Open-air African markets can be quite picturesque with women in colorful dresses calling out their wares to passing customers and stalls filled with baskets of bright red tomatoes, shiny green chilies, and pyramids of citrus. Children, goats, and chickens run wild, their different calls indistinguishable amongst the din of the market-goers.

But after the buyers and sellers have gone home for the day, what remains is far from idyllic. Rotten vegetables were trampled underfoot. Only soggy rinds remain of juicy oranges, grapefruits, and pineapples. Leaves that once held fermenting manioc now make the pathways slick and dangerous. Goats and chickens have left their droppings everywhere. Plastic bags blow like tumbleweed through the now-deserted stalls.

Next market day, what hasn't been blown away by the wind or carried away by the birds will be swept into makeshift landfills near the market, not far from where food is bought, sold, and consumed. These landfills are breeding grounds for malaria-carrying mosquitoes. They harbor deadly diseases like cholera and typhoid.

In the village of Houedogli, a group of women decided that their market was going to be different. After each market day, they sweep up all of the trash and debris. They compost the organics and properly dispose of the inorganics.

Initially, the women spread the compost in their own fields, but other farmers were curious. Years of overusing chemical fertilizers left farmers looking for an alternative. And presto - an instant market for their compost!

For the price of a couple of basins and brooms, what started as a community service is now a thriving business.

Click here to support this and other initiatives that promote the economic empowerment and educational enrichment of the women and girls of Benin!