WALK IN THE LIGHT INTERNATIONAL
Loving West Africa, empowering people, following Jesus.
Programs and results
What we aim to solve
Burkina Faso is the 19th poorest country in the world and ranks 183rd out of 188 countries on the Human Development Index, making it one of the poorest and least developed nations in the world. This effects every area of their nation, from health care to education to economy to agriculture. WITLI has recognized these major needs and is committed to transforming Burkina Faso through sustainable community development. WITLI's ultimate mission is to empower the people Burkina Faso to break free from physical, mental, social, and spiritual poverty. We fuel this mission of empowerment with projects focused on sustainably equipping the community. These projects include education (including sign language education), clean water and sanitation, health care initiatives, entrepreneurship, and agricultural development. We are constantly seeking other opportunities and venues to get involved in to address the overall issue of poverty.
Our programs
What are the organization's current programs, how do they measure success, and who do the programs serve?
"R" and "V" Health Center
WITLI believes health care is a big part of community development. Without access to quality health care people continually get sick; this effect kids abilities to learn in school and adults abilities to work in the farms or businesses. Valuable time is wasted and precious life is lost with out access to health care. Through our partnership with generous local donors, we are now able to provide quality sustaining health care through a facility in the community of R, Burkina Faso.
Education
At WITLI we believe that education is the KEY component to both a child’s well-being and seals their future. Burkina Faso is one of the least educated countries in the world, with a literacy rate of less than 22%. Without enough schools, the cycle of poverty continues. We believe that we can change this. Our goal is to see an elementary, junior high & high school in each of the 45 provinces in Burkina Faso.
Child Sponsorship
Child sponsorship is an amazing program which establishes a one-on-one relationship between partners and a child in need in Burkina Faso. For just $35 a month, partners have the opportunity to support, love and encourage a specific child while helping to fund a movement of soon-to-be leaders that are learning how to create a self-sustainable future for their families and communities.
Where we work
External reviews
Photos
Videos
Our results
How does this organization measure their results? It's a hard question but an important one.
Number of emails sent to database
This metric is no longer tracked.Totals By Year
Population(s) Served
Adults
Type of Metric
Input - describing resources we use
Direction of Success
Increasing
Percentage of students to pass each grade
This metric is no longer tracked.Totals By Year
Population(s) Served
Children and youth, People of African descent
Related Program
Education
Type of Metric
Outcome - describing the effects on people or issues
Direction of Success
Increasing
Number of clean water pump wells drilled
This metric is no longer tracked.Totals By Year
Population(s) Served
People of African descent
Type of Metric
Output - describing our activities and reach
Direction of Success
Increasing
Number of people receiving safe drinking water from community systems
This metric is no longer tracked.Totals By Year
Population(s) Served
People of African descent
Type of Metric
Output - describing our activities and reach
Direction of Success
Increasing
Number of children sponsored
This metric is no longer tracked.Totals By Year
Population(s) Served
Children and youth, People of African descent
Related Program
Child Sponsorship
Type of Metric
Output - describing our activities and reach
Direction of Success
Increasing
Number of loans issued
This metric is no longer tracked.Totals By Year
Population(s) Served
Women and girls, Caregivers
Type of Metric
Output - describing our activities and reach
Direction of Success
Increasing
Context Notes
These are loans issued through the Pay it Forward, where women are empowered with the capital they need to start their own business, receiving a 0% interest loan funded by women in the U.S.
Number of children enrolled in school
This metric is no longer tracked.Totals By Year
Population(s) Served
Children and youth
Related Program
Education
Type of Metric
Outcome - describing the effects on people or issues
Direction of Success
Increasing
Goals & Strategy
Learn about the organization's key goals, strategies, capabilities, and progress.
Charting impact
Four powerful questions that require reflection about what really matters - results.
What is the organization aiming to accomplish?
WITLI's mission is to equip and empower the people Burkina Faso to break free from physical, mental, social, and spiritual poverty. By 2045, we hope to be in partnership with one community in each province in Burkina Faso. We aim to accomplish this goal by partnering directly with local Burkinabe's in order to create programs that are sustainable and beneficial to the communities. Each of these projects are focused on the alleviation of one area of poverty. To accomplish freedom from mental poverty, we focus on providing free, quality education in rural areas, where education is near impossible to come by. By improving accessibility to quality health care in rural areas and helping communities further their agricultural development, we relieve areas of physical poverty. We partner with local churches in each village in order to ensure that the spiritual poverty of each villager is met and satisfied. Social poverty is found in gender disparity and socioeconomic disparity. This is primarily why we work in rural areas, where these disparities are greater. We address these through our entrepreneurial opportunities, which offer empowerment to women and others whose vocational options are otherwise limited. We are constantly researching and developing additional projects and programs that can further alleviate poverty and transform Burkina Faso.
What are the organization's key strategies for making this happen?
