in the Sahelian part of Burkina in 2007 and 2008 in partnership with Intermon OXFAM;
- Projects on food aid and water sanitation & hygiene in the rural commune of Bama (Hauts Bassins regions) in partnership with Intermon Oxfam (2007 - 2008);
VII. Prospects of the Association
- Improvement of strategic and operational capacities of the association;
- Strengthening ties with the people notably in the urban and rural communities;
- Strengthening partnership with development actors (populations, technical services of the State, Administration, projects, NGOs in Burkina, in the sub-regions and in northern countries) in conformity with the positioning strategy of AGED in the national, sub-regional and international levels.
.gif)