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Burkina Faso

Burkina Faso

Africa

Endorsements

Endorsed in 2017

Endorsed

Endorsed

Not Endorsed

Relevant UN Resolutions

No current sponsorships
GCPEA Education Under Attack

Profiled in GCPEA Education Under Attack

Profiled in: 2022, 2020, 2018

Other Important Information
Memberships in International Regional Organizations
Peacekeeping

Is a peacekeeping contributing country

Key Information

Key information about the country.

Advocacy Engagements

Engagements with this state or any other relevant information that can support advocacy.

Highlights

Details

March 2017: Vero emailed Paris ambassador regarding Buenos Aires conference.

May 2017: Meeting with legal counsellor in the Geneva Mission. Ambassador instructed her to accept the meeting request. Very positive meeting. The legal counsellor recognised that even states which are not experiencing conflict are vulnerable to attack (referencing the 2016 hotel attack in Burkina) and appreciated the value of states endorsing even if not in “open conflict”. She was interested by the account of the Buenos Aires conference and the Addis workshop, and the work being done by neighbouring Niger and also Nigeria. She pledged to report to her Ambassador and let me know if any follow-up questions came from capital. Cordial follow-up email exchange. Save the Children International (Addis) has been engaging with Burkina Faso to organize a breakfast meeting in Addis to present outcome of the Buenos Aires conference.

June 2017: Shared op ed by email with Geneva mission and received a friendly reply.

June 2017: HRW (Zama) met with New York mission. Very warm, said it was a great initiative, will take it up with the PR. Seemed personally invested – sat on the SC CAAC working group. Moved by Nigeria. Repeated several times the AU encouraging endorsement. She counted up 19 african countries. Worth staying in touch with her.

June 2017: GCPEA issued letters to the President and MFA calling for endorsement.

July 2017: Office of the President responded to say that endorsement was imminent. Letter received in New York in August.

August 2017: The endorsement has not come through yet. Gisela has written to the expert in the Mission in Geneva and is awaiting a response. Canada has issued a demarche in capital and New York to the government of Burkina Faso to encourage endorsement, and provided supporting documents in French. AP: Gisela to follow up with expert next week.

September 2017: Burkina Faso announced their endorsement last week. GCPEA wrote to the expert in the Mission in Geneva to follow up on the expected endorsement. Canada issued a demarche in capital and New York to the government of Burkina Faso to encourage endorsement, and provided supporting documents in French. The embassy of Burkina Faso in Denmark issued the endorsement letter, signed by FM Alpha Barry, to Norway’s MFA in Oslo.

May 2018: The Ambassador of Burkina Faso in New York issued a letter to GCPEA highlighting concerns about the situation of attacks on education in Burkina Faso and sharing a humanitarian update on school closures by OCHA.

2019: It was reported that the government of Burkina Faso has adopted a new strategy for the protection and continuation of education in areas of high insecurity, demonstrating a renewed commitment to deliver education to every child in the country. The new strategy includes preparation of curricula to help children whose schools have been closed catch up on learning, integration of displaced children into open schools, strengthening school security, and reconstruction for schools which have been damaged or destroyed.

2019: A UNICEF partnership with the governments of Burkina Faso, Cameroon and Niger is helping expand an innovative radio education programme that provides an alternative learning platform for children and youth affected by crises. Literacy and numeracy lessons are broadcast on radio in French and several national languages. The programme is also being rolled out in Central African Republic, Guinea Bissau, Sierra Leone, and the Democratic Republic of Congo.

March 2019: attended GCPEA side-event on “Better Protecting Women and Girls from Attacks on Education” in Geneva.

March 2019: Clustered Interactive Dialogue with the SRSG CAAC Virginia Gamba, HRC Geneva: joined Norway’s joint statement on the Safe Schools Declaration.

May 2019: Participated in the Third International Conference in Palma.

May 2020: Human Righst watch released the report, “‘Their War Against Education’: Armed Group Attacks on Teachers, Students, and Schools in Burkina Faso,” which documents education-related attacks by armed Islamist groups in 6 regions between 2017 and 2020. The armed Islamist groups have attacked schools, killed, beaten, and abducted teachers, and terrorized parents and students. Over 2500 schools were closed due to insecurity.

March 2023: During ID with SRSG CAAC, national statement: We have taken steps to protect children and armed conflict, including by endorsing the Safe Schools Declaration

UN Standards

Good Practice

What, if anything, the country has done to protect education and/or implement any of the 8 commitments outlined in the Declaration.

