Burkina Faso Country Programme

Partners | Challenges | Projects | Initial Results

The Burkina Faso Country Programme—Programme-pays urbain du Burkina Faso (PPUB) in French—aims to:

> Support the Government of Burkina Faso’s efforts to implement national housing and urban development strategies

> Build the capacity of cities to strategically manage urbanisation

> Empower and strengthen community organisations to actively engage in city development and national policy debate

> Focus on primary cities (Ouagadougou and Bobo Dioulasso) and secondary cities (Dori, Dedougou, and Tenkodogo)

Burkina Faso is the first Cities Alliance Country Programme in Francophone Africa.

Burkina Faso by the Numbers:

> Total population of 14 million (2006 census)

> 20.2% live in cities

> 76.5 % of urban residents live in slums

> 351 municipalities, 49 of them urban

> 13.9% of Burkinabes have access to electricity; 2.3% to sewage

Partners

The Government of Burkina Faso is implementing PPUB through the Ministry of Housing and Urban Planning in partnership with UN-Habitat, which has a longstanding presence in the country.

Local partners include:

> The Association of Municipalities of Burkina Faso (local level activities)

> The Burkinabé NGO Laboratoire Citoyenneté (community level activities)

These partners are supported by Cities Alliance members including:

> UN-Habitat

> The French Ministry of Foreign Affairs

> Shack/Slum Dwellers International (SDI).

Funded by the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, the programme is facilitated and supported by the Cities Alliance.

Challenges

One of the least urbanised countries in the world, Burkina Faso’s cities—especially its secondary cities—are growing at an overwhelming rate of 5.3 percent.  Ouagadougou alone is projected to more than double between 2005 and 2020. (Source: UN-Habitat State of African Cities Report 2008)

In recent decades, the Government of Burkina Faso has implemented various initiatives to cope with rapid urbanisation, including decentralisation policies to promote grassroots development.

Despite the Government’s willingness to push further with decentralisation, many of Burkina’s 351 municipalities lack the capacity and funding to implement their strategic urban development plans.

While Burkina’s civil society has grown stronger following decentralisation efforts, it is still learning how to involve itself confidently in urban governance and management issues.

PPUB will support Burkina as it transitions to a new, inclusive development model that is based on local government and community participation. 

Projects

The Cities Alliance Country Programme builds on years of member activities in Burkina Faso, particularly UN-Habitat, France (both bilateral and decentralised through city partnerships), and the Deutsche Gesellschaft für Internationale Zusammenarbeit (GIZ).

Among others, PPUB aims to roll out the City Development Strategy and other experiences previously supported in Ougadougou and Bobo Dioulasso, and to adapt these tools to secondary cities.

Formulation of the Burkina Faso Country Programme

Initial Results

Framework formulated and endorsed.

A framework for PPUB has been formulated through a detailed participatory process that involved all concerned national stakeholders and partners. The framework has been endorsed by the national government and validated by all stakeholders.

Partnerships for implementation set. The partnerships and governance arrangements for implementing PPUB have been agreed upon.

Country Programme formally launched. The two main grant agreements —one with the MInistry of Housing and Urban Planning, and the second with UN-Habitat—were signed in November 2013.

Slum dwellers mobilised. “Know Your City,” a global campaign that promotes grassroots data collection and partnerships between communities and local governments, has been implemented in Burkina Faso.

The Cities Alliance Country Programme in Burkina Faso featured in French Foreign Ministry Bulletin