May 29, 2019 | Ouagadougou, Burkina Faso
A team of local PEP researchers held a national conference to discuss their findings on how agricultural subsidies in Burkina Faso can be used to encourage economic growth and reduce gender inequalities.
May 29, 2019 – A team of local PEP researchers held a national conference in Ouagadougou, Burkina Faso, to discuss their findings on how agricultural subsidies in Burkina Faso can be used to encourage economic growth and reduce gender inequalities.
Almost 60 stakeholders, including representatives of the Prime Minister and several ministries, attended the conference where the research team presented the findings and policy recommendations from their study on Women's Agricultural Subsidies and Gender Inequalities in Burkina Faso, selected under the PAGE II initiative in 2017.
The team leader, Dr. Patrice Zidouemba, explained how providing agricultural capital subsidies to men and women, but with women receiving greater subsidies, can increase GDP and revenue, decrease unemployment, and help address gender inequalities. The researchers also found using public development aid funds would be the most advantageous way to finance the subsidy, in that the economic growth generated would more than pay for the subsidy. Find out more about the team’s research methods, findings, and policy recommendations in PEP Policy Brief 194 (in French).
Main outcomes
A number of stakeholders commented the team’s findings and recommendations, in particular representatives of various departments within the Ministry of Women, National Solidarity, Family and Humanitarian Action (MFSNFAH - Ministère de la femme, de la solidarité nationale, de la famille et de l'action humanitaire) and within the Ministry of Agriculture and Hydro-agricultural Installations (MAAH - Ministère de l’agriculture et des aménagements hydro-agricoles).
Jean-Baptiste Koadima, representing the MAAHA, stated that the policy recommendations would inform changes the current subsidy program to make sure that it benefits women.
Additionally, the secretary general for the MFSNFAH greeted the team’s findings enthusiastically and promised both to share the findings with the Minister and arrange a meeting between the Minister and the research team. The team arranged to meet a number of other stakeholders following the conference for more in-depth discussions that were not possible during the event.
Going beyond the national influence of the conference, Barbara Ky, the Director of Gender at the West African Economic and Monetary Union (UEMOA) pledged to advocate to the authorities of the eight member countries for similar measures to be considered.
Journalists from Radio Télévision du Burkina (RTB), the national broadcaster, and the Internet news provider LeFaso.net reported from the conference, bringing the team’s findings to a wider audience. Watch the RTB broadcast and read the LeFaso report online (in French). Video of the conference is also available to watch on YouTube.
The conference was held at the Institut supérieur des sciences de la population at the Université Ouaga I.The research team organized the event with support from PEP and in collaboration with the Laboratoire d'Analyse et de Politique Économiques (LAPE) and the Centre d’Etudes, de Documentation et de Recherche économiques et sociales (CEDRES) at the Université Ouaga II.