Resource information
Burkina Faso's Poverty Reduction
Strategies (PRS) of the 2000s, which were implemented as
annually rolled-over Priority Action Programs, focused on
four pillars: a) accelerating broad based growth; b)
expanding access to social services for the poor; c)
increasing employment and income-generating activities for
the poor; and d) promoting good governance. Increased public
expenditure and targeted social service provision also led
to improved access to basic services. In the area of
education, progress has been made in terms of school
infrastructure. Over the period of 2003-2008, substantial
expansion (around 40 percent) of both the number of schools
and the number of classrooms was achieved. Controlling and
treating epidemic diseases also had good results, thanks to
prevention and public awareness efforts and improved
hygiene. Meanwhile, the country has been through several
exogenous shocks and crises likely to have affected the
pattern of poverty outcomes. In the past two decades,
Burkina Faso's income per capita growth has been
positive and less volatile relative to the past. Recent
growth trends appear to be anchored by a general recovery in
the primary sector. Household consumption was just as
volatile as income per capita in the 1980s, but recovered
substantially after the country gained competitiveness in
the latter half of the 1990s following devaluation. However,
since then, consumption has exhibited much more volatility
than output. Finally, most the social indicators show an
improvement in Burkina Faso since the early 1980s. Burkina
Faso has kept pace with the overall positive trends observed
in Sub-Saharan Africa and low income countries.
