EXECUTIVE SUMMARY OF THE PRSP This document is Burkina Faso’s first Poverty Reduction Strategy Paper. It was prepared in the context of the introduction of the enhanced Heavily Indebted Poor Countries (HIPC) Initiative. The paper describes the strategy, which the Government plans to implement during the next four years in order to wage a more effective fight against poverty. It was prepared via a participatory process in consultation with representatives of the private sector, civil society, and donors, thus benefiting from the experience the country has acquired in this field over the past decade. The document comprises five parts. The first part describes the predominant characteristics of poverty in Burkina Faso and endeavors to identify the major causes. The second part presents the country’s development objectives and priorities. The third part describes the Government’s poverty reduction strategy. The fourth part indicates the cost of complementary priority actions, which the Government has identified for the purpose of accelerating poverty reduction. The fifth and final part describes the monitoring and evaluation arrangements. (1) Characteristics and causes of poverty in Burkina Faso The analysis of poverty is based on the results of two surveys of household living conditions conducted in 1994 and 1998 and on qualitative studies of the perceptions of the poor regarding the causes of poverty. The survey findings indicate that poverty is a widespread phenomenon in Burkina Faso, and that 45.3 percent - nearly one-half - of the population lives below the absolute poverty line of approximately CFAF 72,690 per year. Poverty is particularly prevalent in rural areas, although its incidence in urban areas increased by nearly five points from 1994 to 1998, reaching 16 percent in 1998. The participatory surveys of the perceptions of the poor regarding poverty reveal that the situation differs depending on where the respondents live. The key factors for the urban poor are, in order of importance, climate-related hazards, low purchasing power, old age, and large family size. Poor people in rural areas, however, attribute their situation mainly to laziness or lack of initiative, persistent failure, physical handicaps, and social decay. The regional analysis of poverty shows that the poverty map in Burkina Faso changed between 1994 and 1998. Although the incidence of poverty decreased significantly (by nearly eight points) in the southern, southeastern, and northern agro-climatic regions, the south-central region experienced an increase of four points. The Probit analysis of the probability of becoming poor reveals a troubling situation, in that the probability is highest in poor regions.
The analysis of poverty among socioeconomic groups (based on source of income) shows that the incidence of poverty is increasing for all groups except cash crop farmers and inactive persons. It is highest among food crop farmers, who account for most of the population living in poverty. The analysis of the causes of poverty shows that inappropriate public policies and inhospitable climatic conditions are largely responsible for this situation.
(2) Vision and long-term development objectives In the light of these observations, the Government reaffirms its commitment to pursue the objectives established in the Letter of Intent for Sustainable Human Development, which sets out its vision for the country’s development. This vision is based on the concept of human security, which entails guaranteeing that every Burkinabe national will enjoy economic security (access to training and employment), health security, food security, environmental security, and individual and political security. The key quantitative objectives the Government will pursue in the years ahead are the product of this vision. They include (i) increasing annual per capita gross domestic product (GDP) by at least three percent from 2000 to 2002 and from four to five percent starting in 2003; (ii) reducing the incidence of poverty from 45 percent to 30 percent by the year 2015; and (iii) increasing life expectancy by at least ten years. (3) Poverty reduction strategy The new poverty reduction strategy for Burkina Faso is in line with the existing Letter of Intent for Sustainable Human Development and is based on seven major principles that will underpin the Government’s actions in the future:
Acceleration of growth is a prerequisite for reducing poverty. The Government will therefore implement major structural reforms in order to more fully open up the economy to the outside, lower production costs while improving factor productivity, encourage initiative, and support activities to generate income and create jobs, particularly in rural areas. However, the Government recognizes that faster growth alone will not reduce the incidence of poverty. It will therefore adopt policies directly targeting the poor by helping them access essential social services (basic education, health, clean water, and sanitation) and offering them expanded employment opportunities. To this end, it will accelerate the required institutional reforms and will continue its efforts to enhance the effectiveness of public expenditure. Reforms to increase the ability of the poor to participate in growth will focus on creating conditions necessary to facilitate the accelerated growth of the agricultural sector. Finally, the Government considers good governance a key component of its poverty reduction strategy. It will therefore accelerate reforms to strengthen democratic forums and promote the efficient management and transparency of government finance. In order to combat poverty it is essential to establish priorities. The Government has therefore decided to designate the social sectors (basic education, health, drinking water, and sanitation) and rural development (agriculture, livestock breeding, agricultural water works, rural roads) as priority sectors, which will receive increased attention as the poverty reduction strategy is implemented. Programs for these sectors will be implemented via new modalities involving NGOs and local communities when such modalities are more effective than government structures. (4) Cost and financing of complementary priority actions The availability of resources under the HIPC Initiative will enable the Government to strengthen its efforts on behalf of priority sectors. The approximate overall cost of implementing planned complementary actions and thereby accelerating poverty reduction is CFAF 15 billion during 2000 and CFAF 32 billion-CFAF 34 billion in subsequent years. These amounts exceed the estimated resources expected from the HIPC Initiative. The additional financing needed in 2000 is CFAF 2.6 billion, and varies from CFAF 6 billion-CFAF 7.6 billion in future years. The development objectives, which the Government has established, can be achieved if all the priority actions identified in the priority action plan to combat poverty are carried out. The