Enabel’s « Fragility » Intervention in Burkina Faso

Summary of Enabel’s intervention at the High Commissioner’s Dialogue (2022), Spotlight session 1. Investing in the resilience of local governments and communities as first responders

Enabel is the bilateral Belgian Development Agency. Enabel’s “Fragility Intervention” in the Center-East region of Burkina Faso (2021-2023) responds to the immediate needs of local actors faced with fragility and displacement on their territories, as well as the long term needs of host communities and internally displaced persons’. Local actors supported include those involved in local governance from the public and non-governmental sector, technical services/service providers and civil society organisations. The goal of the intervention is addressing such needs while reinforcing social cohesion in the region. This is done in coordination with 3 consortia of local and international NGOs encompassing humanitarian and development organizations, to cover areas such as : enhancing the capacities of local governance actors to monitor the fragilities and vulnerabilities of their territories, strengthening the resilience of youth and women from host and displaced households, with a focus on access to economic opportunities for women households among displaced and resident population, ensuring access to civil registration for those in displacement in order to facilitate their access to basic services (health, education, and others), as well as supporting education in emergency and crisis-affected settings. The intervention targets between 4,000 and 5,000 persons.

Enabel is the bilateral Belgian Development Agency. 80 % of Enabel’s activities occur in fragile contexts¹, such as in Burkina Faso, where humanitarian needs are high. While not being a humanitarian actor, Enabel sees the necessity for development agencies to develop interventions that take into account the fragile nature of contexts in order to contribute to the long-term resilience of populations. One such intervention, Enabel’s “Fragility Intervention” in Burkina Faso, has the objective to "strengthen the capacity of local actors to monitor vulnerabilities/fragilities, to contextualize the response (both immediate and long-term) and to strengthen social cohesion in the Centre-East region within four territories”². Here, the term “local actors” refers to governance actors, as well as populations’ perception of fragility (especially those trapped/remaining in territories where the State is not present) in order to adopt a participatory analysis of factors of conflict and of resilience. Finally, to respond to the Burkinabe context where 10% of the country’s population is displaced internally³, Enabel addresses both host communities and internally displaced persons’ long-term needs.

Given the socio-political context of the country, the intervention was initially planned to start in January 2022, but did not actually begin until May 2022. Its expected results are:

• Result 1. Local actors have strengthened their analysis of the factors of fragility and vulnerability and improved their capacity to plan responses. This will involve supporting the pilot communes (Pouytenga, Ouargaye, Bittou and Koupéla) to strengthen their social services and plan the necessary adaptations necessary to respond to the increase in the number of people accessing them, including develop capacity in land use and urban planning. In particular, the activity will contribute to the integration of existing data collection tools on vulnerabilities. It will develop a regional plan for the integration of these various fragility monitoring systems that serve distinct purposes, such as the monitoring system for the arrival of displaced persons managed by CONASUR, the monitoring system for protection managed by the UNHCR, the mapping system of extreme vulnerabilities of the population managed by Social Action, among others.
• Result 2. Accessibility to housing and basic services (health, civil status, education), including for displaced populations, is improved, with specific attention for women and young people.
• Result 3. The empowerment of women and youth in the Center-East region is promoted. This includes developing economic opportunities for the social groups most affected by the crisis, particularly women and youth. The intervention targets between 4,000 and 5,000 persons.
• Result 4. Conflict prevention and resolution is enhanced (this is linked to the objective of addressing and strengthening social cohesion). A strategic approach to the resolution of community conflicts will be developed (whether land, farmer-herder, community, inter-community, inter-religious, etc.). The goal is to strengthen endogenous mechanisms for prevention, mediation and peaceful resolution of conflicts, as well as endogenous mechanisms for the promotion of human rights and protection. These changes are supported in a multi-sectoral manner and integrated at the level of the five urban communes of the Centre-East region (Pouytenga, Koupéla, Bittou, Tenkodogo and Ouargaye).
• Result 5. The ability to monitor the different components of fragility is structured in a systematic way to allow the regular adaptation of actions in the territories.

Enabel’s goal is to address long-term needs while reinforcing social cohesion in the region. This echoes a study by 3RP on social cohesion stating that working on positive social cohesion and constructive relations between individuals and groups can be a strong enabling factor to address the humanitarian and development needs of refugees and host communities.”⁴ Enabel addresses social cohesion through the “Fragility” intervention, thanks to the support to State and non-State actors and in coordination with 3 consortia of humanitarian and development organizations with expertise in a variety of areas, such as : enhancing the capacities of local actors to monitor the fragilities and vulnerabilities of their territories, strengthening the resilience of youth and women from host and displaced households, supporting local actors and populations alike to ensure the civil registration for those in displacement and to facilitate their access to basic services, supporting education in displacement. Consortia of actors include for example Action Contre la Faim (ACF), Interpeace, Search for Common Ground (SFCG), Tin Tua, Dakupa, and Humanity and Inclusion (HI).

The “Fragility” intervention, with a budget of EUR 3,758,800, has adopted an innovative integrated territorial approach to crisis prevention and management in the triple nexus of humanitarian-development-peace (HDP). This entails involving all governance actors at the level of the target communes. It pays particular attention to empowering local actors (including local state and non-state institutions, traditional chieftaincies, etc.) and strengthening their capacities.

For more information, please contact Raffaella Greco-Tonegutti, Human Mobility Lead Expert et Enabel: [email protected]

References

1. Enabel, "Activity report 2020-2021"
2. Enabel, "Intégration de la fragilité au sein du Portefeuille Pays - Burkina Faso 2019 - 2023". 2022
3. UNHCR, "Operational Data Portal - Burkina Faso". 2022
4. 3RP, "Social Cohesion: An overview of host community-refugee dynamics in the 3RP context", p.5. 2022.