Case Study: Green Infrastructure

Groupe d’Action des Femmes pour la Relance Economique du Houet (GAFREH) in Bobo-Dioulasso, Burkina Faso

Issa Zerbo

In the course of executing the USG-funded LCapS census, ACSD identified a number of successful groups that had or were currently benefitting from international donor support. One of these is the Groupe d’Action des Femmes pour la Relance Economique du Houet (GAFREH) in the Hauts-Bassins region of Burkina Faso. GAFREH was created in 1995 with no outside donor support. Since then it has benefitted from a number of other grants (from the World Bank, USAID, and the European Union) that have facilitated the scale-up of its operations. GAFREH currently (2026) employs more than 6,000 women artists and trash collectors.

GAFREH is a registered collective whose official objective is to fight against plastic pollution, while supporting activities that create employment for the most vulnerable women in the collective. The same collective supports micro-credits and educational opportunities through a series of training centers that they support .

  • Lesson Learned: Programs that promote green industries can be very profitable and be scaled up in ways that promote social inclusion.
1. The GAFREH President and her assistants.

The GAFREH President and her assistants. (Source: GAFREH photo archive)

Three GAFREH member sorting plastic waste (Source: GAFREH photo archive).

The GAFREH President and her assistants. (Source: GAFREH photo archive)

Two women in green uniforms sorting through piles of waste in a recycling or waste management facility.

Two GAFREH members collecting plastic waste. (Source: GAFREH photo archive)

Cleaning the plastic bags (Source: GAFREH photo archive).

Treating the bags before weaving. (Source: GAFREH photo archive)

Weaving bags from the strings of treated plastic. (Source: GAFREH photo archive).

Treating the bags before weaving. (Source: GAFREH photo archive)

Treating the bags before weaving (Source: GAFREH photo archive).

Treating the bags before weaving. (Source: GAFREH photo archive)

Sample Products Created

More Products

Two men are working on a metal structure outdoors, one adjusting a container while the other stands next to it, with a brick wall in the background.

The plastic sacks that are too degraded for weaving are turned into bricks, stop signs, and field markers that people order and/or purchase from the collective’s store. This picture shows one of the small ovens that are used to fabricate the bricks. (Source: GAFREH photo archive)

Some of the sample bricks that are manufactured from the recycled plastic for use in peoples’ courtyards.

Some of the sample bricks that are manufactured from the recycled plastic for use in peoples’ courtyards. (Source: GAFREH photo archive)

Some of the sample bricks that are manufactured from the recycled plastic for use in peoples’ courtyards.

Some of the sample bricks that are manufactured from the recycled plastic for use in peoples’ courtyards.

In recent years, the collective has produced stop signs for the Bobo-Dioulasso Mayor’s office. (Source: GAFREH photo archive).

In recent years, the collective has produced stop signs for the Bobo-Dioulasso mayor’s office. (Source: GAFREH photo archive)

They have also produced a popular line of field markers that people by to delimit their fields. (Source: GAFREH photo archive).

They have also produced a popular line of field markers that people buy to delimit their fields. (Source: GAFREH photo archive)