FAO resilience, food security and social cohesion in Burkina Faso 2023-2025

Assessment from the due (March 31st 2024) narrative report received and validated end of may 2024, stated that : For the result 1 undertaking four outputs, Twelve (12) activities have been 100% completed, three (3) are on implementing process and one (1) is scheduled for 2024. Achievements include raising awareness among stakeholders of the legislation governing pastoralism and natural resource management, monitoring and evaluating pastoral resources, boosting early warning systems and providing equipment for veterinary posts, which is currently being acquired. About result 2, the activities are in the preparation phase. The mobilisation of service providers and suppliers is ongoing. The contracts for the acquisition of equipment and inputs, and for the construction of infrastructure are on negotiation process. For result 3, twenty-five (25) DIMITRA CLUBS with 1175 members, 530 of whom are women, have been set up and actions to strengthen coordination and social cohesion have been carried out. No activities have been scheduled for 2023 under result 4, but all activities under this result are planned for 2024. The rapid phase out process for the project will not enable all of the project's results to be achieved. In January 2024, the Swedish Embassy informed the FAO that its bilateral cooperation with Burkina Faso would end in December 2024. This situation will have a negative impact on the implementation of the project's activities, thus compromising the achievement of the initial results and their sustainability.

The overall objective of the programme is to strengthen the resilience to multidimensional chocks/crises, increase the food and nutritional security of targeted vulnerable pastoral and agro-pastoral households, as well as to increase the socio-economic empowerment of women and young people, for peaceful and inclusive societies in the Sahel, Northern, Centre-North and Boucle du Mouhoun regions of Burkina Faso. Concretely, this means that number of food insecure households are reduced, that households Resilience Capacity Index (RCI) and growth rate of average household income is increased in the project area. Targets for some indicators were developed during the contribution ID 12310 ended december 2022. For other indicators, the framework already includes targets such as: - 20 sites received support early warning system for pastoralists. - 240 km of tracks and transhumance corridors with the installation of markers. - 800 ha of grazing and resting areas. - 18 provincial and 4 regional directorates in charge of animal resources with veterinary kits. - Train 100 veterinary agents on the control of epizootic diseases. - 12 agro-pastoral field schools set up to strengthen community capacities on inclusive and climate-resilient agro-pastoral practices. - 4 sites of 1 ha for vegetable production. - 124 women and young people benefit from micro-enterprises for fattening, local poultry, processing and marketing of value chains from crop production. - 800 women received conditional cash. - 60 Village ad loans associations (VSLA) established. - 36 dimitra club set up. - 340 mothers benefit from conditional nutrition support on good infant and young child feeding practices. The objectives/outcomes resulting from the project's action are based on the three pillars of the Caisse de Résilience approach (technical, social and financial support) and the triple Humanitarian-Development-Peace (HDP) Nexus approach. The project is designed around four reinforced specific objectives/outcomes as follows: Outcome 1: The livelihoods of targeted households are strengthened through the adoption of innovative techniques and technologies to increase their production and productivity; Outcome 2: Identified profitable agro-silvo-pastoral value chains are professionalized and generate income and decent jobs in targeted regions; Outcome 3: Local governance and social cohesion around peaceful and sustainable access and management of shared natural resources is strengthened. Outcome 4: The incidence of malnutrition among targeted vulnerable households is reduced. The main changes to the contribution and as proposed in FAO´s phaseout plan are as follows: - Cancellation of some activities planned for 2024, such as cash transfer to internally displaced persons, the set up and support to women savings groups for financial inclusion and school fields for agricultural improvement. - The three results areas in the original programme proposal from 2022/2023 will all continue but to a lesser extent. There is a reduction from 15% up to 88% of the activity budget lines. - Finalization of activities that started in 2023 but that has not yet completed will be prioritised. - FAO proposes to no longer assign dedicated staff to the project and to suspend the technical assistance planned to support the project's activities.