Mitigating the destabilizing effects caused by continued violence and insecurity by targeting strategic communities.
WHY USAID/OTI IS IN BURKINA FASO
Burkina Faso’s deteriorating security context has threatened developing democratic achievements and created one of the world’s worst humanitarian situations. Armed groups, including violent extremist organizations (VEOs), organized criminal networks, and militant organizations have exploited the existing demographic, political, and environmental tension points, forcing Burkinabe government officials and security forces to depart from large areas of Burkina Faso’s Est, Nord, and Sahel regions. The inability of government security forces to counter this spread of insecurity has further strained the country’s limited resources and its institutions. This resulted in a vast increase in internally displaced persons, mass closure of health centers and schools, and even the outright abandonment of any government entity in some areas. USAID/OTI programming directly supports U.S. Government strategy by rapidly responding to the needs of communities on the front lines of the conflict.
USAID/OTI’S ROLE IN BURKINA FASO
The Burkina Faso Regional Program (BFRP) works to mitigate the destabilizing effects caused by continued violence and insecurity in the country by targeting strategic communities in northern and eastern Burkina Faso to find locally-led solutions that address the most pressing sources of instability, in order to:
Support and empower community leaders;
Mitigate livelihood disruption and foster economic opportunities;
Revitalize traditional community mechanisms; and
Enable critical local service delivery.
PROGRAM HIGHLIGHTS
- USAID/OTI provided 128 schools with more than 8,880 desks, chairs, and chalkboards, as well as books and school supplies, and rehabilitated school infrastructure in urban centers across the Sahel, Nord, Centre-Est, and Est regions—most of which host internally displaced students—improving equitable access to education for all students in these communities. This support to local and regional government entities helped ensure that the state could deliver education services to the benefit of all children in the community and created space for positive interactions between displaced and host children.
USAID/OTI delivered over 98,000 national identification documents and 41,000 birth certificates to Burkinabe in insecure areas in response to increased security checkpoints and curfews. Not carrying identification can result in detention, disrupted livelihoods, and increased tensions between communities and state security. The provision of these critical documents improves government and citizen relations and trust by enhancing the government’s service delivery capacity, allowing traditionally marginalized communities to participate in elections, and reducing the ability of VEOs to recruit disenfranchised locals.
