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Current Requirements (US$)$658.5 million
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Current People Hyper Prioritized1.2 million
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Current Hyper Prioritized Requirements$350.4 million
GHO estimates at launch (8 December 2025)
Crisis overview
Burkina Faso continues to face a protracted humanitarian crisis driven mainly by insecurity. The crisis is significantly impacting civilian populations across affected regions. According to the Government’s National Council for Emergency Relief and Rehabilitation (CONASUR), over 1 million internally displaced persons (IDPs) have returned to their areas of origin as of July 2025. While there are ongoing efforts to improve the situation, the context remains challenging, and civilian protection continues to be a key concern. More than 167,000 people were newly displaced between January and July 2025, according to CONASUR. The country also hosts approximately 42,000 refugees and asylum seekers, mainly from neighboring countries. In addition to insecurity, climate shocks and public health emergencies continue to exacerbate vulnerabilities. These shocks further disrupt livelihoods, health systems, and access to essential social services.
Humanitarian partners estimate that 4.4 million people will require assistance in 2026, representing a 25 per cent decrease compared with 2025. This reduction is primarily attributed to the tighter inclusion criteria under the global Joint Intersectoral Analysis Framework (JIAF), which now covers only areas with an inter-sectoral needs' severity rating of 3 or higher and shifts analysis from administrative level 3 to level 2. Sector-specific developments also contributed to this decline: the Water, Sanitation, and Hygiene (WASH) cluster reports reduced needs due to sustainable interventions in 2025, as does the Food Security cluster following government-led assessments.
Yaadga, Burkina Faso
Humanitarian workers conduct an assessment visit at a spontaneous site for internally displaced persons.
OCHA/Yacouba LenganiDespite this overall reduction, severe needs persist across the board and have also risen in some sectors. The Health and Nutrition clusters both report an increase in the number of people in need (PIN), driven mainly by the closure of health facilities or reduced services due to insecurity and funding shortfalls.
The 2026 humanitarian needs analysis in Burkina Faso was conducted at the national level, covering all 17 regions. Partners assessed needs based on key shocks: (i) insecurity, (ii) climate shocks, and (iii) public health emergencies. The analysis was guided by humanitarian principles and prioritized the perspectives of affected populations, including IDPs, returnees, non-displaced communities, and refugees.
Response priorities and financial requirements for 2026
In 2026, humanitarian partners will target approximately 3.1 million people with emergency assistance and protection services, a 16 per cent reduction from the 2025 target. Given the challenging funding context, the Inter-Cluster Coordination Group (ICCG) has identified “humanitarian convergence zones”: 29 (out of 47) provinces where humanitarian actors will aim to provide an integrated package of assistance. This approach will help promote efficiency across the operation. The integrated package will prioritize the most vulnerable people in areas with high concentrations of IDPs and returnees, and seek to ensure equitable and sustainable access to essential services. These interventions will mainly cover the following sectors: Protection, Food Security, Shelter, Non-Food Items, WASH, Health, Nutrition, and Education. Humanitarian partners require $662 million to implement these programmes in 2026; estimated requirements are based on unit-based costing. This represents a 17 per cent decrease in requirements compared to 2025, roughly in line with the 16 per cent reduction in the target.
Koulsé, Burkina Faso
Adama, a 64-year-old farmer, offered part of his 25 hectares to host 50 families (2,320 displaced people) at the Buudnooma site. “I gave what I had: land to shelter them and to farm,” he said. Since September 2023, the site has been equipped with latrines, boreholes, and hygiene kits, easing the burden on the community.
OCHA/Alassane SarrTargets and approaches in 2026 are based on feedback from affected communities. In 2025, the ICCG and the Community Engagement and Accountability Working Group (CEAWG) collected feedback from 22,000 people across the country. Analyses demonstrate a high demand for in-kind assistance (mainly food, shelter, drinking water, and school supplies), particularly in areas with limited access to markets. However, a considerable proportion of affected people also emphasized the importance of livelihood support to meet their essential needs. This feedback is being used to inform humanitarian partners’ operational plans. Humanitarian access remains difficult, severely hindering response efforts. People in mostly hard-to-reach areas can only be reached by air or escorted convoys. Maintaining air operations is of paramount importance to ensure the continued delivery of life-saving aid, while continuing to strengthen coordinated ground access.
The 2026 Humanitarian Needs and Response Plan (HNRP), developed by humanitarian partners, is designed to complement and support the national government's strategic plan for humanitarian response. Close alignment and synergy between these two frameworks maximize the effectiveness of humanitarian assistance. Furthermore, sustained coordination with development actors remains critical to ensuring a coherent and integrated response.
Burkina Faso
2025 in review: Response highlights and consequences of inaction
Response highlights
Humanitarian assistance
1.4 million people reached with humanitarian assistance (39 per cent of people targeted), including 372,000 people in hard-to-reach areas (Jan to Sep 2025).
Food
Implementation of community-based, cost-effective service delivery models, in addition to food ration cuts to spread food aid more widely, in order to assist more people with fewer resources (22 per cent funding requirements met as of September)
Response
272 MT of humanitarian cargo airlifted through the Airbus Foundation, with priority given to local NGOs (53 per cent of cargo transported)
Health
736,000 people reached with health assistance (Jan to Sep 2025)
Yaadga, Burkina Faso
A Malian refugee in Ouahigouya learning sewing skills.
UNHCR/ Virginie ZoubéréConsequences of funding cuts
Health
617,000 vulnerable people unable to access healthcare due to the closure or non-functioning of health facilities as a result of insecurity – and 40,000 people cut off from healthcare due to funding shortages (Jan to Sep 2025)
Shelter
58,000 people left without shelter or essential household items due to suspension of funding for key projects (Jan to Sep 2025)
Gender based violence
Major gaps in services and care for survivors of gender-based violence, with only 45,000 people receiving dignity kits (9 per cent target) and just over 1,600 receiving firewood alternatives or livelihoods assistance (7 per cent target)
Nutrition
More than one-third of all nutrition programmes – and thousands of children’s lives – at risk in 2026 due to reduction and withdrawal of certain funding streams
Anticipatory action in Burkina Faso: a mother’s effort against floods
In Koulsé, people face relentless threats from floods and climate shocks, which destroy homes, wipe out crops and deepen food insecurity. For families there, survival depends on acting before disaster strikes.
Martine, a mother and community leader, is at the forefront of mitigating the impact of floods in her village. “Our drainage channels are not trash bins”, she says. Thanks to an Anticipatory Action intervention, her community learned to clear waterways, plant trees, and use special bags to store vital possessions from water damage.
These lessons have transformed fear into action. Martine now mobilizes her neighbors to keep drainage clear, turning shared risk into shared resilience. “This knowledge strengthened my ability to protect my family and support my community,” she added.
Thanks to OCHA’s regional pooled fund for West and Central Africa, anticipatory action was made possible in Burkina Faso and Chad, marking the first Anticipatory Action support by an OCHA regional fund and building proactive, community-driven solutions. Across the region, over $80 million was pre-arranged for anticipatory action, including 65 per cent from the CERF. Families like Martine’s are striving to act before a disaster strikes, one household at a time.