Government is therefore counting on the willingness of its development partners to provide the additional resources. The macroeconomic framework incorporating these additional expenditures will remain stable even though the primary balance will be adversely affected (although it will remain positive, i.e., will show a surplus). (5) Arrangements for monitoring the poverty reduction strategy The success of the strategy will depend on how effectively it is monitored. The Government therefore plans to establish dedicated monitoring arrangements which will rely, in particular, on improving statistics-gathering, and on clearly defined monitoring indicators, the identification of ad hoc administrative structures, and, finally, participation by beneficiaries, civil society, and the private sector in the evaluation of outcomes. It will use the results of the conditionality reform exercise currently under way to refine indicators showing the impact of public policy and will involve its development partners in implementing and monitoring the poverty reduction strategy. |
ABBREVIATIONS AND ACRONYMS
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Macroeconomic performance in Burkina Faso was impressive during the 1990s. Real GDP grew at an average rate of 5 percent during 1994-99 compared with 3 percent during 1980-93. Despite a significant deterioration in the terms of trade between 1997 and 1999, the growth rate held steady at 5.6 percent on average. The increase in the gross domestic product (GDP) was achieved through the adoption and implementation of stabilization and structural adjustment programs – supported by the Burkina Faso’s entire development partners – aimed at improving public expenditure management, liberalizing the national economy, and benefiting from a more openness to external trade. Despite important economic achievement, Burkina Faso’s population has remained extremely poor, as demonstrated by the findings of two priority surveys conducted by the Government in 1994 and 1998. Based on the current poverty line – approximately CFAF 72,690 in 1998 compared with CFAF 41,099 in 1994 – the proportion of poor inhabitants rose slightly, from 44.5 percent to 45.3 percent. Although the number of poor declined slightly in rural areas, it is on the rise in urban areas. Annual per capita GDP is US$220, lower than in most of Burkina Faso’s neighbors (US$250 in Mali, US$ 330 in Togo, US$380 in Benin, US$390 in Ghana and US$700 in Côte d’Ivoire). Burkina Faso’s Human Development Index is one of the lowest in the World (HDI = 0.304 in 1997). Although much has been done to promote essential basic social services (basic education, basic health services, including reproductive health, drinking water, nutrition, hygiene, and sanitation), Burkina Faso still suffers from a huge gap in social services. This may be attributed to the rapid rate of population growth (2.8 percent annually) and low labor productivity, particularly in the agricultural sector, which employs 80 percent of the working population. Moreover, the school enrollment ratio, though definitely on the rise, is one of the lowest in the subregion (the gross enrollment ratio was 41 percent in 1998-99, in which girls accounted for approximately 35 percent). With regard to health, morbidity and mortality (particularly among infants and mothers) are very high, a result of infectious and parasitic diseases and the rapid spread of HIV infection. Water supply has improved considerably, although it remains insufficient to cover the entire urban and rural demand. The nutritional status is unsatisfactory. Nutritional requirements are not still being adequately met: In 1996 the figure was 2300 kcal, compared to 2500 kcal required. As to the status of women in Burkina Faso, they are still subject to reactionary prejudices and practices and have not been adequately incorporated into the public life of the country. The gap in social services, the extreme poverty, and vulnerability of Burkina Faso’s population to a wide variety of crises, constitute a major handicap impeding efforts to bring about sustainable development. Against this background, the Government has decided to prepare this Poverty Reduction Strategy Paper (PRSP) in cooperation with the various stakeholders – the Government, the private sector, civil society, and the country’s development partners. The Government’s primary objective in the PRSP is to put forward a development strategy that will focus on enhancing the impact of public policies and on the need to increase the purchasing power of the disadvantaged population and to provide them with an environment more conducive to their social development. A new paradigm, therefore, has to be adopted to guide macroeconomic policy: a paradigm focusing on the pursuit of quality economic growth, i.e. sustainable growth in the face of external shocks (such as a sudden drop in cotton or gold prices), and stronger because it is fueled by a broader economic base. Various fiscal and sector policy instruments will also be needed to enable the population to play a more active role in their development and to reduce inequities. Although economic growth is certainly a necessary condition to raise the level of income and improve the well being of the population, growth alone is not enough to combat poverty and inequity. For an economic policy to be sound and effective for the majority of the population, it must place equity at the forefront of its objectives. A number of recent government studies1 have identified the main obstacles to a balanced growth: (i) weak human capital, which contributes to low labor productivity and very high unemployment; (ii) inadequate infrastructure for economic development, which explains the high cost of production factors and the narrow scope of the modern sector of the economy; (iii) insufficient national capacity, which aggravates governance problems; and (iv) the limited external openness of the economy (despite the success of Burkina Faso’s stabilization and adjustment programs), which limits opportunities for growth and job creation. Burkina Faso would like to benefit from the regional integration process under way in the West African Economic and Monetary Union (WAEMU) in order to transform its landlocked status – currently a handicap – into an asset and position itself at the crossroads of the economies of the sub-region. Swift implementation of an ambitious program of complementary structural reforms to eliminate the four key obstacles outlined above would soon enable Burkina Faso to achieve growth rates permitting a significant alleviation in the incidence of poverty. Given the current low level of competitiveness of the national economy, the West African economic integration process will undoubtedly entail some economic and social costs. Even so, the Government is confident that it can work with other members of the Union both to minimize the costs and to take full advantage of the opportunities that a much broader regional