Resource

Understanding Household Resilience of the Poor in Burkina Faso

This interim report explores how households in rural Burkina Faso manage economic, environmental and health shocks and what roles formal, non-formal, and informal financial products play in improving household resilience.

Freedom from Hunger, with support from the Consultative Group to Assist the Poor (CGAP) Clients at the Center Financial Inclusion Research Fund, is exploring how households in rural Burkina Faso manage economic, environmental and health shocks and what roles formal, nonformal and informal financial products play in improving household resilience. With a focus on resilience, the research agenda includes formative research, economic games, and a series of surveys called “resilience diaries” that examine the resilience of households over a seven-month period. This interim research report summarizes research findings to date. Early findings show that financial products and services can and should play a role in helping these women and their households build resilience, but therein lies a challenge to find even better solutions to meet the needs of their complex lives.