10027986-Appui à l'autonomisation socio-économique des femmes au Burkina Faso

The project "Strengthening the socio-economic participation of women in Burkina Faso" (ProFemmes) aims to improve the socio-economic participation of women in selected regions of Burkina Faso. The project targets individual businesswomen and those whose livelihoods are directly or indirectly linked to micro, small and medium-sized enterprises (MSMEs) and cooperatives that are important for women's employment and income. The project also targets women in vulnerable situations, including those who are internally displaced. This objective is pursued through three closely connected areas of action. First, ProFemmes strengthens the entrepreneurial capacities of women-led MSMEs, cooperatives and individual businesswomen, especially in agricultural and forest value chains, by improving their business, management and digital skills and supporting their market presence and competitiveness. Second, the project enhances women's technical and financial capacities to engage in new or more viable income-generating activities, for example in water and sanitation in the region Djôrô or in crafts, services and trade in Fada N'Gourma, often in close coordination with existing programmes such as PEA and ProSPS. Third, ProFemmes improves the socio-economic conditions for women's financial co-decision at household level by building basic financial skills among couples and promoting shared decision-making on household income, savings and investments, using gender-transformative tools such as Ecole de Maris and GALS. Geographically, the project focuses on the region of Djôrô (formerly Sud-Ouest) and the commune of Fada N'Gourma in the Goulmou region (formerly Est). ProFemmes follows a "Next Level" approach, working mainly with women who already run economic activities or are embedded in relevant economic structures, and helping them move from informal, short-term activities to more sustainable, market-oriented livelihoods. Implementation is carried out by GIZ on behalf of the German Federal Ministry for Economic Cooperation and Development (BMZ), in close coordination with national and local partners and with other German development projects, in order to generate structural, gender-transformative effects beyond short-term income gains.