In Burkina Faso, the disability movement is rather weak, both in terms of funding and staffing – its range does not extend far outside the capital city and is largely dependent on international non-governmental organisations (INGOs). Despite the huge number of grassroots disabled people’s organisations (DPOs), many of these organisations do not function beyond the occasional meeting and celebration of the International Day of Persons with Disabilities. The reasons for this are various, including dependency on external funding (such as from international organisations), lack of access to resources, being dependent on voluntary members, and lack of organisation.
This article looks at the functioning of – and politics governing – DPOs in Burkina Faso, their significance in the lives of people with disabilities and the challenges they encounter.
This article is based on research findings obtained through interviews conducted with people with disabilities, as well as INGOs working with people with disabilities and state authorities in Burkina Faso.
Evidence suggests that the farther people with disabilities are from the capital, the lesser are their chances of being heard and of being involved in decision-making. However, DPOs offer a haven for many, offering people with disabilities solace in meeting other members and finding a sense of belonging in these associations. Others give importance to the role of DPOs in raising awareness and human rights advocacy.
Finally, the article raises the question as to what the future of DPOs in Burkina Faso might entail.
Burkina Faso; disability identity; disability movement; disabled people’s organisations; income-generating activities; international non-governmental organisations; socialisation;
The importance of collective power and self-organisation has been demonstrated through the achievements of the disability movement in western contexts, and has been documented by disability scholars (e.g. Oliver
In what follows, I examine the grassroots level of the disability ‘movement’ in Burkina Faso, the different attitudes of people with disabilities towards DPOs and what motivates them to create and join DPOs, and what makes these DPOs work or otherwise. The article also looks at the role that DPOs play in the lives of people with disabilities and the challenges these DPOs are facing today.
Burkina Faso, located in West Africa, is rated as a low-income country by the World Bank (
Burkina Faso has 13 regions and 45 provinces. The regions are headed by a governor, while the provinces are headed by a high commissioner (Mahieu & Yilmaz
Issues of disability and development in Burkina Faso have so far been under-researched. Statistical information on people with disabilities in Burkina Faso is hard to come by (Handicap International
With regard to the figure of 1.2% of people with disabilities, one must note that these figures fall short of the reality on the ground. This could be due to the lack of knowledge on the notion of disability by the researchers, or the unfavourable social representations linked to disability, which often result in people not wanting to declare a disabled relative. There is the tendency to hide them.
Furthermore, the Swedish development cooperation (Sida
This article is based on research conducted with adults with disabilities in Burkina Faso from June 2014 to June 2015. Over 300 interviews (see
Interviews held in Burkina Faso.
Entity | Region | No. of interviews | Total no. of interviews |
---|---|---|---|
Individual people with disabilities | Est | 47 | 228 |
Centre | 30 | ||
Plateau-Central | 4 | ||
Cascades | 146 | ||
Hauts-Bassins | 1 | ||
DPOs | Est | 10 | 65 |
Centre | 33 | ||
Plateau-Central | 1 | ||
Cascades | 17 | ||
Hauts-Bassins | 4 | ||
Umbrella DPOs | Centre | 9 | 9 |
INGO field offices | Centre | 8 | 10 |
Cascades | 1 | ||
Email Exchange | 1 | ||
Authorities | Centre | 3 | 15 |
Cascades | 12 |
Note: Total number if interviews = 327.
DPOs, disabled people’s organisations; INGO, international non-governmental organisation.
The majority of interviews were conducted in three regions: the Centre region (the central region that consists mostly of the capital city, Ouagadougou), the Est region (the Eastern region) and the Cascades region (the South-westernmost region). These three regions were chosen as being the farthermost regions of the country from East to West, and covered the southern, western, central and eastern regions of Burkina Faso. Furthermore, the Est and Cascades regions provide a contrast to the urban capital as well as an urban–rural contrast within themselves, while the Centre region was also included because of its high density of DPOs.
