Burkina Faso's strategy for growth and sustainable development (SCADD) has its focus on the country’s main industry – agriculture, which is expected to increase productivity and contribute to poverty reduction. Through its general budget support, Sweden has supported Burkina Faso with the implementation of the development strategy and with the work to streamline the public administration in order to improve service to citizens.
The agency Statistics Sweden (SCB), collaborates with its Burkinabe counterpart,INSD, in order to strengthen INSD's ability to produce reliable statistics for planning and monitoring the country’s development efforts.
Democracy and human rights
The country's democracy is still fragile but has made steady progress over the past decade, while the position of women has slowly improved and the proportion of children in school largely increased, from 45 per cent in 2002 to 79 per cent in 2011. The civil society organisations Diakonia, the National Democratic Institute and Centre pour la Gouvernance Démocratie (CGD) receive funding for their work on human rights and equality in the country. Diakonia works with a large number of local organisations. By supporting these organisations, Sweden contributes to giving civil society a voice in policy dialogue and increase opportunities for vulnerable groups to have their rights respected and to prevent further violations.
Sweden also supports a fund from which organisations can apply for funding for gender equality projects. Furthermore, Sweden supports the Burkinabe Women's Ministry and the Ministry of Human Rights to increase their knowledge and capacity to integrate gender and human rights into social policies and within different development actors.
Environment and Natural Resources
Almost all people in Burkina Faso are directly dependent on what nature provides. A short-term use of natural resources threatens the future generations’ ability to have a decent life. In a country prone to severe drought, the management of the limited water resources is a constant key issue. The Sida-supported programme PAGIRE is developing the capacity of the country's overall planning and management of water in a sustainable and equitable way.
The water programme PN-AEPA, supported by Sweden and several other donors, has ensured that 63 per cent of people in rural areas and 84 per cent in cities have access to clean drinking water.
Sweden also provides funding for rehabilitation and construction of rainwater basins so that water can be stored during dry periods and used for cattle and agriculture. Twelve water reservoirs were prepared during 2010-12.
Sweden has helped the Ministry of Environment to develop a single program for the entire environment, including forestry. Local forest management and small village enterprises based on forest products have been developed through the organisation TREE AID, with support from Sweden.
Furthermore, theIUCN has developed a climate fund for financial support to local actors’ climate adaptation. Some thirty projects for land use have been funded as well as a number of small businesses that have generated income for over 300 people, mainly women.
Within the research collaboration, 22 Burkinabes have finalised their doctoral thesis at Swedish universities, mainly in the natural resource area.
Regional aid concerning Burkina Faso
In the area of environment and natural resources, Burkina Faso is directly affected by the following Swedish-funded projects:
• Coordination of climate change adaptation in West Africa (ECOWAS)
• Coordination of water resource management in West Africa (ECOWAS)
• Natural Resource Management in the Volta River Basin (IUCN)
• Poverty alleviation in large dam projects (IUCN)
• Local forest management and REDD + (CODESRIA)
• Resilience in agriculture (AGRA)
• Increased agricultural productivity (AfDB-AFTF)
Humanitarian aid
Burkina Faso receives international aid in order to receive the approximately 50,000 refugees fleeing unrest in Mali and to help those around 1.7 million people affected by food insecurity and malnutrition. Sweden was the 6th largest humanitarian donor in Burkina Faso in 2012, with approximately $ 5.2 million in support to various UN agencies, the Red Cross and NGO’s such as Action Contre la Faim (ACF), Plan International, Save the Children, Oxfam and Norwegian Refugee Council.
Sweden participates in the strategic humanitarian coordination in a Burkina Faso country team along with, e.g. ECHO, the EU's humanitarian aid agency. Sweden also finances experts to the UN in the fields of IT and logistics.