Commitment 1

In the process of setting up a steering committee to oversee the implementation of the SSD. Drafting a MoE decree on the SSD (which will establish the Committee).

In October 2022, several non-state armed groups operating in Burkina Faso singed unilateral declarations in the presence of Geneva Call committing to protect educational institutions, by refraining from attack schools, avoiding the military use of educational facilities, and ensuring the protection of students and educational personnel.

A steering committee to oversee the implementation of the SSD was established through an inter-ministerial decree on August 14, 2023. This decree crowns a long and rich process of advocacy conducted by CSO in BF since 2020-2021. Save the Children played a leading role, alongside other organizations, particularly Plan and UNICEF, in advocating for the creation of this steering committee. They took the lead in developing the drafts of technical note and ministerial decree, which have been used as reference document leading to the final decision on the decree.

Commitment 2

2021 and until May 2022 – As part of the operationalization of the new mechanism for producing data on education in emergency situations in line with the Educational Management Information System (EMIS), the format for producing reports on Education in Situation of Emergency, the MoE together with the Education Cluster has been publishing monthly reports about the situation of closings and reopening of establishments in different levels of education

https://reliefweb.int/sites/reliefweb.int/files/resources/Rapport%20statistique%20des%20donn%C3%A9es%20d%E2%80%99%C3%A9ducation%20en%20situation%20d%E2%80%99urgence%20au%2031%20octobre%202021.pdf

 

Commitment 3

None

Commitment 4

In August 2021, two members of Ansaroul Islam, an armed Islamist group, were sentenced to 20 years in prison for a 2018 attack on a primary school in Burkina Faso. While victims of the attack welcomed the verdict, the proceedings were marked by allegations of lack of respect for due process.

Commitment 5

None

Commitment 6

In 2020, the Minister of Education announced in May that distance learning introduced due to Covid 19, would extend to students affected by conflict, in collaboration with UNICEF, UNESCO and regional bodies.

In January 2023 the government adopted the National Strategy on Education in Emergencies, and the Action Plan 2023- 2025 with the objective of ensuring the continuity of education for students in situations of emergency. The Action Plan is focused on three areas of action: access, quality and pilotin, with 18 actions. https://www.planeteschoolmagazine.net/education-en-situation-durgence-le-plan-daction-triennal-glissant-2023-2025-approuve/

Commitment 7

None

Commitment 8

None

Other

None

National Action Plan or Technical Committee on the SSD

Not established

Relevant Contacts

Contact information of the representatives of Permanent Missions, national Ministries, and focal points for the State-led Implementation Network.

Geneva Missions

General Email(s):
mission.burkina@ties.itu.int | secretariat@missionburkinafaso-ch.org

Other Contacts:

Mr. Germain Zong-Naba PIME
Counsellor (Legal Affairs)
Germain.pime@missionburkinafaso-ch.org

New York Missions

General Email(s):
bfapm@un.int

Other Contacts:
None

State-led Implementation Network

oyaco2010@yahoo.fr
Yacouba Ouedraogo
Administrateur civil, chargé de mission au cabinet de Monsieur le Ministre
Ministère de l’Enseignement supérieur et de la Recherche scientifique (MESRI) (MoE)
Location: Burkina Faso

zombrepone@gmail.com
Paulin Zombre Poné
Secrétaire technique de l’Education en Situation d’Urgence
Ministère de l’Education nationale, de l’Alphabétisation et de la Promotion des Langues nationales (MoE)
Location: Burkina Faso

wayuly@gmail.com
Ulisse Williame Yameogo
Conseiller technique en charge des questions sécuritaires
Conseiller technique en charge des questions sécuritaires
Ministère de la Justice et des Droits Humains, Chargé des Relations avec les Institutions (MJDHRI) (MoJ)
Location: Burkina Faso

Toebertin07@gmail.com
Toe Bertin
Chef du Département du Numérique éducatif et des Approches pédagogiques au Secrétariat technique de l’Education en Situation d’Urgence
Ministère de l’Education nationale, de l’Alphabétisation et de la Promotion des Langues nationales (MoE)
Location: Burkina Faso
directeur général de la Radiotélévision éducative 25/6 /2021

yougoubetty@yahoo.fr
Bernadette Yougou Sawadogo
Direction générale de l’Encadrement pédagogique et de la Formation initiale et continue
Ministere de la Education Nationale MENAPLN (MoE)
Location: Burkina Faso

a_dneya@yahoo.fr
Angeline Neya Donwa
Secretaire technique de l’education en situation d’emergences
Ministere de la Education Nationale (MoE)
Location: Burkina Faso

Additional

None