market will offer. The PRSP is a framework document setting out the development priorities established by the Government. It is not intended to replace sectoral strategies, which already exist or are currently being developed within each ministry – all of which must be aligned with government priorities. The purpose of the PRSP is therefore to influence the sectoral objectives of each ministry and the choice of monitoring indicators for the programs and action plans to be financed. However, the PRSP also reflects the essential choices established for the priority sectors. The PRSP preparation process is therefore an iterative process. The Government plans to update it annually to take into account the lessons learned from the implementation of the public policies adopted in the document, the findings of complementary studies carried out by various institutions to gain a better grasp of the poverty phenomenon, and the amount of resources available. The major challenge facing Burkina Faso is to reduce the level of poverty of its population, their vulnerability in the face of a wide variety of crises, and inequalities among different regions and socioeconomic groups. To accomplish this goal, the Poverty Reduction Strategy Paper will endeavor to reconcile the requirements of structural reform and economic recovery with the objective of increasing the income of the poor and transferring more resources to the poorest members of society. Recognizing the limited amount of resources available, and wishing to take a realistic approach to its problems, the Government has established development priorities to guide its poverty reduction efforts. It will therefore focus initially on reducing the gap in social services, improving food security, and ensuring that the poor have access to drinking water. In order to reduce considerably the incidence of poverty, a stronger economic growth is required in the years ahead. Accelerated growth should:
Efforts to achieve the goals of the strategy paper will focus on a set of programs organized under four strategic objectives, for which quantified priority actions are planned: Objective 1: Accelerate growth based on equity
Objective 2: Guarantee that the poor have access to basic social services
Objective 3: Expand opportunities for employment and income-generating activities for the poor
Objective 4: Promote good governance
1.4.1 Broad-based consultations to prepare the PRSP Building on the work carried out by the Government since the adoption of the Letter of Intent for Sustainable Human Development (LISHD) in 1995 and on the outcome of broad-based consultations in each sector of activity, the PRSP preparation process, officially launched in November 1999, was conducted on four levels of dialogue: 1.4.2 Within the central Government: This dialogue began with a briefing for the Government on the process as a whole. All the ministries were made aware of the importance of the new undertaking and of the need to make poverty reduction the focus of all development strategies, and were asked to contribute their ideas. An interministerial committee was then formed comprising the directors of research and planning. Its first task was to become thoroughly familiar with and to endorse the preliminary findings of the household living conditions survey. The committee – which was organized in four thematic groups (improving the economic environment of the poor, human resources development, natural resources management, and improved governance and aid coordination) – was then asked to discuss the components of the strategy. Operating under the supervision of the Ministry of Economy and Finance, the committee worked to improve the PRSP on an almost continual basis. The basic documents prepared by the interministerial committee were then discussed in technical meetings within the Government. 1.4.3 With institutions representing the people: Before the PRSP was officially transmitted to the international financial institutions, the Ministry of Economy and Finance presented it to both chambers of the parliament of Burkina Faso (the National Assembly and the House of Representatives) and the economic committee of the Economic and Social Council (ESC). With quasi-unanimity, the representatives of the population and of civil society belonging to these institutions approved the Government’s suggested choices and the highly selective and realistic approach underlying these choices. 1.4.4 With the country’s development partners: Two meetings have already taken place. The first one, held on February 15, 2000, enabled members of the Government to exchange ideas and information on the PRSP preparation process with Burkina Faso’s external partners. The second meeting held on February 28, 2000, provided an opportunity to hear the views of certain partners regarding an initial outline of the framework document. Additional technical meetings were then held to finalize the document. These meetings demonstrated that the Government’s approach to the preparation of the PRSP mirrored the approach taken in discussions with donors in the context of an important reformulated conditionality test initiative under way in Burkina Faso. Recognizing that the purpose of all development efforts is to improve the well being of the population, especially the poorest members of society, the Government – with the support of its development partners – began to test a new approach to conditionality in 1997. The objectives of this original exercise are to strengthen the Government’s commitment to the reforms and establish performance indicators acceptable to all donors for measuring both progresses in the implementation of public policy and their actual impact on the well being of the population. 1.4.5 With civil society and other stakeholders in the field: Two regional workshops were organized, in Ouahigouya (in the northern part of the country) and Bobo-Dioulasso (in the west), on February 23 and March 3, 2000, respectively. The aim of the workshops was to inform representatives of civil society, decentralized governments, the private sector, and producers’ groups of the results of the second priority survey (EP II) and to elicit their advice and suggestions for improving the basic document prepared by the interministerial committee. Many association officials representing a broad sample of Burkina Faso’s society thus were able to indicate their priorities for combating poverty and contribute meaningfully to the search for solutions. The members of the interministerial committee preparing the PRSP were receptive to the proposals offered and prepared summaries that were used to draft the document. This PRSP is therefore a synthesis of all the ideas and contributions gathered throughout the country, not only during the five-month drafting period (November 1999-April 2000), but also at the meetings and forums on various topics convened over the past few years. The document reflects the current consensus in Burkina Faso regarding the Government’s approach to the problem. It reiterates the Government’s vision and its priorities for the poverty reduction effort. This new strategy will influence the process now under way to consolidate democratic reforms, and the shared commitment to democratic values will have a positive impact on performance in the priority social sectors. Democracy should lead to greater well being for the poorest segments of society so that they will remain committed to the democratic process. |
