Our Burkina Faso office

Cooperation between Luxembourg and Burkina Faso was formalised in 1999 with the signing of a general cooperation agreement. Several Indicative Cooperation Programmes (ICPs) have followed, culminating in a third programme (ICP III) in 2017. Initially scheduled to run until 2021, with an initial bilateral budget of EUR 47.3 million, ICP III focused on the sustainable management of natural resources, education, technical and vocational education and training, and new information and communication technologies.

With the advent of a period of political transition and increasing insecurity, it was not possible to envisage signing a new ICP in 2022. As a result, a transition strategy for Luxembourg's development cooperation with Burkina Faso was agreed between the two countries, covering the years 2023 and 2024, with a technical extension for the year 2025. This extension brings the ICP III envelope to EUR 105 million.

ICP III's main activities are centred on the BKF/023 programme to support sustainable management of forestry resources, the BKF/025 programme to support implementation of the Education and Training Sector Plan, and the BKF/026 programme to support the sectoral policy for technical and vocational education and training. In collaboration with Enabel and AECID, LuxDev is also implementing the BKF/801 project, funded by the European Union and AECID, which focuses on research and innovation for productive, resilient and healthy agro-pastoral systems in West Africa. These programmes place Burkina Faso's partners at the heart of the action and support them through a number of important support components, in line with national planning, programming, implementation and monitoring-evaluation mechanisms.

The environment programme is firmly committed to supporting the development of a green economy and the creation of green jobs. The education programme enables education in emergency situations to meet the needs of children, particularly internally displaced children. The vocational training programme aims to increase the supply and quality of technical and vocational training, in particular to improve the employability of young people. All these development initiatives contribute to achieving the results set out in the Stabilisation and Development Action Plan and the country's sectoral guidelines.

With the adoption of a transition strategy, the interventions have been adapted, with systematic use of direct financing for funds implemented from 2023 onwards, in full consultation with the partner institutions and with attention paid to the impact on the population, in particular young women and men.

The new BKF/301 programme, financed by the European Union to promote access to green jobs for young people in three key regions of Burkina Faso, entered the launch phase in 2024, with the official launch of activities scheduled for early 2025. The project is located in the Ouagadougou - Koudougou - Dédougou - Bobo Dioulasso ‘triangle’. The direct beneficiaries of the project are estimated at 45,000 young women and men aged between 16 and 35.