Since 2020, Search has been part of a consortium of four NGOs implementing the “Human Rights and Access to Justice in Burkina Faso” project funded by the United States Agency for International Development (USAID) for a period of 3 years.
The aim of the project is to strengthen the State’s capacity to deal with human rights violations and access to justice for the victims of such violations, in a context of State fragility. Within this consortium, Search carries out periodic conflict scans to monitor the context and ensure conflict sensitivity in order to ensure the smooth implementation of this project. The last conflict scan was carried out in the region in February 2023.
This conflict scan, carried out in the Eastern regions in February 2023, produced key results revealing the risks associated with the implementation of the programme’s activities in 2023. These include:
• Access risks for certain villages, as the access roads to some localities are mined by IEDs;
• The infiltration of GEVs during community awareness and training activities;
• the risk of exposure of victims of human rights violations.
Several recommendations were made to ensure conflict sensitivity and Do No Harm in the implementation of the remaining programme activities. These include:
• Informing the local authorities in advance about the conduct of the various field missions;
• Building the capacity of field workers in human rights and conflict-sensitive communication.