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BACKROUND AND CAUSES 2.1.1 Definitions and Approach Equity and poverty are multidimensional concepts. They include many things beyond an individual’s monetary income, including the ability to play an active role in the community or to take control of his own life. Accordingly, no single indicator can address all the issues at hand. Factors unrelated to income, including the level of education, health and nutrition, housing, access to drinking water and land – all of which have a direct impact on poverty in Burkina Faso – must also be considered. 2.1.2 How the poor themselves perceive poverty The results of the participatory surveys conducted in 1998 on perceptions of the dimensions of well being, poverty and the accessibility of basic social services in urban and rural areas showed that at the individual level, poverty – particularly economic poverty – is defined as the inability to satisfy basic needs such as food, clothing, and housing. From a collective perspective, an inhospitable natural environment, famine, and epidemics characterize economic poverty. The lack of a safe environment (public safety) and of social infrastructure (schools, markets, dispensaries, etc.), the isolation of some regions, and poor transport facilities underscore the population’s perception of collective poverty. The population has a clear perception of the causes of poverty. How the main factors are ranked depends on where the inhabitants live. In urban areas, ten determinants of poverty were singled out, as follows, in decreasing order of importance: climate-related hazards, low purchasing power, old age, large family size, laziness or lack of initiative, mediocre governance, physical handicaps, theft, death of a spouse, and chronic poverty. In rural areas, the ten key factors, in decreasing order of importance, were laziness or lack of initiative, permanent failure, physical handicaps, social decay, chronic poverty, low purchasing power, social and cultural barriers, absence of NGOs or project assistance, large family size, and planning problems. Inasmuch as the perceptions of households determine how they conduct their lives, these perceptions should be taken into account when defining a poverty reduction strategy. It can be noted that low purchasing power, the burden of having a large family, and a lack of initiative were cited as causing poverty in urban and rural areas alike. The results of the most recent (1998) survey of household living conditions indicate that the absolute poverty line is approximately CFAF 72,690 per adult per year, compared with CFAF 41,099 in 1994. The poverty line expressed in terms of caloric intake remained constant, at 2300/person/day. Accordingly, the proportion of the population of Burkina Faso living below the poverty line is 45.3 percent, slightly higher than in 1994 (44.5 percent). The incidence of poverty in urban areas rose by nearly five points during that period, reaching 16 percent in 1998. In rural areas, however, the incidence of poverty remained stable. Despite the significant increase in urban poverty – from 3.8 percent in 1994 to 6.1 percent in 1998 – its share in the total picture is low. Thus, poverty is still essentially a rural phenomenon, accounting for 94 percent of the national figure in 1998. The depth of poverty remained at 14 percent, suggesting that a substantial majority of the poor are close to the poverty line. |
Table 1: Poverty Indices Based on Place of Residence (in percent) |
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| Source: Analysis of Poverty in Burkina Faso, INSD, 1999 | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
2.2.1 Household Consumption The results of Priority Survey II indicate that the average annual spending per household is CFAF 751,361, or CFAF 62,613 per month. The breakdown shows that the money is spent mainly on foodstuffs (52.2 percent). Lodging, water, electricity, and other consumables come second with 20.2 percent of total spending in urban areas and 12.1 percent in rural regions. Compared with the situation in 1994, foodstuffs are the main expenditure items with an increasing share. In poor households, cereal products accounted for 40.6 percent of foodstuffs. In urban households, the major non-foodstuff spending included rent (19.5 percent), health care (14.3 percent), gasoline and lubricants (11.6 percent), and transfers (9.7 percent). Without taking into account rent, wood was the most important expenditure item (15.1 percent) in poor households. More was spent on them than for health care (14.1 percent) and education (6.3 percent). In addition, individual spending in poor households was less than half more important than that of other households. |
2.3.1 Analysis based on agro-climatic regions Data analysis of the Priority Survey I was based on agro-climatic regions as a representative unit. The same regions have been maintained in order to insure methodological coherence of poverty analysis in Burkina Faso. From the geographical perspective, the poverty map has changed, the result of a significant decrease in the incidence of poverty in the southern, southeastern, and northern agro-climatic regions for about 8 points and a major increase in the south central region and, to a lesser extent, in the west. These regional disparities may be attributed to significant variations in the availability of natural resources (water, fertile land, and the environment). Moreover, in certain zones -especially in the north central, south-central, and southeastern regions, poverty is a particularly critical issue, owing to severe population pressures and a very inhospitable ecosystem. |
Map 1: Poverty incidence rate in Burkina Faso, by Agro-climatic Regions (in percent) |
Rates for 1994 in small fonts, rates for 1998 in bigger fonts |
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Table 2: Incidence and Share by Agro-climatic Region |
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| Source : Poverty Analysis in Burkina Faso, INSD, 1999 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
2.3.2 Analysis by Administrative Planning Regions The Priority Survey II of 1998 was based on the ten planning regions of the Ministry of Economy and Finance for the production and representativity of data. Each region regroups a number of provinces with common characteristics. Result analysis shows that the poorest regions, by decreasing importance, are the North, the North Central, the East Central, the Northwest and the East (See the Maps). In general, poorest regions have high probability to be poor. However, it can be noted that economic regions with relatively low incidence of poverty may have high probability of being poor (case of the East). |
