Burkina Faso Resilience Factsheet
The Sahel region in general is marked by food insecurity, persistent poverty, corrupt governance, high population growth rates, resource mismanagement, disease and recurrent weather shocks such as drought and flooding. These risks have facilitated the recent expansion of violent extremism.
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In an area characterized by lack of economic opportunity, underlying land degradation and water insecurity, the presence of natural resources and agriculture-based conflicts and violent activity by extremist organizations have shattered security for millions of Burkinabe. Violent extremist attacks have led to rapid internal displacements. Through activities targeting growth in agriculture; health; nutrition; water, sanitation, and hygiene (WASH); and governance and resilience investments, USAID hopes to reduce tensions, save lives, and build a pathway to recovery.
Program Strategies
USAID’s resilience programming in Burkina Faso is layered within the Resilience in the Sahel Enhanced (RISE) II program (2018–2023). RISE II supports countries and communities to overcome multifaceted challenges without compromising future well-being. RISE II is an integral
part of USAID’s long-term focus on strengthening the resilience of Sahel’s most vulnerable people.The program spans Burkina Faso and Niger and has over 30 partners,
including the World Food Programme (WFP), government stakeholders, and civil society, with a total investment of $540 million.
RISE II’s vision is that chronically vulnerable populations in Burkina Faso and Niger, supported by resilient systems, effectively manage shocks and stresses and pursue sustainable pathways out of poverty by:
- Enhancing social and ecological risk management systems
- Increasing and sustaining economic well-being
- Improving health, family planning, and nutrition outcomes
- Enhancing governance of institutions and organizations
- Enhancing social, economic and political agency of women and youth
RISE II integrates a global approach to risk management and shock response, strengthening local capacities to prepare for, respond to and recover from shocks and constraints. For example, RISE II activities are required to develop contingency plans to prepare for likely shocks. Crisis modifiers allow extra resources to be made available rapidly to respond as conditions change.This innovative model, which is designed to complement USAID’s humanitarian assistance and improve effectiveness and efficiency of all USAID efforts, is also informing USAID’s resilience efforts beyond the Sahel region.
Activities and Strategic Partnerships
USAID RISE II activities in Burkina Faso include:
- TerresEauVie, focused on land and water management
- Préparation pour la Résilience au Burkina/Prepare for Resilience in Burkina (PREPARE), focused on health services delivery
- Amélioration et Sécurisation des Terres Vers la Resilience/Land Improvement and Security for Resilience (ASTER), focused on land titling
- Yidgiri, focused on food security and agricultural markets
- Victory Against Malnutrition Plus Resilience Food Security Activity (Resilience Food Security Activity)
- World Food Programme watershed management activities
- Breakthrough ACTION, focused on social and behavior change
- Inclusive Governance for Resilience
Additional activities that work partly in the Resilience Focus Zone (RFZ), as well in other parts of the country, include a buy-in to CATALYZE to enhance access to finance; the USAID Bridge Youth Connect activity; the USAID Affordable Mobile Phones activity under a Global Development Alliance (GDA); health buy-ins to several mechanisms, including MOMENTUM, Advancing Nutrition, West Africa Breakthrough Action, and Country Health Information System Data Use; Nex’Eau, an activity focused on drinking water services following a humanitarian assistance/development assistance nexus approach; USAID Democracy, Human Rights, and Governance (DRG) activities; On est Ensemble, focusing on the farmer/herder conflict; and activities focused on Burkina Faso elections, human rights and access to justice to build the capacity of civil society organizations.
The RISE II portfolio strengthens adaptive management in multiple ways. USAID’s Sahel Collaboration and Communication (SCC) activity provides structured and regular processes for USAID implementing partners to collaborate, learn and adaptively manage. USAID staff are directly and substantially involved in these adaptive discussions. All major awards also include crisis modifiers and the requirement for the proactive creation of contingency plans during work planning.These plans guide risk reduction activities, facilitation of context monitoring and measures that allow for early actions to reduce harm to RISE II populations and protect development gains. USAID’s approach to collaborating, learning, adapting and contingency planning engages local communities to enhance their capacity to adapt and respond to shocks and stresses, a critical aspect of long-term resilience.
Evaluation and Learning
Households in the RISE zone were exposed to increasing shocks over the last several years and outcomes such as poverty and food security saw declines in Burkina Faso. Despite these challenges, results from recent surveys show that households with higher levels of participation in RISE programming were better able to mitigate the effects of shocks and stresses. Furthermore, USAID participants in crop, poultry, and small ruminant cultivation activities have seen their incomes rise by an average of 45 percent.
Results from the 2020 RISE I endline impact evaluation are expected in late 2021.