This synthesis report evaluates multilingual education (MLE) policies and practices across six West African countries (Burkina Faso, Mali, Niger, Senegal, Ghana, Nigeria). It highlights the development of policy frameworks, institutional strategies, and grassroots experiences related to the use of national languages in education. Although there is growing recognition of the benefits of using local languages for learning, implementation remains inconsistent and underfunded. The report identifies key challenges such as insufficient trained personnel, lack of teaching materials, and limited language standardization. It recommends policy harmonization, enhanced teacher training, stronger political advocacy, and sustainable financing. The study advocates for regional engagement and intersectoral coordination to support inclusive, quality, and culturally relevant education systems.

Education, Youth, Soicial sciences, Researh

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

The study “Civil Societies in the Sahel: A Reasoned Mapping” analyzes collective organizational forms across Mauritania, Mali, Niger, Burkina Faso, and Senegal. It highlights the diversity of civil society ecosystems rooted in postcolonial histories. These actors go beyond their technical role to challenge state governance and advocate for human rights and social services. The study calls on AFD to revise its support strategy for civil society organizations (CSOs) by emphasizing deeper contextual knowledge, social proximity, funding sustainability, and balanced accountability. It recommends more flexible and long-term funding, grounded in economic and social rights, to strengthen locally rooted capacities in a region facing multiple overlapping crises.

Politics, Social, Medias, Civil Society

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

This NATO StratCom COE report investigates the information environment in political and security crisis contexts in the Sahel Region, focusing mainly on Mali, Burkina Faso, and Niger, with relevance to Mauritania and Chad.Foreign information influence—particularly from China, France, and Russia—shapes narratives. Journalists face challenges related to financing, press freedom, and disinformation . The report recommends mapping media landscapes, enhancing monitoring of information campaigns, strengthening journalistic capacities, supporting independent local media, and promoting source transparency. These steps aim to provide reliable information during crises, counter manipulation, and support informed policymaking.

Security, Influence, Diplomacy, Infowar

The policy brief “Sahel: Why stabilization efforts should address internal displacement” (April 2023), authored by Ekaterina (Katia) Golovko at the Clingendael Institute, highlights the critical role of internally displaced persons (IDPs) in stabilization strategies across Mali, Burkina Faso, and Niger. Governments are promoting the return of IDPs to “stabilize” regions, yet without preparedness in host communities, this may trigger strain on public services, increase local tensions, and fuel community conflict. The brief recommends integrating displacement concerns into stabilization planning, strengthening local institutional capacity, supporting IDP economic inclusion, and improving coordination between humanitarian and state actors. It also stresses the need for sustainable funding of social services, monitoring the impact of returns on communal dynamics, and fostering an inclusive political framework to achieve lasting stabilization.

Migration, Crisis management, Violence, refugee

In this article, anthropologist Jean-Pierre Olivier de Sardan argues for a radical reform of national armies in the Sahel, in light of the failure of conventional military responses to jihadist insurgencies in Mali, Burkina Faso, and to a lesser extent, Niger. He criticizes the corruption, inefficiency, and disconnect of national armies, as well as the ineffectiveness of foreign interventions. The author calls for rebuilding armed forces that are protective, community-based, and respectful of human rights, able to establish “liberated zones.” He emphasizes the need to integrate military actions with development initiatives, state reconstruction, and local negotiations. Although imperfect, Niger stands as a potential example of progress. The core proposition lies in building public security with rural populations through a “people’s war” logic against jihadism.

State, Security, Terrorism, Military activity

This study presents an analytical mapping of research and knowledge production from 2012 to 2022 across six Sahelian countries. Based on 756 analyzed documents, it highlights dominant themes (security, governance, conflict mediation) and significant gaps (health, climate, youth, urban studies). It notes the overrepresentation of Mali, Burkina Faso, and Niger, and the underrepresentation of Chad, Mauritania, and Senegal. Interviews with Alliance Sahel members reveal a lack of coherent documentation strategy. The report recommends strengthening the PASAS platform through targeted monitoring, hyperlinking sources instead of requesting publication rights, and expanding thematic categories to enhance visibility and strategic value. It calls for closer collaboration between PASAS, FCDO, and USAID repositories.

Soicial sciences, Researh, Knowlege production

In “The silent threat: Kidnappings in Burkina Faso”, Flore Berger, a senior analyst at the Global Initiative Against Transnational Organized Crime, outlines the evolution of the kidnapping industry in Burkina Faso. Since 2017, 97% of kidnappings have targeted Burkinabé nationals rather than foreigners . Kidnapping incidents rose dramatically—from single digits in 2017 to over 260 in 2021—becoming a tool of war and social control used to intimidate, punish, and recruit, rather than primarily for ransom . The report is based on 35 field interviews across Burkina Faso and Mali. It illustrates how kidnappings targeting local officials and civilians undermine community cohesion and strengthen armed groups. The article calls for urgent recognition of this silent threat to integrate it into security responses and stabilization strategies across the region.

Security, Human Rights, Violence, Threat