Statistics on the exact number of DPOs in Burkina Faso are scarce. Handicap International (HI
In urban areas such as Ouagadougou and Bobo-Dioulasso (the second largest city), the DPOs are more varied. There are DPOs whose membership is limited to people with specific disabilities, or women with disabilities. There are others that are more like cooperatives, such as an organisation of artisans with disabilities coming together to produce and sell. Many grassroots DPOs, especially in Ouagadougou, were created more as profit-making organisations, or at least with the aim of generating profit. In the larger urban areas, one also finds DPOs that have schools for children with disabilities (and sometimes without disabilities), as well as a few organisations (generally of parents) of children with specific intellectual disabilities, such as autism. Another category of DPOs – which for clarity’s sake will be referred to here as umbrella DPOs – comprise grassroots DPOs, usually ones pertaining to the same disability, gender or activity. For example, an umbrella DPO might be made up of grassroots DPOs of people with visual disabilities, of sports DPOs or of DPOs of women with disabilities. These umbrella DPOs, generally based in Ouagadougou, are also members of the national federations of DPOs. This grouping of small DPOs into larger umbrella DPOs is favoured by INGOs who intervene in the disability domain in Burkina Faso. For example, the International Programmes Director of an INGO
‘will want to focus in one area…. They will not want to fund a physical disability organisation here, a visually impaired organisation here, an auditory impaired… and they will want to focus it in one place that can cover all.’
This ‘decentralisation’ of DPO structures has its positive aspects in that there are grassroots DPOs at municipal level, comprising people with disabilities from the villages of that municipality. Nonetheless, it also keeps the same people with disabilities from rural areas at bay, because there are usually DPOs at higher ‘levels’ representing them. Thus, when, for instance, the FEBAH calls people with disabilities for a meeting in Ouagadougou, it would generally be the leaders of the regional coordinations who attend. People with disabilities from the farthest rural areas are rarely involved in national events. As can be expected, DPOs in urban areas, especially those in Ouagadougou, have more access to resources (mainly INGO funding) and opportunities (such as training). They are also the primary beneficiaries of government donations such as wheelchairs and three-wheel motorcycles. Rural DPOs generally encounter difficulties in all aspects of organisation functioning, including: bringing together members from far flung villages, having low numbers of literate members, having less or no money for functioning and possessing no building where to meet. In both urban and rural areas, however, there are a great number of non-functioning DPOs. There are several reasons for this, including the fact that, as will be discussed further on, most DPOs are made up of members working on a voluntary basis and thus have other – more immediate – priorities in their lives.
Another significant factor is that many members join DPOs to benefit from aid. In their 2002 annual review, Action on Disability and Development (ADD) reported that memberships of DPOs in Burkina Faso increased by 21% in that year (Albrecht
Becker (
When the individual is continually reminded of his or her variance from others this increases the level of stress…. Stress can best be minimized by playing down the overt differences of the disability and thus its importance. Among a tightly knit reference group… the problems of coping with the disability are forgotten or dealt with by joking. (Becker
While in this example, Becker is describing a deaf community, her comments are applicable to groupings of people with other types of disability, as well as to the Burkinabe context and the question of the usefulness of DPOs to their members. At the Centre of people with disabilities in Ouagadougou, people with physical disabilities meet up to work, socialise, eat and drink. People with disabilities joke with each other, calling each other ‘hey you, disabled’ and making jokes that they contaminated each other with disability, or that they wanted to become disabled like each other. Disabled people’s organisations are a source of identification and socialisation for many people with disabilities, thus also serving as a haven and offering a sense of solidarity:
‘The DPO was created in [
From a study she conducted in North America, Becker (
defined by the larger society as afflicted, have created a small society that has had an influence throughout life on… their disability…. Individuals in this specially created society have used group membership to achieve a nonstigmatized personal identity and normalized social relationships.
Similarly, in Burkina Faso, the research participants talk of how they find solidarity in DPOs and the comfort of knowing that there are other people who, like them, have a disability and who go through similar experiences. Some go as far as to say that they do not feel disabled when they are among other people with disabilities, as the following reveals:
‘[
‘[
In Burkina Faso, where there are people with disabilities who did not know that there are other people with disabilities like them before they joined a DPO, the sense of identity emerging from belonging to a group of people with disabilities takes on an accentuated significance:
‘When I arrived [
The importance of these smaller ‘created societies’ in the life and identity of a person with disability is further demonstrated by Murphy et al.’s (
In a way, the physically handicapped have to be ‘resocialized’…. And the school or hospital environments may become so comfortably familiar that they are preferred to home.
However, people with disabilities in Burkina Faso who are adults today rarely had the opportunity to go to schools where they could mingle with other children with disabilities, if they went to school at all. Disabled people’s organisations therefore replace these ‘socialisation’ institutions:
‘I have been coming to the Centre [
In these examples, DPOs become a microcosm of society where people with disabilities experience a non-stigmatised identity and socialise with people with similar (or other) disabilities.
