In Burkina Faso, UNCDF has partnered with the public and private sector in the area of financial inclusion. These partnerships have contributed to the development of the financial sector, including community finance, for women, youth and rural areas.

The Tour du Faso is a very popular cycling competition in Burkina Faso. This sports competition offers a platform to reach the masses of the country. UNCDF took this opportunity to raise awareness among vulnerable populations, including women and young people, of the opportunities offered by digital innovations. In partnership with the Ministry of Sports and Recreation through the Permanent Secretariat of the Tour du Faso, UNCDF took part in the 2019 Tour du Faso. During 10 days (from 25 October to 03 November 2019) on the roads of the Tour, UNCDF organized training activities for young entrepreneurs and awareness-raising workshops for the general public.

During the Tour, UNCDF communicated around 5 major themes of its interventions in Burkina Faso (Capitalization, key data and results, impacts):

• Economic empowerment of women and youth
• Renewable energy
• The SDGs
• Smart agriculture
• Non-wood forest products

In each region, the emphasis was placed on a theme related to UNCDF activities in that area. Digital and financial innovations are cross-cutting to all of these programs.

This activity concretizes UNCDF's support, in partnership with Luxembourg, to the Burkinabe government in achieving the SDGs through its National Economic and Social Development Plan (PNDES).

After building the capacity of entrepreneurs on digital opportunities, entrepreneurship the next challenge is supporting sustainable financing.

To learn more about UNCDF's activities during the tour of Burkina Faso follow this link to the report.