Burkina Faso -

Since 2019, IOM through funding from the US Department of State Bureau of Population, Refugees and Migration (PRM), has been working in the Northern region of Burkina Faso to support refugees, internally displaced persons as well as host communities in vulnerable situations in one of the areas most affected by the security crisis. Community engagement in caring for internally displaced people and refugees as well as supporting populations through IOM and its partners over four years have produced substantial results.

In 2019, this support resulted in the provision of livelihoods for beneficiaries, including livestock production, income-generating activities to meet their needs. Sales of their produce have made it possible to supply the local market with livestock, enabling the support cycle to be perpetuated for new beneficiaries over the next years.

Thanks to the project, 374 families have received training in animal husbandry and production tools. This has enabled them to create brighter social and economic living conditions that are conducive to their children’s education.

“I recently sold a ram for 100,000 CFA francs. It allowed me to buy food and pay for my children’s schooling”, says one beneficiary.

In addition to animal husbandry in 2023, 350 other households received agricultural equipment and training in market gardening. The project has supported around 30 households to set up micro-businesses, and 100 households have received assistance in the form of emergency shelters and kits including essential household items such as solar lamps, mosquito nets and cooking equipment.

“I took refuge in this town without any resources. I was a masonry worker without being able to provide for my family. Thanks to IOM and Vétérinaires Sans Frontières (VSF) grant, I have a well-stocked shop and a herd of seven sheep for fattening. I got back my smile and my dignity, and I’m economically independent”, said a Malian refugee and father of three.

Throughout the project, five mobile teams from the Burkina Faso Red Cross, made up of trained community volunteers, provided psychological and social support aimed at resolving personal and community conflicts and reducing gender-based violence.

“IOM is a strategic and operational partner, and we have excellent relations in terms of collaboration and information sharing. My most sincere wish is that our relationship will continue and become even stronger,” said Konsi Leonard Savadogo, Regional Director of Humanitarian Action in the North.

To successfully implement the project, IOM has worked closely with local partners, including the Burkina Faso Red Cross and Vétérinaires Sans Frontières (VSF), UN agencies, local committees, and the regional directorate in charge of humanitarian action in the North. This synergy and complementarity of actions, the quality of collaboration and consistency of funding are key to the effective implementation of the project.

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For more information, please contact:

Laura Annika Mattinen, Project Officer in IOM's Emergencies programme in Burkina Faso at lmattinen@iom.int.