Burkina Faso is a landlocked, low-income country in the Sahel. It is the 14th poorest country in the world (Business Insider, 2019). Its population is very young and growing rapidly. In 2017, 65% of the population was under the age of 25.

The country is also experiencing rapid and worrying urbanization. With a population of 3 million in 2019, the capital Ouagadougou is expected to have between 10 and 20 million inhabitants by 2050.

The challenges are already considerable and the authorities are struggling to meet the needs of all. More and more Burkinabes are crowding into the suburbs of Ouagadougou, in what are known as “unplanned areas” where access to water, electricity and transport is limited. The standard of living is very low and access to basic social services almost non-existent. These communities suffering from harsh living conditions, with a feeling of inferiority, even come to exclude themselves.

In addition to this already very difficult situation, security is becoming increasingly degraded.

The spread of jihadist violence in the north of the country and the multiplication of terrorist attacks, including in the capital, are leading to numerous population displacements.

Since 2015, the attacks have left about 750 people dead and 600,000 displaced (Le Monde, 2020). More than 2,000 schools are closed because of the terrorist threat affecting more than 300,000 students and more than 10,000 teachers.

To date, we are maintaining our efforts in the country so as not to jeopardize the commitments made to support vulnerable people and the education of young children.

In Burkina Faso since 2004, we have been working mainly on early childhood development, family support, hygiene and health.

• Early Childhood Development :

Our objective is to promote the awakening and stimulation of children under 6 years of age. We support the ministries in charge of social action and national education to develop pedagogical tools for early childhood professionals. All these tools are available on the website www.bop.bf and relayed on the Facebook page of the Preschool Toolbox.

PE&D also supports the construction of Early Learning and Preschool Education Centres (CEEP) and the training of early childhood professionals to promote equal opportunities for toddlers.

More recently, PE&D has supported the creation of a professional training course for childcare assistants at the level of “Certificat de Qualification de Base” (CQB), which allows the work of those in charge of the care of children from 6 months to 3 years old to be valued.

In order to make quality educational games and toys available to all early childhood professionals, the social enterprise Biibop was created in 2019 with the support of PE&D and today enables more than 8 local craftsmen to work.

• Family Support :

We have developed the method known as Family Support. We identify the most isolated families and support them during home visits or in the social offices. This method of personalised follow-up aims to solve the health, employment, schooling or financial problems of the most vulnerable. This approach is currently deployed through 10 local associations spread over 10 provinces in the Boucle du Mouhoun and Centre-West provinces.

In the areas where we work, only 30% of the inhabitants have a birth certificate, which is essential for access to school or exams. Access to civil status is also a real challenge. In 2019 we carried out a study on the state of civil registry modernization in the Boucle du Mouhoun and the Centre-West which showed that the physical archiving of civil status records is of insufficient quality. The training of civil registrars and archiving equipment must be reinforced despite the recent arrival of the Icivil IT solution in Burkina Faso.

• Hygiene and Health :

Within the framework of family support, we refer women who need it to medical consultations, particularly during pregnancy. For teenagers, we refer them to family planning services.

For women suffering from domestic violence, we also refer them to social services specialized in this field. In addition, we also support the Husbands’ School approach in order to involve men on issues such as sexual and reproductive health, family planning, gender-based violence, etc.

Finally, for children’s hygiene, we have devised a device called “Elephant Memory” in order to make the hand washing ritual a fun moment. The “Nudge” approach increases the practice of handwashing by about 20% compared to a conventional handwashing device.