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Current Requirements (US$)$607.9 million
Evolution of the context and crisis
Over the past two years, a grave protection-and-displacement crisis has emerged in Burkina Faso. It is grounded in insecurity and conflict, as non-State armed groups have increasingly targeted Government institutions and civilians with deadly attacks. As of October 2020, more than 1 million people have been displaced in less than two years.
The most severe impact is felt in already fragile parts of the country, where much of the population has long felt excluded from decision-making. Rising intercommunal tension, stigmatization between communities on the basis of ethnicity or other factors, and further erosion of trust in the Government linked to protection and human rights challenges were all exacerbating the situation prior to the COVID-19 pandemic, which has had a further detrimental impact. Furthermore, Burkina Faso experienced heavy rains and violent winds in 2020, affecting 106,000 people – most of whom were already displaced by conflict.
Kaya, Burkina Faso
The Central Sahel is the epicentre of one of the world's fastest-growing humanitarian crises. "We need to reverse this downward spiral with a renewed push for peace and reconciliation. We also need much more humanitarian aid. UN agencies and NGOs are on the ground to complement national humanitarian response efforts. With better funding, we can do much more," said UN Secretary-General António Guterres.
OCHA/Olympia de MaismontThe number of food-insecure people has nearly tripled over the past year, from 1.2 million to 3.3 million. For the first time in 10 years, the food security assessment (carried out in July 2020) classified two provinces of the Sahel region as being in emergency conditions (IPC 4), affecting 500,000 people. Of those people, 11,000 are at risk of catastrophic conditions (IPC 5). Global acute malnutrition rates are between 15 and 17 per cent, and severe malnutrition rates are 4 to 6 per cent among IDPs in several of the most affected and/or hard-to-reach areas of the Centre-Nord and Sahel regions.
Protection needs are increasing, with 2.1 per cent of IDPs living with disabilities, according to official sources. This is twice the national average. More than one third of children are at risk of recruitment by armed groups, forced labour or other protection concerns, and 1 per cent of IDP children are unaccompanied. Women and girls, who make up 54 per cent of IDPs, are at increased risk of sexual and gender-based violence by armed groups; many are forced to adopt negative coping mechanisms, including sex for survival.
Burkina Faso: emergency education in action
The director of this school in Kaya, Burkina Faso, welcomes children displaced by the ongoing violence, despite the little resources available. Overwhelmed by the increasing number of children, some classes are held outside. "One should not add another trauma to the existing traumas … but at least by accepting them we relieve the person, the parent and the student", he says.
Nearly 1 million people are affected by the closure or minimal functioning of 323 health centres. When the new school year started, 350,000 children remained without access to education due to the closure of over 2,200 schools. COVID-19’s effect on the economy exacerbates different vulnerabilities. An August 2020 study by the National Institute of Statistics and Demography indicates that one quarter of households do not have access to basic foodstuffs at a given time, while 10 per cent of employed people lost their jobs.
Humanitarian funding to Burkina Faso has more than doubled in 2020, but underfunding remains a significant constraint on humanitarian action, as needs and requirements continue to outpace funding and capacity. For 2020, just 55 per cent of required funding had been received by 25 November.
Projected situation in 2021 and beyond
In total, 3.5 million people in areas covered by the 2021 Humanitarian Response Plan (HRP) need multisectoral humanitarian assistance. This is a 60 per cent increase from the start of 2020. More than 1.3 million people require support to ensure their physical and mental well-being. Despite their incredible generosity and resilience, the Burkinabé people are increasingly unable to cope with this multidimensional crisis.
Evolution of needs and requirements (2016 - 2021)
People who need assistance are concentrated in six regions covered by the 2021 HRP: the Sahel, Centre-Nord, Nord, Boucle de Mouhoun, Est and Centre-Est (newly included in 2021). Among the most vulnerable groups are displaced people – both IDPs and refugees. Of those people, 19,000 are mainly Malian nationals; people in host communities, particularly where displaced people exceed residents; and people in areas where ongoing conflict and insecurity severely challenge humanitarian access. Women, girls, boys, the elderly and people living with disabilities experience the greatest concentration of needs.
Presidential and parliamentary elections will usher in a new Government in 2021. In the past, social upheaval has accompanied such transitions, increasing the risk of further challenges in access to basic social services such as health, education and public finance. The flooding and violent winds experienced in 2020, which severely affected already vulnerable households, are likely to return in 2021, according to meteorological information.
Response priorities in 2021
Given the worsening situation, further increases in response capacity are required in 2021, as well as concerted efforts to address disparities concealed by response-wide results. It will be essential to ensure greater capacity and coverage of rapid response action, secure high-quality and more durable materials, fulfil national and international standards, expand and standardize cash-based programming, and expand the coverage of protection referral systems and support services.
Understanding the severity of needs
To identify gaps and disparities in the humanitarian response and guide humanitarian planning and decision-making, the Access Working Group in Burkina Faso has developed an innovative cross-analysis of data on the perceived severity of access constraints, humanitarian needs and humanitarian response. This has made it possible to systematically assess the appropriateness of response at the commune level (Admin 3) across the HRP coverage area. The analysis highlights two types of priority communes for advocacy and operational focus: communes experiencing severe access constraints, large amounts of needs, and insufficient response (access priorities), and communes with low to moderate access constraints, moderate amounts of needs, and insufficient response (nexus priorities). This systematic and periodic analysis, which informs the 2021 Humanitarian Needs Overview, is a decision-making tool that links access and needs assessments with quarterly response monitoring. This is in order to support strategic and operational decision-making by existing partners and to orient new partners opening in-country emergency response programmes. To access the online visual tool, click here: Combined overview of severity of access/needs and response assessment.
The humanitarian community has collectively prioritized and supported enhanced engagement with and accountability to communities. Initial perception and satisfaction survey results show that affected communities prioritize food assistance, health care and adequate shelter among their most urgent needs, as well as strengthened access to basic social services, including WASH, education, and protection services and support. The results of the same survey indicate that inadequate amounts of available assistance, both in the number of people reached and the duration of support, are sources of dissatisfaction.
The continued increase in funding requirements in 2021 is due to larger target figures and increasing unit costs, including due to COVID-19-related measures. New areas of humanitarian action have been included, such as site management and new common services, such as UNHAS and logistics. Some clusters also need to make significant investments, such as those relating to shelter and NFIs, for the benefit of IDPs after more than two years of limited and immediate-use focused efforts.
Further reading
Source: OCHA
Source: Humanitarian Insight
Source: Financial Tracking Service
References
- Centre Africain pour les Applications de la Météorologie au Développement (ACMAD)