1 STRATEGIC CONTEXT

A. Country Context, Strategy, and Objectives

1. Burkina Faso is a landlocked Sahelian country in the heart of West Africa that has been facing a deteriorating security and humanitarian situation since 2015. It is a transition country according to the Bank’s classification. The country’s fragilities have been exacerbated, with an overall fragility score (FSI) that rose from 85.9 to 87 points between 2020 and 2021 and a terrorism impact score of 8.27/10. According to the Country Resilience and Fragility Assessment (CRFA 2021), the country’s key fragility factors are: (i) political, institutional and security factors; (ii) poor environmental performance due to land degradation and the effects of extreme events (drought and floods); and (iii) food insecurity and poverty. At the end of April 2022, the country had more than 1.5 million internally displaced persons (IDPs) and other 3.5 million people were in need of humanitarian assistance. The national reference framework prepared for the 2022-2025 period to help meet the country’s development challenges is the Transition Action Plan (PAT) which was adopted on 6 May 2022 by the Transition Government. The PAT is structured around four (4) pillars, namely: (i) Pillar 1: Combating terrorism and restoring territorial integrity; (ii) Pillar 2: Responding to the humanitarian crisis; (iii) Pillar 3: Rebuilding the State and improving governance; and (iv) Pillar 4: Working towards national reconciliation and social cohesion. PAT activities contribute to several targets of SDGs 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 16 and 17, and are consistent with the African Union’s Agenda 2063.

Project Compliance with Country and Bank Policies

2. The Interim Country Strategy Paper (ICSP) 2022-2025, which is aligned with PAT 2022- 2025, defines two priority areas in which the Bank will support Burkina Faso, namely: (i) Priority Area 1: Reinforcement of sustainable infrastructure for inclusive and green growth; and (ii) Priority Area 2: Support for agricultural value chains to build economic resilience. This project is aligned with the two priority areas. On the one hand, it will contribute to Priority Area 1 by helping to consolidate the achievements of previous water and sanitation operations supported by the Bank (including the Rural Drinking Water Supply and Sanitation Project in Four Regions (PAEPA/BAD/4R) and the Rural Drinking Water Supply and Sanitation Project (PEPA-MR) scheduled to close in October 2024. It will also support PAT’s Pillar 3 “Rebuilding the State and improving governance”, particularly its “Priority Areas 3: Consolidating the development of human capital and national solidarity” in its specific objective SO 3.6: “Improving the living environment, access to drinking water, sanitation and quality energy services”. On the other hand, the project will also contribute to Priority Area 2 by supporting PAT’s Pillar 4: “Boosting promising sectors for the economy and employment” and its specific objective SO 4.1: “Sustainably developing a productive, resilient and more market-oriented agro-silvo-pastoral, wildlife and fisheries sector”. In addition, the project: (i) is in line with the Bank’s Ten-Year Strategy 2013-2022 which prioritises infrastructure development for the promotion of green and inclusive growth; (ii) contributes to two of the Bank’s High 5s, namely: “Improve the quality of life for the people of Africa” and “Feed Africa”; (iii) aligns with the Bank’s 2022-2026 Strategy for addressing fragility through the development of water and sanitation services; (iv) aligns with Pillars 1 and 2 of the Bank’s new Ten-Year Climate Change and Green Growth Strategic Framework; (v) is consistent with the Bank’s Water Strategy through its Strategic Pillar 2 “Sustainable and climate-resilient water supply, sanitation and hygiene (WASH)”; and (vi) is also in line with the Bank’s Gender Strategy through its Pillar 3 which promotes women’s access to basic social infrastructure services.

B. Sector and Institutional Context

3. The project will contribute to operationalising the National Water Strategy 2021-2025 (SNE 2021-2025), whose overall objective is to “provide sustainable access to water and sanitation for all in an environment hard hit by climate change and in compliance with integrated water resources management.” In Burkina Faso, the main achievements in terms of improving water supply to the population are reflected at national level by an access rate that rose from 73.4% in 2017 to 76.2% in 2021. The national access rate to sewage and excreta treatment rose from 21.6% in 2017 to 26.7% in 2021. In rural areas, these rates stood at 69.5% for drinking water and 21.0% for sanitation by the end of 2021. In urban areas, the drinking water and sanitation access rates were 92.2% and 40.4% respectively by the end of 2021. These rates reflect access disparities between urban and rural areas.

4. Due to insecurity in the project area, particularly the North, Centre-North and Sahel regions, there has been internal displacement of populations. The population displacements put more pressure on existing water points, which were already insufficient before the security crisis, creating tensions between communities and over water and land resources. This situation has increased the prevalence of water-borne diseases in the project area, resulting in increased health care costs for already poor households. For consistent management of these issues, the water and sanitation sub-sector has embarked on the operationalisation of the humanitarian- development-peace nexus approach to best reconcile emergency needs with service sustainability concerns.

5. The project will be implemented in synergy and complementarity with other ongoing or planned projects of the Bank and other donors targeting the same populations.

Source: African Development Bank