Map 2: Poverty incidence rate in Burkina Faso, by Region (in percent) |
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Map 3: Probability of being poor in Burkina Faso, by geographic area (in percent) |
(Calculations based on the Probit analysis method and results of the EP II) |
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2.3.3 Socioeconomic groups and poverty When considering poverty among different socioeconomic groups – that is, by focusing on the main sources of household income – the figures show that in 1994 the incidence of poverty was highest among food crop farmers (51.5 percent), cash crop farmers (50.1 percent), and inactive or unemployed persons (41.5 percent). In 1998 the figures increased in all groups, with the exception of cash crop farmers and inactive persons, who experienced a significant decrease in poverty. Although the proportion of food crop farmers among the poor population decreased slightly, they still account for the majority of the poor in Burkina Faso: more than three out of four poor persons are food crop farmers. If poverty is to be reduced in Burkina Faso, it is essential to improve the living conditions and income of these farmers. The incidence of poverty among cash crop farmers fell substantially, from 50.1 percent to 42.4 percent, but since the number of households growing cash crops increased during the period studied, they accounted for a higher proportion of the poor. |
Figure 1: Inequity in Burkina Faso: proportion of income held by the wealthiest households |
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Table 3: Poverty Trend by Socioeconomic Groups |
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| Source : Poverty Analysis in Burkina Faso, INSD, 1999 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
2.3.4 Farmers and Livestock Breeders’ Vulnerability and Food Security Production activities in the rural sector are the main source of employment and income for approximately 80 percent of the population of Burkina Faso. Agriculture and livestock are the primary sectors driving the growth of the national economy, accounting for nearly 35 percent of GDP and 60 percent of exports. There are about 1,300,000 farms, 87 percent of which focus on subsistence farming and/or extensive livestock breeding, and productivity is low. Small farmers have difficulty securing loans and gaining access to markets and agricultural support services. Agricultural performance was inconsistent during the 1980s; however, the agricultural sector grew by an average of 4 percent annually, outstripping population growth. Growth was weak during the first half of the 1990s (about 2 percent), but after the CFAF devaluation it increased by more than 6 percent between 1995 and 1997, mainly as a result of the boom in cotton production. Low productivity in the agricultural and livestock sectors places considerable pressure on Burkina Faso’s already fragile natural resources, particularly in the densely populated zones of the central plateau. Short fallow periods, inadequate use of fertilizers, overgrazing, and woodfuel harvesting contribute directly to deforestation and the disappearance of the vegetation cover. To sum up, climatic conditions, the country’s land-locked status, and low agricultural productivity, along with degradation of the soil and water resources, are major constraints to economic growth and contribute to massive poverty and severe food insecurity among rural inhabitants. Income from farming and livestock raising is therefore highly dependent on the amount of rainfall, which varies considerably from year to year, causing rural families to suffer from food insecurity. The incidence of poverty in rural areas remained stable between 1994 and 1998, increasing by two points among food crop farmers and decreasing by eight points among cash crop farmers. The breakdown of the figures by socioeconomic group shows that the incidence of poverty among food crop producers rose from 51.5 percent in 1994 to 53.4 percent in 1998. The depth of poverty, which measures the revenue gap between the income of the average poor and the poverty line, remained stable, at 16.3 percent for the same social group. A comparative analysis of the various socioeconomic groups indicates that poor farmers were the farthest removed from the poverty line, both in 1994 and in 1998. They also have very limited access to social services (such as education and health), earn very modest incomes, and their productive capacity is low. Food crop farmers account for a very high percentage of the poor: the figure was 78.9 percent in 1994 and 77.1 percent in 1998. The average family size among the poor in this group is 7.6 persons. |
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2.4.1 Education and poverty Throughout the past decade Burkina Faso has pursued a satisfactory resource-allocation policy that reflects the priority assigned to basic education. Thus, between 1990 and 1999 primary enrollment rose from 30 percent to 41 percent (34 percent for girls). The number of new admissions in the first year of primary education doubled in the same period. Educational opportunities have been greater for urban children and particularly for those in rural areas, where 70 percent of all new classrooms have been built over recent years. The disparities between provinces are becoming less in that the proportion of provinces failing to reach the national average enrollment rate has fallen from 73 percent to 58 percent. These recent advances have been accomplished thanks to the implementation of two strategies: (i) Additional funds have been allocated to basic education to support its development; the share of the education sector budget assigned to basic education increased from 45 percent to nearly 60 percent between 1990 and 1999; the availability of schools has also increased thanks to the construction of about 800 classrooms on average per year; (ii) Several steps have been taken to substantially reduce unit costs per student in order to facilitate the expansion of basic education. These include: (a) concentration on hiring assistant teachers, which has made it possible to reduce average salary costs for primary teachers from 8.2 to 6.2 times the country’s per capita GDP; (b) the introduction of dual-stream teaching, which has facilitated the inclusion of 40 percent of students in urban areas, thereby serving to contain urban demographic pressure; and (c) recourse to multigrade classes which have enabled 25 percent of rural children living in localities with very low population density to attend school. Burkina Faso has also made appreciable efforts to address demand-side education constraints. To this end, the proportion of schools with drinking water