Started on June 8, the lanterns went out during the festivities of the 4e edition of the SODIGAZ woman of honor competition, this Saturday, June 2023, 10 at the Mgr Anselme Titianma Sanou culture house.
Initiated since 2017, as part of SODIGAZ’s social responsibility, this edition, like the previous ones, intends to highlight the activities of women’s associations in the city of Bobo-Dioulasso, according to Moussa Lougué, Commercial Marketing Director of SODIGAZ. On the occasion of this 4e edition, of the 35 women’s associations at the start, 25 had the privilege of defending their projects. On D-3 of the night of the winners, where the six best associations were awarded prizes, a fair, as an exhibition platform for the products of the associations in competition, was opened at the place Tiéfo Amoro. ” Women are at the heart of society, they are SODIGAZ’s No. 1 partner. When it is not well, the whole society suffers. What could be more normal than to accompany and support them”, said Moussa Lougue. From the first edition to the present, he says he sees an improvement, because ” today we have twice as many associations as last year”.
According to Wendkouni Benjamin Ouédraogo, Regional Director of Solidarity, Humanitarian Action, National Gender and Family Reconciliation for the Hauts-Bassins, “this fair is to be appreciated because it falls within the framework of the economic empowerment of women through the processing and sale of products, allows them to develop resilience and set up projects in order to meet the needs of the family.“. A tour of the stands, which enabled the officials to discover the potential of these women’s associations, brought the opening ceremony to an end.
“The satisfaction is enormous”, says a winner
Of the 35 women’s associations at the start, 25 had the privilege of defending their projects. Among these 25 associations, 6 are declared women of honor for the competition. They each leave with a trophy, a check for two million CFA francs. Fousséni Koné, Regional Director of the Chamber of Commerce and Industry of Burkina Faso, representing Al Hassan Siénou, President of the Hauts-Bassins regional consular delegation of the CCI-BF and sponsor, will not fail to express his joy.
« We are happy to attend this ceremony which made it possible to reward 6 winners of 3 categories at the rate of two million FCFA per association. In addition to the SODIGAZ prizes, we encourage those who have not been selected as winners by providing training for all the associations that have participated so that the next editions are more dynamic, more effective. he says.
For Kéré Tarnagda Raïssa, member of the Association for the Salvation of the Visually Handicapped in Hauts-Bassins, winner in the crafts category, ” the satisfaction is enormous. For a first participation, we were able to win the first prize. This will help us expand our work and enable people with disabilities to thrive and leave begging ».
Aymeric KANI
Norrockom Edwige KAM/trainee
