This qualitative study, conducted in Burkina Faso (Sep–Nov 2022), gathers the voices of 202 youths (aged 10–17, displaced or not) across 31 focus groups in six regions. The youths prioritize basic needs—food, water, clothing, healthcare, bicycles or mobility aids for disabled youths. Education is deemed critical for their future, despite school violence. Adolescents wish to contribute to family income and favor practical training (sewing, livestock). Leisure is a luxury and security a necessity. They feel excluded, ignored in aid targeting, poorly informed about humanitarian actors, and report distribution sites as unsafe and undignified. The report recommends strengthening youth participation: inform and involve youths in planning, ensure fair targeting, improve safety and dignity at distribution sites, and tailor assistance to their specific needs.

Inequality, Youth, Vulnerability

This International Rescue Committee (IRC) report, published on June 5, 2023, examines a compound crisis in the Central Sahel (Mali, Burkina Faso, Niger), where climate change and armed conflict are creating unprecedented humanitarian needs . It highlights the historical political and economic marginalization of peripheral regions, which makes communities more vulnerable to drought, malnutrition, and displacement . The report calls for: 1) enhanced humanitarian access, with focus on women and girls; 2) breaking the climate–conflict feedback loop; and 3) funding climate adaptation initiatives suited to the Central Sahel’s context .

Climate change, Food security, Poverty, Human security