Projects

Short Description:

Overall goal

The objectives of this phase II aim at consolidating the achievements in terms of training and organization of young people in cooperatives. The cooperatives created in the first phase will see their capacities strengthened in terms of organization and operation in order to ensure a connection between production and supply of agricultural inputs on the one hand and, on the other hand, between production and conservation/marketing and processing.

Also, this phase will put much emphasis on women by promoting their access to training in order to promote the acquisition of professional skills and their empowerment by contributing to the strengthening of their technical (production, conservation, processing and marketing techniques), financial and organizational capacities. The program will particularly develop the linkage of women with financial institutions and will seek to strengthen their capacity to take charge of their own economic initiatives.

Expected results

The expected results are as follows:

- The technical (professional skills), operational and innovation capacities of 892 women in the agro-sylvo-pastoral sector are strengthened;

- The access of 892 women to financial and material resources (production, processing and commercialization) is improved;

- The institutional and organizational capacities of 40 cooperatives are strengthened;

- Cooperatives' access to markets, financial and material resources is strengthened.

Target group / Beneficiaries

The programme targets primarily women who are composed of:

- literate, non-literate, out-of-school, and newly literate women, who wish to develop or consolidate their economic activities and who are capable of seizing opportunities for vocational training and the creation of agricultural enterprises, the realization of which would be a source of employment;

- Vulnerable women (widows, internally displaced persons, living with a disability, etc.).

- Members (male and female) of cooperatives.

The program will pay special attention to vulnerable and marginalized groups, including disabled and displaced women, with a view to their inclusion.

In total, the programme will directly reach 1,200 beneficiaries, including 892 women and 308 men.

Activities

To achieve the expected results, the main activities are:

- Elaborate and implement the training plans of the beneficiaries;

- Subsidize micro-projects of enterprises and / or equipment for the production, processing and marketing of women;

- Support women in the development of their business plans accompanied by a loan application to the Support Fund for Women's Income Generating Activities and other financing structures for the financing of their business plan;

- Support women's access to rural land ownership certificates;

- Supporting the cooperatives in institutional development and organizational strengthening;

- Accompany cooperatives for group sales and participation in fairs at the national level.

Context

Characterized by a situation of massive poverty and unemployment, which primarily affects young people and women, the country has a general education system, with few job prospects for people out-of-school. Vocational training is poorly developed and largely disconnected from the labor market.

Women's lack of education remains a major factor and a source of inequality but also a determining reason for the high population growth (3.1%), with two-thirds of women remaining illiterate according to the National Institute of Statistics and Demography.

According to the Social Institutions and Gender Equality study supported by ADA and published by the OECD in 2018, Burkina Faso has a high level of discrimination against women, limiting their access to resources and economic opportunities. The report notes that the Center-South, North and Boucle du Mouhoun regions are among the areas where levels of discrimination are higher than the national average.

On the security front, the country has faced repeated terrorist attacks since 2016, undermining development efforts. These attacks have been exacerbated, leading to the closure of thousands of schools and internal population displacements in 2019 .

Notwithstanding all these difficulties, Burkina Faso has enormous production and processing potential, especially in the agro-sylvo-pastoral sector, which has not yet been exploited and which could function as a generator of jobs for young people and women. To realize this potential, vocational training adapted to the needs and potentialities is one of the key factors.