Disabled people’s organisations can also be a source of awareness raising and advice:
‘Thanks to the organisation… [
Furthermore, DPOs have the potential to ‘represent… the space where subaltern, hitherto inaudible and unarticulated views can be expressed’ (Tandon
‘When we come to the university here… I think… it’s almost a duty… to take part and participate… in the organisation… to campaign in the organisation…. It’s better to find oneself in a community, in a group: like that we can campaign together and it gives us more strength; we can claim our rights.… As we say, there is strength in unity…. Moreover, here we have practically the same realities… the same problems, so why not unite ourselves…?’ (Interview with Aboubacar, man with visual disability, age 26)
Nonetheless, as mentioned previously, despite the multitude of DPOs in Burkina Faso, fully-fledged organisations that play a role in advocacy, lobbying or awareness-raising are few and far between.
One reason for the lack of a cohesive and strong disability movement is that the majority of DPOs are voluntary organisations; thus, the members evidently give priority to their personal income-generating activities
‘Before, every twenty-one days [
The major reason for the lack of DPO functioning, however, is explained in the following excerpt:
‘What do you think is needed in Burkina so that the disabled person is able to integrate in society?’
‘There needs to be a change in mentality.’
‘But how? Who is going to change the mentality?’
‘The organisations of disabled people…’
‘Do you think that these organisations are… attaining their goals?’
‘Well, attaining their goals is a bit complicated, because… it’s the start of a beginning… and, moreover… the organisations have not understood why one creates an organisation: they [do] not have the organisational spirit.’
(Interview with Joseph, man with physical disability, age 55)
The ‘organisational spirit’, or
‘No one has “nothing”. You have to give something in order to receive. If someone gives all the time, he will get tired, but if it’s dynamic, the relationship won’t end… everyone has something to give.’
A similar observation is made by an INGO national director:
‘Even to gather for a General Assembly, they [
The director’s comments also relate to how DPOs fall into the tendency of depending on external partners for funds, rather than attempting to generate funds internally. This observation touches upon the argument made by Kajimbwa (
‘People have associated the organisation with money…. [
The high commissioner is talking of the large number of grassroots organisations (including DPOs) that are created for the sole aim of receiving aid or to access funding in general, a point that is reiterated by the president of a DPO:
‘[
Joining a DPO for economic reasons is not necessarily negative:
‘Are you a member of a disabled people’s organisation?’
‘Yes…’
‘Which one?’
‘… [the] national federation of artisans… of disabled people…’
‘And why did you become member of this organisation?’
‘Because… since I do hairdressing… I am an artisan too. So, I am a part [of it] because… when you work alone it’s not good, but when you are in a group, it’s better… for example, if there is a call for products or services… and if you can do it, they give you the work.’
(Interview with Florence, physically disabled woman, age 37)
However, Florence already has her own income-generating activity, and only joined the organisation to strengthen her work, rather than to simply access funds. Furthermore, she later specifies: ‘each one of us works separately’ (Interview with Florence, physically disabled woman, age 37), a statement that captures one of the challenges that DPOs encounter, that is, that many of the participants in this research prefer to work on their own. Conversely, INGOs generally do not work with individuals, but with organisations, leading to the creation of numerous DPOs whose sole existence is to access external partners’ financial aid and support:
‘What was the reason for which you created the organisation?’
‘… The reason for which I created the organisation: … I approached many people who told me “If you have an organisation, we can help you; but if you are on your own, we cannot help you”.’
‘Who said this?’
‘… [
(Interview with Jean, man with visual disability, age 55)
The expectation for INGOs to work with DPOs seems to be present from the perspective of both DPOs
‘I think that for DPOs, there must be… unity… cohesion, because when we have an organisation that groups together all the DPOs… it’s even stronger:… when… there is one structure that coordinates all this, it gives them strength…. Even with the partners, when [
Rather than uniting DPOs, however, the expectation of being funded by INGOs seems to have given rise to the
This ‘awaiting aid’ phenomenon then creates problems of functioning, as a regional DPO coordinator remarks:
‘There isn’t anyone who has taken the initiative to create [
The idea of joining or creating a DPO to attract funds subsequently leads to members becoming discouraged over time. Numerous DPOs comment on the fact that meetings are no longer held because of the fact that the members feel that they are not gaining anything. This is further compounded if the DPO has already worked with an INGO in the past and thus enjoyed financial support for its activities. The loss of these benefits is felt more acutely by the members, who then refuse to attend meetings if there is no financial support:
‘With the partners [
(Interview with a regional DPO coordinator)
Interventions by INGOs have conditioned many people with disabilities in Burkina Faso into expecting certain standards that are not possible after the INGO terminates its collaboration, mostly because DPOs do not possess as much financial capacity as INGOs. Many DPOs then cease to function when INGOs terminate their funding and collaboration. The phenomenon of grassroots organisations disintegrating once external support ends is not specific to disability. Atampugre (
the extent to which groups quickly form in order to take advantage of opportunities in their external environment, disintegrating as soon as that objective has been met. It shows too that credit or financial support does not necessarily facilitate organisational development. On the contrary, it can undermine the ability of rural communities to organise in order to solve their own problems.