and sanitary facilities has reached 47 percent and 45 percent respectively. The number of literacy centers has more than doubled since 1990 and the literacy programs available to only 90 villages in 1990 today cover 4,500. To further stimulate school attendance on the part of low-income groups, the Government has set up a system for providing sets of textbooks for use free of charge and has encouraged greater parent participation in the running of the schools. To lower the opportunity costs for poor households and promote school attendance by girls, a considerable effort has been made to build schools not far from the villages, financial and material resources have been made available to mothers’ associations (Associations des mères d’élèves) for income-generating activities, and school lunch programs have been developed in rural areas. In parallel to these efforts, Burkina Faso has also taken steps to improve the quality of education (a) by regularly distributing sufficient textbooks to allow, on average, for one set of books to be shared by two students in the basic subjects; (b) by upgrading teachers’ skills, particularly in rural areas; and (c) by introducing bilingual education on an experimental basis. Taken altogether, these improvements have made it possible to reduce the disparities in school attendance between urban and rural areas and between regions, and also between boys and girls. Despite these efforts some significant problems still persist:
The cost of producing a primary graduate is twice what it ought to be; dropout rates are high in the north (10.9 percent) and lower in the southwest (3.5 percent); the gender difference expressed in dropout rates varies between regions: for boys it is 12.5 percent and for girls 7.1 percent in the north and in the west the rates are, respectively, 8.1 percent and 3.7 percent; in the other regions the dropout rate for girls is either higher than the dropout rate for boys, or largely the same; and the AIDS pandemic could erode the gains already achieved. Not only does the falling life expectancy due to AIDS limit the returns on investments in education, but it also threatens the effectiveness of the system due to the increased rates of teacher and student absenteeism, the need to replace sick teachers, and the growing number of AIDS orphans, thereby complicating management of the education system. |
Table 4: Education Indicators |
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| Source : Poverty Analysis Report – INSD-EP II – 1998 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
2.4.2 Health and Poverty Propelled by very high fertility (the fertility rate is 6.8 births per woman), Burkina Faso’s population is growing at a rapid rate of 2.8 percent annually. The health indicators place Burkina Faso among the most disadvantaged countries in Sub-Saharan Africa (Table 5). Life expectancy at birth is 54 years, child mortality is 219 per thousand and maternal mortality is 484 per 100,000 births. More than one third of all children suffer from malnutrition. Burkina Faso is also one of the countries in West Africa more severely affected by the AIDS epidemic. HIV seroprevalence is 7 percent among the general population and reaches 13 percent among truckers. Nearly 64 percent of the prostitutes in Ouagadougou and 43 percent of those in Bobo-Dioulasso are estimated to be seropositive. The evolution of the health indicators over time is also particularly disturbing. Between 1993 and 1999 certain indicators posted no noteworthy improvement while others deteriorated (mortality among children under five years), as shown in Table 6. |
Table 5: Health Indicators in Burkina Faso Compared with Sub-Saharan Africa 2 |
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Table 6: Burkina Faso Health Indicators 1993-1999 |
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| Sources: Demographic and Heath Surveys 1993 and 1999 | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Examination of the health indicators by socioeconomic level also shows significant disparities in the state of health between the richest and poorest groups in Burkina Faso (Table 7). Figure 2 clearly shows the gap between the 20 percent making up the richest group, for whom the indicators are significantly better, and the 80 percent forming the poorest group, among whom mortality and malnutrition rates are still very high. This gap appears to be linked to the urban-rural differential. For instance, a drop in fertility is observed in the urban centers but not in the rural areas (Demographic and Health Survey, 1999). The incidence of diseases such as diarrhea and acute respiratory infections (ARI) is not closely connected with socioeconomic status, a circumstance that probably reflects the prevailing high level of infectious disease, with high levels of malaria, lack of access to safe water, and sanitation problems. However, health service utilization is higher and malnutrition lower among the richest groups, which confirms that nutrition status and access to basic services are important cofactors in child mortality. |
Table 7. Health Indicators by Income Level, 1993 3 |
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Figure 2: Child mortality and malnutrition rates by income group in 1993 4 (in percent) |
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Health service use is still very inadequate. Immunization coverage of children between 0 to 11 months remains very low, having risen slightly from 39 percent in 1992 to 42 percent in 1998. The situation in 1998 was as follows: BCG: 52 percent; DTCP3: 31 percent; measles: 38 percent; Yellow fever: 33 percent. There was a slight improvement in 1999 (Table 17). The use of basic curative services, while at a level comparable with that of neighboring West African countries, remains low at 0.2 visits per person and per year. Contraceptive prevalence is only five percent. Use of mosquito nets, impregnated or not, is very low. The proportion of women delivering in a health facility dropped from 43 percent in 1993 to 27 percent in 1999. And despite widespread knowledge concerning AIDS (in 1999, 87 percent of women and 96 percent of men knew how AIDS is transmitted), condom use by the most vulnerable groups (truckers, single women, military personnel) remains low. Health services are particularly underutilized by the poor and the vulnerable groups. Only wealthier inhabitants (20 percent of the population) use these services to a satisfactory degree. Considered overall, the poorest 20 percent use the services half as much as the 20 percent who are most well off (Figure 3). There is also a considerable differential between rich and poor and between rural and urban areas as regards immunization coverage. Children in rural areas receive much less in the way of immunizations than do those in urban areas. Studies of beneficiaries also show that certain services are not affordable for the poorest groups. |
Figure 3. Utilization of basic health services by socioeconomic group |
