DW Akademie in Burkina Faso

Following the collapse of the 27-year autocratic regime of Blaise Compaoré in 2015, a democratically elected government came to power with Roch Marc Kaboré at the helm. He and his government were then ousted in a military coup in January 2022. In a further coup eight months later, 34-year-old Captain Ibrahim Traoré became the country’s new president. Burkina Faso’s political environment has long been unstable and has become symbolic for the spread of terror in the Sahel region. Since 2015, some 20,000 people have died in terrorist attacks and approximately two million people have been internally displaced.

In terms of press freedom, Burkina Faso was long seen as an African success story. However, Reporters Without Borders’ 2024 World Press Freedom Index ranked Burkina Faso at 86 out of 180 countries, down 28 places from 2023. The tightening of the country’s penal code in June 2019 has put media professionals at risk, and those reporting on military operations can be sentenced for up to ten years in prison. The result has been self-censorship. Increased violence and political instability also poses serious challenges to information access.

Burkina Faso’s population lacks adequate access to verified, relevant and locally focused information and people are increasingly exposed to disinformation, especially through social media. Particularly rural women, young people and internally displaced persons are affected and they have few opportunities to make their voices heard. Extremist terrorist organizations have further aggrevated the situation, and neighboring Mali and Niger face similar challenges.

Our activities

DW Akademie’s projects enable vulnerable populations in Burkina Faso, Mali and Niger to have better access to verified relevant and local information, and to participate in social discourse. Given security issues in the region, these projects promote social cohesion and strengthen the resilience of disadvantaged populations to radical propaganda.

Download our most recent Evaluation Report for West Africa here.

Fasocheck, a project partner, trains media workers paricularly from community radio stations in Burkina Faso, Mali and Niger to verify and fact-check information.

Together with Réseau d'Initiatives de Journalistes (RIJ), DW Akademie develops innovative dialogue formats which focus especially on disadvantaged groups. The platform for conflict-sensitive journalism PaxSahel focuses on fact-checking and innovative dialogue formats, and distributes them regionally via networks in Mali and Niger.

To ensure these opportunities are used, the non-governmental organization EducommuniK develops modules targeted at specific groups for teaching Media and Information Literacy (MIL).

Funding: German Federal Ministry for Economic Cooperation and Development (BMZ)

Program Director: Friederike Müller-Jung

Locations: Ouagadougou, Ziniaré, Ouahigouya, Banfora, Fada N’Gourma

Local partners: La Voix du Paysan, Radio Vénégré, Radio Munyu, Radio Tin Tua, EducommuniK, Réseau d'Initiatives de Journalistes (RIJ, Ouagadougou), Résau des Journalistes Sensibles aux Conflits (Niamey, Niger), Réseau SKBo (Sikasso, Mali),

Focus: Social participation, qualification, participation of disadvantaged groups, (local) interactive media content and community media, conflict and the media/conflict-sensitive reporting,  journalistic professionalism and networks, Media and Information Literacy (MIL)