The project goes beyond simply improving living conditions inside the prison; it also aims to promote prisoners’ economic independence by producing soap from local agricultural ingredients. The ingredients used in the artisanal production are mainly peanut oil, shea butter, neem oil (margosa oil), spirulina (algae) and thorny mimosa, known locally as acacia. This approach makes the most of local resources while giving detainees skills for the future.

Dosso Lassana, an ICRC water and habitat programme coordinator, adds: “In the long term, we want to train detainees so that they can produce soap independently, which enables them to become economically independent and reintegrate into society.”

The soap-making initiative has two main objectives: first, to support prison authorities in implementing social reintegration projects within prisons, while allowing the ICRC to gradually reduce the direct assistance it provides; and second, to improve the ability of detainees to keep clean, while providing them with an income-generating activity that will help them re-enter society.