Burkina Faso is a landlocked nation in West Africa whose population is 11, 946,065 (2000 estimates). Burkina Faso, a least developed country, is one of the poorest countries in the world with a GDP per capita income of US$1,300. The “Green brigade” initiative aims at improving the city environment of Ouagadougou by providing secure employment to a group of 1200 women, most of whom are bread winners, to clean the streets and public spaces. The Green Brigade initiative has 3 main objectives. The first one is to reduce poverty through jobs creation. This has been achieved with the creation of 1,500 direct employments. The second objective is to improve the image and cleanliness of public spaces as well as urban streets. In this regard, 120 km of street and 3,000,000 sq metres are cleaned every Monday and Thursday. This practice allows the removal of all litter and all sort of waste from the streets. The final objective is to provide support to vulnerable social groups mainly women and children. The Green Brigade is made of 98 % women who are distributed in all the different sectors of the municipality of Ouagadougou. It is estimated that over 6,500 children have directly benefited from this programme, taking into account that, on average each women has to cater for the needs of 5 children, mainly: school fees, health care, and family nutrition. This initiative has also resulted in the protection of city’s environment. It is estimated that since the inception of this programme in 1995, over US$ 2 million tax payer money has been redistributed to over 1,000 women, enabling them to send 800 children (including 300 girls) to school.