Burkina Faso Country Information

FACT AND FIGURES

Location - Western Africa, north of Ghana

Capital - Ouagadougou

Population - 16.2 million

People - Mossi 40%, other 60% [including Gurunsi, Senufo, Lobi, Bobo, Mande, Fulani]

Language - French, Sudanic languages

Religion - Muslim 50%, indigenous beliefs 40%, Christian [mainly Roman Catholic] 10%

Literacy rate - 21.8%

Life expectancy - 53 years

% Living below $1.25day - 57%

Sources - The CIA World Fact Book 2008 Compassion International www.news.bbc.co.uk

BURKINA FASO

Formerly Upper Volta, Burkina Faso achieved independence from France in 1960, only to spend most of the post-independence years under military rule. After taking power in a 1983 coup, Thomas Sankara gave the country its present name - ‘land of honest men’. In 1987 he was overthrown and executed in a coup by Blaise Compaore, who instituted a multi-party system.

Despite significant gold reserves, Burkina Faso is a poor country. Cotton production, the economic mainstay for many, is affected by recurring droughts and fluctuations in world prices, while unrest in neighbouring countries prevents several hundred thousand seasonal farm workers from finding employment there. Combined with high population density, this has resulted in poor economic prospects for the majority of the population.

More and more children are suffering from malnutrition, particularly in the northern regions, where over 44 per cent of children under the age of five suffer from delayed or stunted growth. HIV/AIDS also continues to spread among young people and an estimated 120,000 children have lost their parents to the disease. In addition, many girls are still subjected to genital mutilation, a practice that causes lifelong suffering.

Compassion has been working in Burkina Faso since 2004, giving the most vulnerable children access to education, medical care, nutritious food and knowledge of the love of Jesus. Currently over 19028children are attending 90 projects. Through their dreams of helping others escape poverty, a nation can be changed.

Compassion Burkina Faso does not have any Child Survival Programmes yet.

Over 19028 children are currently being assisted in more than 90 Child Sponsorship Programmes in Burkina Faso.

Compassion Burkina Faso does not have any Leadership Development Programme students yet.