Dependency on external funding thus leads to the inactivity displayed by many DPOs in the interviews conducted for this research, as exemplified by the following DPOs:
‘When we had the money, we went to the villages to raise awareness among the population, for example… the traditional chiefs, the religious chiefs, civil servants… so they support disabled people everywhere…’
‘When you say “when we had the money”, what does that mean? …’
‘[
‘And now you don’t have the financing of [
‘No.’
‘So how do you do the awareness raising now?’
‘At present we have almost stopped the plan, because we have nothing with which to travel. Today, it’s the money that counts: if you don’t have the money… to travel with a bicycle it’s complicated; if you have a motorbike, you can put petrol, if you have money; but if you have nothing, what will you do? Without money…’
(Interview with a DPO president and general secretary)
‘At that time, apart from the different quarterly meetings… there was nothing that disabled people did to promote… their autonomy. We were quite idle and… were waiting for [
(Interview with a DPO president)
Today, the DPO which the latter president is talking about is once again doing nothing, after a period of intervention by two INGOs. The dependency of DPOs is thus clearly problematic for the long-term sustainability of disability activism and advocacy in Burkina Faso.
Apart from the lack of knowledge of organisational functioning, and the related notion of creating and joining a DPO as a means of accessing aid, there is the related problem of misappropriation of funds, which is also a nationwide issue. In the context of DPOs, the high commissioner of a province observes that when the organisation
‘If you have a tree and keep cutting its branches, the trunk, you will end up with nothing. Even the roots will die.’ (Interview with province high commissioner)
The misappropriation of funds is a problem that pervades many DPOs in Burkina Faso. The point is also made by an INGO national director:
‘They are always waiting… they come to see an INGO, saying “this is our plan of action, we want to do this”. But when they are financed… the problem of governance proves to be a problem: often, we don’t know how the funds were spent.’
This is one of the major reasons that have led many people with disabilities, especially in urban areas, to become disillusioned with collective organisation through DPOs:
‘Are you a member of a DPO?’
‘No.’
‘And why not?’
‘… I was, before. But I left.’
‘Why? …’
‘… things weren’t going well, [and] I resigned.’
‘Why? …’
‘Things weren’t transparent… there… I prefer staying in my workshop.’
(Interview with Christian, man with physical disability, age 38)
The issue of misappropriation of funds (together with organisational functioning and the reasons underlying DPO creation) is also tightly linked with leadership, and the (lack of) transparency issues that Christian mentions. Underlying these structural drawbacks are the general hurdles encountered by people with disabilities in Burkina Faso, one of the major difficulties being the lack of education. The lack of access to schooling for many people with disabilities when they were young resulted in many adults today lacking the writing and reading skills necessary to lead and manage an organisation. This absence is felt more strongly when the DPO is working with INGOs, who often require reports and other written material (Mawdsley et al.
Fatou and the two disabled people’s organisations.
This evening, Fatou came to the Centre of people with disabilities to talk to me…. She was telling me how Carole, the supposed president of the disabled women’s organisation, has the key to the office where the material for making soap and soumbala is. Carole doesn’t come to the Centre anymore, and so the women cannot work. Fatou says that the women used to come to work but when they used to sell the soap they did not see the profits, they did not know where the money had gone! So they gave up and don’t come here to work anymore.
