A significant milestone has been reached in Burkina Faso’s transition to an inclusive green economy. Last month, the government’s draft National Strategy for Green Economy was validated by national stakeholder groups. The validation workshop took place as part of SWITCH Africa Green’s National Policy Dialogue on the 27th of July 2018 in Ouagadougou, Burkina Faso. The workshop brought together representatives from different government institutions and provided them with the opportunity to review the strategy and validate its action plan.
Burkina Faso joined PAGE in 2014, and, since then, PAGE has been supporting the development of the National Green Economy Strategy. The strategy serves as the backbone of the country’s transition to a green economy and will contribute to Burkina Faso’s National Plan for Economic and Social Development (PNDES 2016-2020). Several macroeconomic and sectoral assessments were conducted to inform this Strategy, including the Green Economy Assessment, which identifies sectors for green investments.
The strategy highlights several main axes of operation including action on green jobs, sustainable consumption and production, sustainable trade, green finance, combating climate change, and national capacity building on green economy.
PAGE has been supporting the process of elaborating and validating this strategy in a number of different ways:
- Conducting research and analysis on the macroeconomic and development context in Burkina Faso, and using this information to provide guidance on low-hanging fruits and areas and sectors with the most potential to deliver economic growth, green jobs, environmental protection, and social inclusion;
- Providing expert feedback on strategy drafts, in consultation with local experts, business leaders, community leaders, academics and civil-society organizations;
- Conducting workshops to improve the capacities of stakeholders to take advantage of upcoming green economy opportunities, and to build in sustainability to existing economic practices.
The draft National Strategy for Green Economy will now move through the process for official adoption.