Towards a Platform for Development: Bringing Together Pastoralists and Agro-Pastoralists in the Kishi Beiga Area

This is a case study of the Burkina Sahel Program in Burkina Faso, West Africa, and the project “Village Lands and Natural Resources Management through Self-Development” developed in the Kishi Beiga area in particular. This project (PSB-GTZ), initiated in 1991, was implemented in a limited pilot area using the village lands management approach. Following an initial failure, the project revised its approach and operating strategy in favor of an interactive process of communication with all groups and neighborhoods and developing local potential for consultation among different groups. Using the area’s traditional organizational structure to regulate access to resources on a seasonal basis, the project facilitated the creation of a Consultative Unit linking different groups (agro-pastoralists and pastoralists). This provided the project official recognition and established improved channels of communication between the project implementors, other technical and financial partners active in the area and the local people. It provided a platform of expression, thereby successfully resolving latent conflicts between different groups. At the same time an inter-active approach for self-evaluation of the unit allowed the project to move forward and achieve a level of vitality and thereby enhance long-term sustainability of the institution.