Our primary strategy is partnering with and equipping men and women in Burkina Faso. Our hope is to create sustainable change in the most under-supported villages in Burkina, and the best way for us to do that is to focus on people. Already, we have over 50 staff members in Burkina who are regularly being equipped to reach their neighbors. These staff members are people from Burkina, not people who Walk in the Light has brought in who will one day leave the country. We aim to show the people of Burkina Faso that they have the capability of making the changes that their nation needs. So, our focus is to raise up leaders that are willing to devote themselves to the work of shaping their home into the type of place that will give the maximum amount of opportunity to the next generation. We want to make a difference for generations, not just right now. So, instead of bringing people from the US to do the work, we train natives to do it. This strengthens their economy, commitment, and morale greatly. So, when WITLI says we 'drilled a well' in a village that didn't have any access to clean water, what we mean is, we equipped a small-business man from Burkina to do that. We firmly believe in the old adage - "Give a man a fish; feed him for a day. Teach a man to fish; feed him for a lifetime." The people of Burkina are intelligent and capable - our goal is simply to remove the barriers to help them reach their full potential.
Alongside this, we strive to work with US-based partners who are willing to commit to long-term partnerships, because we understand that true change comes through relationship. Many of our partners have traveled with our staff team to Burkina Faso to meet the people that they are serving, and it has helped them to understand the true change that we are striving for and has strengthened their resolve to continue the work. When we and our partners can associate faces and voices with those we are serving, we grow in our ability to empathize with them and to advocate on their behalf.
What are the organization's capabilities for doing this?
Thanks to the generosity and skills of many of our donors, we are well-equipped to raise up leaders in Burkina Faso. We are also greatly helped by many local Burkinabes. For some short-term goals, we partner with US-based teams who want to provide immediate assistance. An example of this comes from last year; we sent a team of dentists to a health center we had built in order to provide dental care. Of course, we are truly happy to be able to provide such services, but our primary goal is to raise leaders who can train other leaders. So, next year, those same dentists are going back to Burkina to train other dentists rather than doing the work themselves.
While sending teams from the US on short-term training trips is helpful, it is even more helpful is finding Burkina-natives who are able to provide regular, long-term training and leadership that will help alleviate poverty. There are many natives who have the experience and knowledge needed in order to change the lives of their fellow Burkinabes; our hope is simply to mobilize and resource those people so that they can focus on the work. A great example of this is our Burkina National Director, Gerard Ouedraogo. He has the leadership skills and practical knowledge to enact great changes in the villages we work with, and because we support him financial and supply him with the resources he needs, he is able to devote himself toward the mission of Walk in the Light.
What have they accomplished so far and what's next?
WITLI has been partnering with communities in Burkina Faso since 2009. Since then, we have seen great progress made to alleviate poverty in several communities through our development projects. Rural Burkina Faso lacks basic services like health centers, schools, water and electricity. We have made great strides in alleviating these needs. Thus far, we have built two primary schools in the village of R, and are conducting secondary school out of a government loaned building in the same community. We are currently beginning construction on our own secondary school in R, and are beginning a sign language education program for deaf and hearing impaired students this fall. We also have primary schools in the villages of S and V. Currently, we are completing construction on a second primary school building in both S and V. Currently, we are working to develop adult literacy courses in rural areas as well as increase educational opportunities for disabled children and adults. Our ultimate goal is to build one school, primary through secondary, in each of Burkina's 45 provinces. In each of the schools, children are sponsored, which allows education to be free for the locals. While we currently have 292 children sponsored, we hope to achieve 100% sponsorship and are currently working on initiatives for sponsorship for our staff members in Burkina. We have built a Health Center and Maternity Ward in R and aim to outfit each province with a Health Center by 2045. We have provided over 30 local women with business loans through the Pay it Forward program and hope to expand the program as we partner with additional villages. We have drilled 15 pump wells in communities once devoid of clean water. We hope to continue drilling wells and developing corresponding sanitation programs to accompany them. We are partnering with a nonprofit focused on agricultural development to develop irrigation plans in qualifying communities. Currently, we have a welding business operating in Ouagadougou, the nation's capital. We are working toward making this business 100% sustainable, while developing other initiatives for entrepreneurship. All of these projects are aimed at the alleviation of poverty and the transformation of Burkina Faso.
Financials
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Operations
The people, governance practices, and partners that make the organization tick.
Connect with nonprofit leaders
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- Analyze a variety of pre-calculated financial metrics
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Connect with nonprofit leaders
SubscribeBuild relationships with key people who manage and lead nonprofit organizations with GuideStar Pro. Try a low commitment monthly plan today.
- Analyze a variety of pre-calculated financial metrics
- Access beautifully interactive analysis and comparison tools
- Compare nonprofit financials to similar organizations
Want to see how you can enhance your nonprofit research and unlock more insights? Learn More about GuideStar Pro.
WALK IN THE LIGHT INTERNATIONAL
Board of directorsas of 02/17/2024
Thomas Cornell
SOZO Church
Katy Cornell
Jeff Campbell
Gail Campbell
Vice President
Rachael Jorgeson
CEO
Bradford Jorgenson
Angie Landram
Katy Cornell
Co-president
Board leadership practices
GuideStar worked with BoardSource, the national leader in nonprofit board leadership and governance, to create this section.
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Board orientation and education
Does the board conduct a formal orientation for new board members and require all board members to sign a written agreement regarding their roles, responsibilities, and expectations? No -
CEO oversight
Has the board conducted a formal, written assessment of the chief executive within the past year ? No -
Ethics and transparency
Have the board and senior staff reviewed the conflict-of-interest policy and completed and signed disclosure statements in the past year? Yes -
Board composition
Does the board ensure an inclusive board member recruitment process that results in diversity of thought and leadership? Yes -
Board performance
Has the board conducted a formal, written self-assessment of its performance within the past three years? No