In a determined effort to strengthen economic resilience among rural communities, the Agro-Food Programme for Integrated Resilience and Economic Development in the Sahel (Pro-ARIDES) is expanding its financial outreach initiatives across Burkina Faso.
A high-impact workshop held on Tuesday in Koudougou brought together more than sixty participants from the Centre-West region, including farmers’ organisations, women’s groups, young entrepreneurs, and small to medium-sized enterprises (SMEs).
The goal: to enhance access to sustainable financing for agro-pastoral projects by connecting grassroots actors with financial institutions.
“This activity, which is part of Trajectory 2, focuses on business development opportunities.
It aims to connect our beneficiaries with the various sources of financing available in Burkina Faso,” said Philippe Somé, Pro-ARIDES Project Officer at the Federation of Agricultural Cooperatives of Burkina Faso (FESCOPAB).
Over the past few years, Pro-ARIDES has channelled substantial support into the sector.
Since 2021, approximately 40 SMEs have received grants totalling 262 million CFA francs.
These funds addressed financing needs that reached 448.5 million CFA francs, supplemented by personal contributions and loans facilitated through microfinance institutions.
“The access to information is vital for the development of the beneficiaries we support,” noted Souleimane Sana, Monitoring and Evaluation Officer for Pro-ARIDES at FESCOPAB.
“We are bringing local actors closer to financial institutions because we know that lack of information significantly hampers their ability to structure initiatives, formalise projects, and access resources meant to support them.”
The workshop in Koudougou is one in a series of events planned across the four key Pro-ARIDES intervention zones: Boucle du Mouhoun, Centre-West, North, and East.
Each aims to stimulate local entrepreneurship, strengthen business development, and foster capital flow into agro-sylvo-pastoral sectors.
The initiative is driven by a consortium led by SNV, in collaboration with CARE, WUR, and KIT, and supported locally by FESCOPAB.
is part of a broader strategy to transform rural economies by building strong partnerships between funding bodies and community-based enterprises.
Representatives from major financial institutions were present, including Philippe Palenfo from the National Agency for the Promotion of Inclusive Finance (ANPFI), Issa Kaboré of the Faso Kuna-Wili Fund, Siaka Ouattara of the SME Financing and Promotion Agency, and Wendyam Bénoît Sawadogo from the Dumu-Kafa Fund.
With these efforts, Pro-ARIDES envisions a future where rural entrepreneurs in Burkina Faso are empowered to realise their ambitions and actively contribute to their region’s economic transformation.
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