Assessment Report Burkina Faso: Expansion

INTRODUCTION AND JUSTIFICATION

Since July 2018, Burkina Faso has started to see an increase in violent incidents involving militant groups causing internal displacement in the North, Sahel, Central-North and East regions. After conducting a needs assessment in April, the IRC began responding in April 2019 to immediate needs related to water, hygiene and sanitation in the municipality of Djibo,
Soum province in Sahel.

In July 2019, an increase in violence involving non-state armed groups caused further displacement in the regions of Nord, Sahel, Centre Nord and Est regions of Burkina Faso. Since then, displacement reached other regions, particularly Boucle du Mouhoun and Centre Sud. According to the latest report on displacement of populations within Burkina Faso, published on September 6, OCHA recorded 288,994 displaced people in Burkina Faso; with 130,535 (45%) of whom are living in Sahel,119,798 (41%) in Centre Nord, 14,356 (5%) in Nord and 8,577 (3%) in Boucle du Mouhoun1 regions.2 With these ongoing displacements in new regions, the IRC elected to conduct a second needs assessment to determine scope and scale to address additional needs.

STATEMENT OF INTENT

Objectives

1. Assess the needs of the crisis affected population to design appropriate interventions.

2. Examine threats to safety to the population of concern, especially as related to access to health care, protection services and markets

3. Understand needs across all sectors and how these have evolved in the past six months.

4. Identify which services are available and accessible to the population of concern.

5. Identify gaps that IRC is well-placed to address.

Core Questions

1. What barriers do people face to meet their basic needs? How does this vary by age/sex/demographic group?

2. What are the needs across all sectors? Which services are available and accessible to the population of concern? What gaps can the IRC cover?

3. Are there any specific threats to safety for the affected population?

4. Who, specifically, is our target population?

METHODOLOGY

To prepare for the assessment, the team conducted seven interviews in Ouagoudougou with stakeholders.
These interviews helped the team to narrow the locations to conduct the assessment.
Location This assessment focused in the Sahel regions (Soum province, Djibo communes, and Kelbo and Yatenga province in Tongomayel commune) and Boucle de Mouhoun (Koussi province, Barani, Nuna and Djibasso communes). In addition, data collected remotely via phone, through Key Informant Interviews (KII) in the Nord regions (Loroum province, Titao Commune) and the Centre Nord (Bam province, Bourzanga and Kongossi communes).
Methods The assessment included a total of 622 household (HH) surveys; 73 Key Informant Interviews (KIIs); and 53 focus groups (FGDs). The KIIs included mayors, local leaders, teachers, health facility workers, and market actors, such as vendors. In the FGDs, there were no more than 10 participants each, to allow for appropriate contribution. In addition, all participants were adults – ages 18 and above. All FGDs and HH survey respondents were IDPs residing either with host families or in informal, collective shelter arrangements such as schools and municipal buildings.
Limitations This assessment used a convenience sample, increased from 500 (standard in multi-sector emergency needs assessments to be considered representative) to 622 HH. The 622 was to account for multiple locations, and if any errors were made during data collection, that the number of surveys would still be sufficient. The main limitation was that HH surveys were targeted to only IDPs, which is one population of interest. Including host families would have meant an additional HH survey of 500 people to be confident that this was an appropriate representation. Due to the fluid security context, last minute changes were required (population movement caused certain locations to be difficult to access or void of residents and resulted in some areas targeted for the needs assessment to be changed), which reduced the assessment timeline. Additionally, in Nord and Centre Nord regions the data was collected remotely by phone via KIIs only, due to lack of access and/or time constraints.

KEY FINDINGS

Three quarters (73.2%, or 385/526) of respondents in the HH surveys were displaced for the first time from Koussi Province in Boucle du Mouhoun and Kelbo Commune in Soum Province. In Tongomayel, 50.6% (42/83) of the respondents to the HH survey reported being displaced for the first time and 22.9% (19/83) displaced three times, which was less common than Kelbo commune