Report

Learning improved processing skills through a digital eCoach in Burkina Faso.

In Burkina Faso and the rest of the Sahel the exploitation and sale of Non-Timber Forest Products (NTFPs) provide significant income and food to vulnerable people in the rural and urban areas. An important NTFP in Burkina Faso is soumbala, a highly nutritious traditional West African seasoning.

A recent evaluation in Burkina Faso highlights the tangible impact of AUXFIN’s FinanceCoach application among smallholder farmers. The study, based on a survey with 258 G50 groups combined with in-depth interviews and field observations, examined the use, appreciation, and added value of FinanceCoach within the G50 groups.

The findings confirm that accessible, structured, and context-relevant digital financial education works.

500.000 Burundian households connected to digital solutions.

In Burundi, only 6% of the population uses the internet, ranking as the lowest internet penetration rate worldwide. AUXFIN is changing this number quickly by offering digital technologies to the rural population. In 2022 AUXFIN Burundi has succeeded in reaching half a million people on a regular basis with digital solutions that contribute to their development.

Today we submitted the final report for the GAP4ALL project to NSO. The AgriCoach has been installed for 8.142 G50 groups consisting of more than 400.000 households reaching approximately 2,3 million people at 31-12-2021. In the next 2 years another 300.000 households will be added to the network. This year we will launch the AgriCoach in Sudan and looking for opportunities in Uganda, Rwanda, DRC and Burkina Faso.

Our Monitoring & Evaluation team published a report that describes the status and impact of AUXFIN services in the G50 in Gitega, Kayanza and Karusi up to May 2021. As of now, AUXFIN counts 4,326 G50s in those three provinces with 264,813 registered members. It is a detailed report that defines the G50s based on AUXFIN’s pillars: Social, Financial, Work & Income and Health.

In March 2021 a total of 12 G50 groups were interviewed mission to evaluate the G50 groups of AUXFIN Burundi. This report presents the written interviews and photos from this field mission.

A total of three case studies have been conducted to evaluation the AgriCoach as part of the GAP4All project. The case studies investigate in detail the use, appreciation and impact of the AgriCoach in the G50 groups. Each study builds on previous learnings while at the same time the AgriCoach app developed, so each study tested new features.

World Meteorological Day takes place every year on 23th March. Please read the blog post of the Netherlands Space Office describing how our smallholders in Burundi are contributing to the necessary ground truth data to validate the ECMWF weather forecast.