Women in burkina faso: producing handcrafted shea butter with metrological traces [Legal Metrology]

Frequently the idea related to I&M activities describes the scenario of technical and scientific experts who have specfic skills and use them to do research useful for the progress of scientific knowledge. In this article, we intend to consider metrology from another viewpoint. According to the topic of this issue of the Magazine, we wish to share the experience of some very special women in Instrumentation and Measurement (WIM). With the help of an Italian nonprofit organization (SOLE Onlus), a group of 150 women from the small West-African country of Burkina Faso established an association called ASVT Dollebou (which means for tomorrow in the local Bissà language) to produce Shea butter and its by-products. Shea butter (also known as beurre de Karité) is a pale solid triglyceride vegetable fat obtained from the seeds of the Shea tree (Vitellaria Paradoxa) and is used in food, cosmetics, soaps, candles, etc., mainly produced by women in the Sahel in Africa.