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Generally speaking, public health services are less used by the poor than the rich, both for immunizations (offered mainly by the public services) and for curative services for children or childbirth (Figure 4). However, the difference is the same or even more marked as regards private services, which the poor utilize to only a very small extent (Figure 5). With regard to childbirth, 72 percent of the group comprising the poorest 20 percent have their babies at home. |
4. Utilization of public services for curative care for
children and child delivery |
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Figure 5. Utilization of private services for child delivery |
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Public expenditure on health, expressed in percentages of the government budget, have increased over recent years, rising from 7 percent in 1993 to 12 percent in 1998. However, Burkina Faso has had to cope with an increase in the cost of imported consumables (medications and vaccines) and equipment (refrigerators, vehicles, fuel) since 1994, owing to the devaluation of the CFA franc. Donor support also represents a large proportion of the Government’s health budget. Total health expenditures (Government and transfers by external donors) represent nearly US$7 per capita, an amount that is significantly higher than in neighboring countries with comparable GNP. The distribution of these resources is, however, still strongly skewed in favor of central and urban areas. Funding for recurrent non-wage expenditures is allocated essentially to the central level (49.83 percent in 1999 and 56.89 percent in 2000). The regional level received 4.47 and 4.87 percent respectively in 1999 and 2000 while the districts received 45.70 percent in 1999 and 38.24 percent in 20005. Moreover, households contribute large sums, with private expenditures amounting to nearly US$10 per capita per year. 2.4.3 Drinking water The situation regarding drinking water supply is characterized by inadequate coverage, notwithstanding the efforts made to set up supply centers in the country. As regards hygiene and sanitation the situation is even more worrisome, especially in rural areas, with the result that the risks of mortality and morbidity due to waterborne diseases connected with the unhealthful nature of the water and housing are intensified. In both 1994 and 1998 about 90 percent of households were obtaining their water from wells, boreholes or public taps. However, there was a modest increase in the percentage using taps in urban areas between 1994 and 1998, while utilization of boreholes has increased to a certain extent in rural areas, as compared with other sources of drinking water. These trends point to an improvement in the quality of drinking water available to households, and are attributable in part to the national water supply policy (“Drinking Water for All by the Year 2000”). The Southwest, which drew 68 percent of its drinkable water from river in 1994 (therefore not really safe), reduced that source to 36 percent in 1998, thanks to a vigorous intervention policy. However, the low recourse observed in 1998 may be attributable to rivers dry up during the data collection period. 2.4.4 Living Environment The quality of housing, which is made up of a combination of elements that render it either pleasant to live in or rough, is analyzed on the basis of a number of factors: the wall, the ceiling, the roof, the means employed for disposing of waste water, type of toilet, connection to electricity supply, and type of energy used for cooking. For this indicator of human development, the differential between towns and villages is immense. Among possible services, electricity is the one that can contribute toward substantial changes in a community’s way of life. In rural Burkina Faso, less than one percent of households had access to electricity in 1994 and no progress had been posted as of 1998. It is true that Burkina Faso has not yet adopted a rural electrification policy, possibly because even today the service is unable to keep up with urban demand. The proportion of urban homes with electricity only rose from 29 percent in 1994 to 34 percent in 1998. Even in the cities, 63 percent of households were still using kerosene lamps for lighting in 1998, i.e. only a slight decrease compared with 69 percent in 1994. A significant finding is that in urban areas, access to electric power for households in the lower-income quintiles did not improve much between 1994 and 1998. This is due to a considerable gap between supply and sharply rising demand resulting from the rapid rate at which people are moving to the urban periphery. 2.4.5 Women and poverty The lag in school attendance by girls and young women is holding back women’s participation in the modern sector. Educated women make up about 21 percent of public and government employees and only five percent of the personnel employed in private companies in the modern sector. As regards (political) public service, although definite progress has been made, there are few women in Parliament and Government. The health situation of women is characterized by continuing high morbidity and mortality rates. Direct causes such as hemorrhages and infections are responsible for about 72 percent of deaths among mothers. Moreover, it has been established that 55 percent of pregnant women are anemic. In the country as a whole, only 38.4 percent of pregnant women receive prenatal care. Deliveries under poor sanitary resulted in a prenatal mortality rate of 126 per thousand in 1995. In addition to ignorance and poverty, women’s health is affected by the burden of household chores, harmful traditional practices, and inadequate sanitation and water-supply facilities. Prevailing socioeconomic conditions and sociological and cultural constraints often explain women’s low level of participation in economic and public life. With assistance from NGOs, women’s cooperatives grow vegetables and produce crafts for the tourism sector. However, the productivity of these activities is low due to the lack of support services and of access to credit. The institutional mechanisms established for the purpose of granting credit to women are inadequate, making it difficult for women to avail themselves of credit facilities. To improve socioeconomic conditions for women, a network of financial institutions needs to be set up to attract savings and recycle them for investment purposes by means of medium and long-term lending to women. Women in Burkina Faso are less literate (12.9 percent) than men (24.8 percent). And whatever their social status, there is discrimination to women’s disadvantage. This discrimination is in fact quite pronounced at the level of the first quintile. Thus, poverty partly explains the low literacy rate among women as compared with men. Furthermore, the survey confirms that women have limited access to health care, employment opportunities and credit, and participate less in national political life and decision-making. 