News
PLURIELLES and Its Multiplied Impact
21 March 2026
The PLURIELLES project recognizes that health, human rights and economic empowerment are inseparable. Since 2021, Santé Monde, Lawyers without Borders Canada and Socodevi have shown that when these dimensions are connected, impact is multiplied.
In Benin, Burkina Faso and Mali, an ecosystem of local partners is mobilizing to activate multiple levers as soon as needs emerge and opportunities arise.
March 8, International Women’s Rights Day, could have been a simple celebration. In the Tannounyan region of Burkina Faso, we turned it into an opportunity.
Banfora : A Dialogue That Opens Several Doors at Once
In Banfora, a mother–daughter dialogue brought together around fifty adolescent girls who expressed the need to better understand their sexual and reproductive health.
Members of four women’s cooperatives and several local organizations, including Munyu (a women’s rights organization) and the African Youth and Health Network, mobilized to respond.
The discussions naturally moved across several interconnected themes:
- Sexual and reproductive health and rights (SRHR)
- Gender-based violence and available remedies
- Access to health, legal and psychosocial services
- Economic opportunities and access to vocational training
Issues that are often addressed separately fed into one another. The girls shared their concerns. The mothers raised awareness of the most common forms of violence in the region. And Munyu committed to offering vocational training in the trades of the girls’ choosing.
For many adolescents, it was the first time their rights, available services and future opportunities were presented in a coherent and integrated way.
Sindou : Economy, Health and Protection Brought Together
In Sindou, nearly 100 women from partner cooperatives took part in the National Conference on the Empowerment of Women and Youth, supported by PLURIELLES.
Once again, multiple dimensions came together:
- Sharing experiences related to economic empowerment
- Awareness-raising on sexual and reproductive health and gender-based violence
- Screening for cervical cancer and sexually transmitted infections at nearby partner health centers
This space became one of protection, health services and capacity building.
One Shared Approach: Creating the Conditions for Multiplied Impact
Whether through intergenerational dialogue or a national conference, these two initiatives illustrate the same reality: PLURIELLES creates environments where services, knowledge and opportunities reinforce one another.
When health intersects with rights, and when economic opportunities dialogue with protection mechanisms, impact is multiplied. Services that are connected lead to women and adolescent girls reclaiming power—the power to make free and informed choices about their bodies, their health and their future.
Across all three countries, this same collective momentum supports the implementation of a comprehensive continuum of care for survivors of gender-based violence, from which more than 30,000 people have already benefited.
The PLURIELLES project is made possible through the support of Global Affairs Canada.