Burkina Faso

Burkina Faso is a landlocked country in West Africa whose name means “land of honest men.” More than 65% of the Burkinabe population is under the age of 25. The country is also home to the African continent’s largest crafts fair.

Hear from girls in Burkina Faso

Zourata Roufaïata Yampiou
Sponsored Child In Burkina Faso
Zourata has found an oasis of hope.
Following an illness when she was 9, she lost the use of her legs. Rejected by her father, Zourata stopped going to school and was confined to her home.

But not anymore. Nowadays, Zourata travels for miles in her wheelchair to reach one of Plan International’s child-friendly spaces. There, she has made friends and learned important information about menstrual health.

“I like to take part in games,” Zourata says. “I can’t dance or play hide-and-seek, but I can play [board games] or cards with the other children.”

Plan has set up child-friendly spaces like this around the world to help children cope with disasters and conflict. In Burkina Faso where Zourata lives, thousands of people have fled their homes to escape violent attacks from armed groups. At Plan’s child-friendly spaces, girls like Zourata can play educational games and access critical resources like counseling and psychosocial support if needed.

Zourata’s mother says that the child-friendly space has been good for her daughter.

“She loves to go and play with the other teenagers,” Zourata’s mother says. “I see her come back with a smile on her face and it warms my heart.”
Meet Claire, another girl from Burkina Faso
Sponsored Child in Burkina Faso
After being closed for months due to COVID-19, schools across the Bazèga province in Burkina Faso opened their doors for students. The local government invested in cleaning supplies and hand-washing stations in an effort to keep everyone safe and healthy. And, in order to encourage students to wash their hands at home, many schools taught students how to build a simple hand-washing device called a tippy-tap.
At her school, 14-year-old Roufaïata led the demonstration.

“I saw that the tippy tap was very useful at home, and I thought that we should do the same thing at school,” Roufaïata says.

She knew exactly what to do after taking part in one of Plan International’s hygiene awareness presentations, along with 2,800 other families in her region. Even the school headmaster was impressed with what Roufaïata had learned.

“When we decided to build a tippy tap in front of our pupils, Roufaïata said she already knew how to do it,” the headmaster says. “So, I let her take my place and she succeeded without any difficulty. She also demonstrated the correct hand-washing technique to her classmates with perfect mastery.”

Today, Plan has supported the installation of 1,062 tippy taps in 244 schools, helping students like Roufaïata to stay safe and healthy while they learn.
Support girls like Roufaïata in their fight against COVID-19
Sponsor Child in Burkina Faso
Yampiou is one of the top three students in her class at school. That’s an achievement on its own — but what’s more impressive is that she’s only been in school for less than a year.
It all started when Yampiou and her father attended an awareness session about an accelerated learning center that Plan International was running nearby. The center, known as a “speed school,” offers educational programming designed specifically for children who have been out of school for more than two years. After nine months, the students are caught up, ready to enroll in a regular primary school.

At first, Yampiou’s father was skeptical.

“We didn’t want our daughter to go to this center,” he says. “We thought, how could a girl who has never been to school end up in the third grade after only nine months? But she insisted and we let her go.”

Yampiou remembers how scared she was going to school for the first time.

“When we started the classes, our teacher told us not to be afraid,” she says. “She encouraged us girls the most, telling us to work hard and get ahead of the boys.”

At the end of the program, Yampiou did get ahead of many of the boys, finishing as one of her grade’s top students and getting a nearly perfect score on her final exam. Now, she’s making plans for the future.

“I’m happy because I did really well,” Yampiou says proudly. “I did a good job; my parents are happy with me. I promise to continue school and succeed. I want to be a teacher.”
Learn how COVID-19 is affecting girls’ education

Plan International has been working to improve children’s lives in Burkina Faso since 1976.

Good morning! My name is Claire.<br /> :20 I am 13 years old and I live in Burkina Faso.<br /> :23 I have been a sponsored child for 3 years.<br /> :28 I am eating with my cousins.<br /> :34 Here’s my grandmother, my aunt and my three cousins.<br /> :39 This is where I live.<br /> :42 My father suddenly had a headache.<br /> :44 He could not walk anymore then died suddenly.<br /> :53 My aunt raises sheep, pigs and goats.<br /> :57 She also makes and sells dolo (beer) beverages.<br /> 1:06 Here is my school.<br /> 1:14 My favorite subject is Mathematics.<br /> 1:21 At our school council meetings, we discuss any school issues.<br /> 1:27 I was elected as the Minister of Culture.<br /> 1:30 (TEXT) CLAIRE ATTENDS A SCHOOL COUNCIL MEETING INITIATED BY<br /> <br /> PLAN INTERNATIONAL.<br /> <br /> 1:33 Today, we will discuss the lack of fences at our school.<br /> 1:40 Madam Minister of Culture.<br /> 1:43 I think without fences around our school, the road is dangerous to children.<br /> 1:52 This is my village college.<br /> 1:55 Next year I will be here.<br /> 2:00 This is my village health center.<br /> 2:16 Thank you very much, sir. Good bye.<br /> 2:19 Good day, Claire.<br /> 2:21 I want my village to develop.<br /> 2:23 In addition to the health center, we’d like more schools, houses, food and electricity everywhere in our community.<br /> 2:34 I want to be a Mathematics teacher.<br /> 2:40 It’s been a good day, what do you think guys?<br /> 2:42 Yes.<br /> 2:44 Yes.<br /> 2:46 I am happy to be a sponsored child.<br /> 2:49 Good night!

Plan stats in Burkina Faso

Burkina Faso Country Stats
Office & operations

Plan International Burkina Faso’s country office is in Ougadougou, with programs in Bam, Bazega, Kourittenga, Namentenga, Poni, Sanmatenga and Ziro.

Technical areas

Education, skills and work, health

Number of sponsored children

As of June 30, 2020, people like you sponsor 39,785 children in Burkina Faso through Plan International.

Our projects in Burkina Faso

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Burkina Faso: Promoting Equality and Safety in Schools

We work together to promote equality and safety in schools. Promoting Equality and Safety in Schools worked with individuals, communities and schools to address deeply-ingrained beliefs and practices that determine how girls can and should be treated in Burkina Faso.

View the Project
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Burkina Faso: Strengthening assistance for child trafficking survivors

Through the Strengthening Assistance for Child Trafficking Survivors project, funded by the Department of State’s Office to Monitor and Combat Trafficking in Persons, Plan International will focus on providing support to child survivors of trafficking to reintegrate into society, strengthening the capacity of the government, community leaders and civil society to prevent trafficking from occurring and support reintegration of survivors, building awareness of child trafficking through social campaigns in cooperation with local child protection networks.

View the Project

When you sponsor a child through through Plan, you form an incredible friendship.

You can exchange letters with your sponsored child Send Sunny Days magazine to your sponsored child Sponsor a child with Plan International USA

But that’s just the beginning. With Plan, you also have the unique opportunity to:

Send her birthday gifts and cards.

Give her special holiday presents called Little Treasures.

Subscribe her to Plan’s educational kids’ magazine, Sunny Days.

— Visit her (when travel restrictions are lifted), with individual travel assistance from us.

Each gift offering is safely hand-delivered by us, and given to your child with personalized cards from you. It’s likely that the child you sponsor will have never seen anything like these gifts, and they’re available year-round to make the bond between you and your sponsored child even stronger.

Meet a child to sponsor