2.4.6 Other Causes 2.4.6.1 Access to land for the poor The legislation concerning agrarian and land reorganization has passed through several revisions in order to take into account the ongoing evolution of national realities. However, the implementation of this legislation remains limited even though it is a key component of the initiatives aimed at reducing poverty. The distribution and possession of land, especially as regards cultivable land (including the granting of title deeds), have decisive impacts on the production, incomes and living standards of poor rural families. In addition to being a productive agricultural resource, land can also be considered as the principal asset of such families. It can also be assigned an exchange value with a view to favoring the most efficient allocation of this natural resource among several possible uses and thereby contributing to the well being of the disadvantaged. Finally, in the context of the financing of micro-infrastructure or income-generating activities, land, often the sole asset of poor families, can serve as guarantee for the granting of credit or loans. 2.4.6.2 Access of the poor to productive capital, employment and financial services In the context of improving living conditions and incomes for the poorer segments of society, access for such persons to productive capital and to technologies suited for the poor will enable them to find employment or develop an income-generating activity, thereby helping them secure access to financial capital and, in particular, credit. Beyond the recognized impact of saving, credit, and loans in reducing poverty and increasing incomes for the poor, the key consideration concerning development of microcredit for low-income borrowers now is financial intermediation. Financial intermediation makes it possible to bring the supply of and demand for funds together through the professionals involved. In this connection, the Burkina Faso authorities have put in place financing instruments such as the Fonds National pour la Promotion de l’Emploi [National Fund for the Promotion of Employment] (FONAPE), the Fonds d’Appui au Secteur Informel [Support Fund for the Informal Sector] (FASI), the Fonds d’Appui aux Activités Rémunératrices des Femmes [Support Fund for Women’s Income-Generating Activities] (FAARF) and the Projet d’Appui à la Promotion de Petites et Moyennes Entreprises [Support Project for Promotion of Small and Medium Enterprises] (PAPME). These funds round out the initiatives developed by the cooperation agencies to promote small businesses: the Cellule d’Appui à la Petite Entreprise de Ouagadougou [Ouagadougou Support Unit for Small Businesses] (CAPEO), Bureau d’Appui en Management d’Entreprise [Business Management Support Bureau] (BAME) of the Bobo-Dioulasso region,etc. These various funds have made it possible to finance a number of projects and create employment opportunities, but they remain limited in their ability to meet the needs of their target public. As a general rule, financial intermediation has thus far barely reached the poorest areas and families. The economy of the poor remains largely non-liquid because of the absence of banks geared to their needs and the scant presence of microcredit organizations. They are accordingly unable to accumulate savings or obtain access to credit. To reduce human poverty, it is necessary to increase the availability of microfinancing opportunities that will open up a varied range of activities essential for improving the living conditions of the poor, meeting their basic needs, and strengthening their capabilities. 2.4.7 Conclusion To conclude, besides ecological and geographic factors, poverty in Burkina Faso may be attributed primarily to the following factors:
In recent years poverty has not decreased to the extent that might have been expected with the economy posting growth rate of over five percent. Poverty has in general remained stable, with a slight reduction in rural areas being offset by a marked increase in urban locations. However, there have been some appreciable improvements in education, for example, but certain health indicators remain worrisome. To reduce poverty in Burkina Faso, it will be necessary to focus on reducing poverty among the rural population which, as has been noted, represents over 94 percent of the country’s poor. This reduction will have to be achieved by an increase in rural incomes and improvement of rural living conditions. Support to promote the growth of existing sources of income such as agriculture and livestock raising is crucial, but must be combined with a search for additional income sources derived from diversification of rural activities. The importance of women in this growth process must not be underestimated. This support for rural growth must take the form of expanded access to production factors and inputs such as land, credit, technologies, and information, coupled with greater investments in infrastructure. At the same time, the poverty reduction strategy must give priority to improving the conditions of access to basic social services such as water, health and education, which are so different in rural areas compared with the towns and cities. |
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In 1995 the Government drew up a Letter of Intent for Sustainable Human Development, the purpose of which is to center the country’s development strategy on the concept of human security, thereby giving each Burkina Faso national access to:
This revival of economic and social policy is guided by the following fundamental principles: (i) pursuit of maximum impact of public expenditures on the population’s welfare as measured by social indicators; (ii) promotion of equity and equality of opportunity between the various social strata, men and women, and the regions, without restriction of public and civic freedoms; (iii) participation of the population and of civil society (particularly NGOs and associative movements) in the formulation, implementation, monitoring, and evaluation of development policies and programs; and (iv) transparency of the procedures and tools for managing public resources. This Letter, which will be reviewed in light of the findings of the Burkina Faso 2025 prospective study (Box 3), remains the conceptual framework of this Poverty Reduction Strategy, for which the Government has set itself the following major objectives: (i) reinforcing actions to reduce poverty and vulnerability of population as well as various disparities; (ii) pursuing quality macroeconomic policies aimed at achieving sustainable high and well distributed growth; (iii) accelerating and enhancing the decentralization process and actions to modernize public administration; (iv) integrating successfully the country to the global and regional markets. |
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