About Us

Burkina Faso  


Vision

Many of our members work at the Heidelberg Institute of Public Health and travel to Burkina Faso regularly for their work. They have come to know the region and the local people well. This is why we have founded Friends of Nouna, a not-for-profit organization. We aim to help people help themselves and support programs in the following fields:

  • Improved access to high quality health care
  • Nutrition and agriculture
  • Public schools, professional training, and adult education
  • Improvement of infrastructure

Who we are

Friends of Nouna was founded by current and former employees of the Department of Tropical Hygiene and Public Health at Heidelberg University and the Centre de Recherche en Santé de Nouna (CRSN) in Burkina Faso. During long stays and frequent contacts with the colleagues from Nouna in the context of our work, networks and friendships have developed that reach far beyond our work.  Our engagement for Friends of Nouna expresses our solidarity with our Burkinabé hosts. How we work Friends of Nouna’s vision – helping people help themselves – expresses itself in our engagement in aid, development, and medical projects in the Kossi province in the north-west of Burkina Faso, such as:

  • Support to agricultural and nutritional programs;
  • Support to medical aid programs for improved  access to high quality health care in the Kossi province, including training of medical staff and extension of treatment options available;
  • Support to projects targeting public schools, vocational training, and adult education;
  • Support to local infrastructural development and maintenance.

We organize collaborative projects and events in Germany for the promotion of cultural and international understanding, such as

  • Cultural dance events and exhibitions;
  • Promotion of friendship and communication amongst our members;
  • Seminars, presentations, and movies.

Friends of Nouna pursues altruistic motives and thus works not-for-profit and exclusively towards non-commercial purposes. The necessary means for the realization of these purposes are generated through:

  • Membership fees and revenues from Friends of Nouna’s capital
  • Donations, and other contributions and revenue
  • Project money from the public sector
  • Funds earmarked for specific purposes;

Revenues from exhibitions and dance events, etc.