Burkina Faso: Pierre Kazoni reports for duty on the busy streets of Ouagadougou with Burkinabe police officer Adelaide Valea.

At 0530 Valea and I go to Ouagadougou Central Police Station’s parade ground - a vast compound where more than 200 dusty cars, mopeds and bicycles are parked.

It turns out they are all impounded.

Guinea: Karim is a sergeant in the police force in Conakry, where he worked for over 10 years.

This city is a bit like hell.

There’s too much work with very little pay, which explains why we are accused of blatant corruption, particularly those of us in the traffic division.

This is not out of choice but we can be seen taking little bribes especially from commercial taxi and minibus drivers in a bid to make ends meet.

Click here: Dan Heller

The Diesel engines responsible for such transformation are being distributed in Burkina Faso, Mali and Senegal by the United Nations Development Program (UNDP) with help from the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation.

Click here: Empowering West African Women with Diesel Engines

I came across this post on the Good News Network site. Now if you have read the ‘About’ page on the EWAN site you will have worked out by now that I’m probably a positive kind of person and believe in the power of sharing good news. Well, when I’m feeling low (not very often) this is the site I go too. Check it out. JC

Today we are establishing and operating schools, medical clinics, and feeding programs in some of the neediest areas of Burkina Faso, Africa. Through our Agriculture Program and Business Conferences we are bringing much needed know-how to the regions farmers, entrepreneurs, and business leaders.

With the help of our partners we are making a difference in West Africa.

West Africa Initiative

Oxfam International - West Africa

The Index has been created by The Norwegian Council for Africa (NCA), as a part of NCA’s efforts to raise awareness about Africa and African affairs.

Burkina Faso

LJ Urban has designed a new eco-urban community of 35 LEED ND Certified homes in the urban core of Sacramento, its home town. The community is suggestively named Good, and for each home within it that gets sold, LJ Urban has committed to funding the complete training of a West African mason to build sustainable homes for families in Burkina Faso. By partnering with the Association La Voûte Nubienne (AVN), which has already trained about 60 local masons to build durable homes out of earth bricks and mortar, LJ Urban aims to go beyond just providing homes to impart enduring skills and jobs to the local community. Taking the notion a step further, LJ Urban has also opted to skip the expensive marketing campaign to promote its Good community, and to use that money to train more African masons instead. So, for every 100,000 people who visit LJ Urban’s new, dedicated website by July 1st, the company will fund the complete training of another local Burkina Faso mason—up to 20 in all through this viral approach.

The Good project was inspired by Toms Shoes, a project that donates a pair of shoes for every one it sells. “[That] approach captivated us because it broke through the ‘charity fatigue’ all of us have felt at one time or another,” LJ Urban’s team explains. “The question then became: ‘What if we could do something like that with our houses?’…” The project is also reminiscent of One Laptop Per Child’s (OLPC’s) “Give One Get One” campaign last year through which consumers could donate a laptop and get one for their own use at the same time. A model of giving to bring to your neck of the woods…?

Website: www.dosomegoodnow.com