Burkina Faso

The ICP III has an indicative funding envelope of EUR 88.5 million and focuses on the sectors of (i) sustainable management of natural resources, (ii) education, teaching and technical and vocational training and, (iii) information and communication technologies (ICT). The interventions in these fields have been implemented by LuxDev, Luxembourg’s development agency. In addition, for the 2016-2022 period the NGO SOS Faim Luxembourg has been given a remit to act in the area of rural microfinance. In connection with a new project to support Burkina Faso’s tax register, a feasibility study was produced and shared with the Directorate for Development Cooperation and Humanitarian Affairs in late 2019.

The ICP III makes provision for partnership committees to be held annually. These are forums dedicated to dialogue between the two countries, which also facilitate the examination of the state of play in development cooperation relations. The 11th partnership committee was held on 21 October 2019 in Ouagadougou and was co-chaired by Minister Lenert. This enabled the bilateral programmes currently in progress to be reviewed. As the partnership committee was taking place, two bilateral memoranda of understanding were signed off, to the value of EUR 19.2 million, on new projects to support Burkina Faso. They included EUR 13 million in the fields of education and vocational training – Support for the sectoral policy on teaching and technical and vocational training and an increase in budget of EUR 6.2 million for the support programme for implementation of the Sectoral Plan for Education and Training. In addition, an extension of 18 months was ratified for the programme to support the development of ICT in Burkina Faso.

During her working visit to Burkina Faso, Minister Lenert gave the opening address at the fourth edition of African Microfinance Week, attended by over 800 participants. She also took the opportunity to visit some projects financed by Luxembourg’s Development Cooperation and had a bilateral discussion with Roch Marc Kaboré, the president of Burkina Faso, Christophe Dabiré, the Prime Minister, and her counterpart, Lassané Kaboré, the Minister of the Economy, Finance and Development.

Multilaterally, in 2019 Luxembourg’s development cooperation continued its support in the areas of local governance and youth entrepreneurship through a project implemented by the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP). Two other multilateral stakeholders also continued to benefit from Luxembourg’s financial support in 2019. These were the United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA) through a project to increase the independence and reproductive health of women and vulnerable young people and the United Nations Capital Development Fund (UNCDF) which has delivered support for innovation in the area of inclusive digital finance in order to support the economic and climate resilience of populations. This latter element is receiving financial assistance of EUR 3.2 million from the Ministry of the Environment, Climate and Sustainable Development for the 2019-2022 period. In addition, an innovative project for the shea sector has been developed with the national unit responsible for implementing the Enhanced Integrated Framework (EIF).

Finally, in 2019, 15 Luxembourg NGOs were active in Burkina Faso, working on the implementation of more than 40 projects co-financed by Luxembourg’s Development Cooperation, amounting to a total multiannual budget of more than EUR 17 million.