The Director of UNESCO’s Regional Office in Dakar, Ann Therese Ndong-Jatta praised the interest that the Government of Burkina Faso, the National Commission of Burkina Faso for UNESCO, religious authorities, traditional leaders, as well as NGOs and local associations are taking in advocating for the inclusion of these excluded women living in the Delwende centers located in the neighborhoods of Tanghin and of Paspanga in Ouagadougou.

Following the success of the launching ceremony of the project, this call for inclusion provides hope. “The Republic’s institutions have been ensured and the Government of Burkina Faso honoured its commitments despite the recent political instability”, said the Director of UNESCO Dakar. “The important number of high-level officials mobilized is also a factor that will favor the achievement of the rehabilitation process for these women victim of social exclusion,” added Marèma Touré Thiam, Programme Specialist in Social and Human Sciences at UNESCO Dakar.

The context of the project

The project follows the assessment of the level of inclusiveness, including gender in public policies in Burkina Faso, carried out in 2013. Burkina Faso benefits from the technical expertise that UNESCO developed in its interdisciplinary program for the Management of Social Transformation (MOST).

The advocacy event is part of UNESCO Dakar’s project: «Mainstreaming vulnerability in public policies to promote the social inclusion and the fight against poverty and discrimination of the most disadvantaged groups, including women and men with disabilities, in West Africa».