MEDIA DEVELOPMENT

Evaluation Report
Executive summary Burkina Faso
Empowering rural populations: Community radios andconflict-sensitive reporting

dw-akademie.com

Background
Burkina Faso, Mali and Niger are part of
the Sahel and are among the poorest countries in the world. According to the Human
Development Index (HDI 2020), the landlocked countries rank 182, 184 and 189 outof the 189 countries listed. With dynamic,
professional and diverse media, Burkina
Faso is one of Africa’s success stories. Yet,between 2019 and 2020, it dropped oneposition in the press freedom rankings ofReporters Without Borders, to 37, whileboth Mali and Niger improved their scores
over the same period (2020).
The past two years have seen a sharp
deterioration in the security situation acrossBurkina Faso’s northern and eastern regions (large parts of the East, Centre – North,North, Sahel and Boucle du Mouhoun
regions) due to the presence of non – statearmed groups — many with cross – borderties to extremist groups or movements inneighbouring Mali and Niger. The conflictand violence have led to the displacementof more than one million people in justtwo years and have left 3.5 million people
in need of assistance — an increase of 60
per cent between January 2020 to January
2021 (UNOCHA 2021).

The security situation makes it hard tocover anything taking place there, and thenational assembly passed an amendment
to the criminal code in 2019 that severely
penalizes “false information” and coverageof the security forces that “compromises
public order and the conduct of securityoperations.”
The project objectives of the three – year(2019-2021) country project in Burkina
Faso are:– Disadvantaged sections of the population in Burkina Faso, especially in ruralareas, have access to information that isrelevant to them and exercise their rightto freedom of expression.
– Media actors in Burkina Faso, Mali andNiger work together to promote understanding and conflict management.

The project consists of four components(two are national and two are regional inscope):

patory broadcasts on community radios.
Partners: La Voix du Paysan, Radio Vénégré,Radio Munyu and Radio Tin Tua.
1B) A youth organization is coached by
DW Akademie and provides Media andInformation Literacy (MIL) for multipliers
who, in turn, work with youth groups toraise awareness about radicalization. Partner: EducommunicAfrik.
2A) On a regional level, a network of journalists in Burkina Faso works with partner
associations in Mali and Niger on conflict-sensitive journalism. Partners: Réseau
d’Initiatives de Journalistes (RIJ), Réseau
des journalistes sensibles aux conflits (RéJSC) and Réseau SKBO.
2B) A pool of media professionals istrained in research, verification and digital
security and publishes systematically verified information on the Fasocheck platform. Partner: Centre National de Press
Norbert Zongo (CNP-NZ).

1A) Reinforce access to information andparticipation of rural populations by supporting the professionalization of partici-Conclusions of the project evaluation
As the project phase enters its final year,
this external evaluation seeks to gauge
impact, measure learning and provide input for future projects, as well as ensureaccountability to the BMZ, the project’sdonor. While all OECD/DAC criteria wereconsidered throughout the evaluation, theemphasis was on three: relevance, effectiveness and impact. Relevance is criticalin such a fluid environment, such as Burkina Faso, while effectiveness and impact
are key when considering short – and longer – term results. These three criteria arealso important when considering futureprojects. This impact and results – oriented
evaluation, which drew on a mix of methods, was participatory and qualitative andadopted an appreciative inquiry approach.
The methods and tools used included aliterature review, key informant interviews
and group chats via WhatsApp with representatives from media, civil society, andlocal communities.

and efforts to adapt to address new challenges, such as that of misinformation,caused by the pandemic and the precarious security situation.

It must be noted that the pandemic resulted in a number of changes to activities
which affected their implementation andin some cases also the coherence aspect of
the activities. For example, exchanges between the four community radio stations,a regular feature of the program since2014, had to be cancelled.

The weakest criterion was coherence.
There is significant potential here, bothwithin the project, by identifying and exploiting synergies between the project’scomponents and activities, and in a wider
context, by coordinating with efforts withinternational actors. In some cases, activities that would have resulted in further
coherence were impossible to implement
due to both the pandemic and the security situation which made planned travel
between the provinces impossible.

Based on OECD/DAC criteria for evaluating
development assistance, this intervention
was a success. The project was timely andrelevant, with innovative aspects anddemonstrated co – creation, sustainability

Despite the security situation and the pandemic, the project was highly effective
and has already implemented most of
the intended activities. It is likely that theremainder will be implemented by the endof the project.
The project was impactful and efficientand there was a substantial amountof output, particularly considering thelimitations due to the security situationand the pandemic. Indeed, most activities
have continued in a timely fashion.

DW Akademie

is Deutsche Welle’s center forinternational media development,journalism training and knowledgetransfer. Our projects strengthen thehuman right to freedom of expression
and unhindered access to information.
DW Akademie empowers people
worldwide to make independent
decisions based on reliable facts andconstructive dialogue. DW Akademie isa strategic partner of the German
Federal Ministry for Economic
Coopera­tion and Development. We
also receive funding from the Federal
Foreign Office and the European Union
and are active in approximately 60
developing countries and emerging
economies.

CONTAC T

Dr. Laura Moore
Head Research and Evaluation
laura.moore@dw.com
Berlin, Germany
DWAkademie@dw_akademie
DWAkademie
dw.com/newsletter-registration
dw.com/mediadev

The objective of the external evaluation is to provide a constructive assessment of the project results. It does not necessarily align with theperspective and planning of DW Akademie. Nevertheless, all findings were discussed in order to allow lessons learned to be incorporated into
the development of future strategies.