Fatou also says that she was not informed of the physically disabled people’s DPO meeting a couple of weeks ago, nor that it has been postponed to this Friday. Last time, the meeting was cancelled because Hamidou didn’t show up. (Hamidou was elected president in the last election; but on paper it still shows that Sayouba, the previous president, is president. Hamidou, who was president before Sayouba, is now president again. Rumour has it that he is avoiding coming to the meetings so that they will not renew the Executive Committee and change his position.) I asked Fatou why they keep electing Hamidou and she replies ‘Who is there to elect apart from him? Inoussa is busy with the workshop…’. I ask why not her. She says that Hamidou would make trouble for her if she proposes herself.
Note: Information derived from author’s field notes.
Fatou’s observations on the organisation of women with disabilities highlight not only the mismanagement of the same DPO and its funds, but also the fact that the president, Carole, has absolute power over what happens. They also explain why DPO members give up on being active in the organisation when funds are misappropriated, especially when it involves an income-generating activity from which the members should be profiting financially. Fatou’s observations also illustrate the leadership problems of another organisation of which she is a member: an organisation of people with physical disabilities, whose current president avoids the Executive Committee elections so that he remains president for as long as possible. Hamidou, the current president, was also the president two terms previously. Furthermore, should Fatou put herself forward as a candidate for president, the incumbent would make life difficult for her. There are not many other candidates who are eligible, that is, who possess the required level of education. Inoussa, whom Fatou mentions, is an educated member and possible candidate, but he is busy with other commitments (working in the metal workshop [which belongs to the DPO itself], preferring to dedicate his time to an income-generating activity). Finally, Fatou is not aware of the DPO meetings taking place, suggesting a lack of communication and information-relaying between DPO members. Similarly, Roland, a man with physical disability, says that he was not aware that the person accompanying us
‘[
The fact that many DPOs are led by the same people, electoral term after electoral term, and that elections are often not held, is also highlighted by INGOs:
‘There are always the same people at the head: there are no general assemblies.’ (Interview with an INGO national director)
Another noteworthy factor playing a role in DPO politics in Burkina Faso is related to gender. While Fatou is a member of both the women’s and the people with physical disabilities’ organisations in the small town where she lives, in more urbanised centres like Ouagadougou, the fact that most DPO presidents are male has led some women to break away and create DPOs of their own. Abigael, the president of a disabled women’s organisation in Ouagadougou, says that the organisation’s members used to form part of a larger organisation, but, as ‘women come second to men’, they decided to branch out and form their own DPO. Binta, the president of another women’s DPO in Ouagadougou, relates a similar story:
‘At first, we had a mixed organisation… [
When asked to elaborate about the problems faced by women with disabilities, and how they differ to men’s problems, Binta continues:
‘Already, in our families, there are barriers between us, because, firstly, you have to sensitise the family… if you are accepted, it’s already something. If you are not accepted, this is already a problem. So, together, we have to reflect on all this. And then, we have children. And children are problems: a child always has a father, but… everything falls on the mother. So she has to seek work to… meet her child’s needs.’
Furthermore, as the government gives more importance to women’s issues than to disability issues, women with disabilities have also felt the need to create women’s DPOs (even if, like Fatou, they are still members of other DPOs), in order to be more visible. The ex-president of a women’s DPO explains:
‘[
Gender concerns are not the only reason people branch out into new DPOs. Rather than coming together into a united disability movement, people with disabilities seem to be separating and following their own paths. Adama recounts:
‘[
Thus, despite all the hurdles discussed thus far, DPOs continue to proliferate. Nonetheless, the DPOs run by Binta, Abigael and Adama are based in Ouagadougou, with relatively good access to resources to create and sustain an organisation. Women (like people with disabilities in general) who live in the capital generally also have a higher level of education and more opportunities to branch out on their own. Furthermore, the constant mushrooming and branching out of DPOs seems to be more of an urban phenomenon than a rural one. In rural areas, people with disabilities seem to be at an earlier stage of self-organising, which also means that they are more marginalised in terms of being able to access support and assistance, or to articulate their needs. This can be seen, for example, in two rural municipalities in different provinces (see
Creation of a rural disabled people’s organisation 1.
Upon arrival in the village, a guy who… is the brother of a disabled person came to meet us and brought us to a place under the mango trees where about 13 people are gathered…. Apparently they don’t really have a DPO in place but… they have been trying to put one in place.
Note: Information derived from author’s field notes.
DPO, disabled people’s organisation
Creation of a rural disabled people’s organisation 2.
Just arrived in the village…. [
Note: Information derived from author’s field notes.
DPO, disabled people’s organisation.
An additional problem for DPOs is that umbrella organisations, which face similar leadership, functioning and dependency obstacles as the smaller DPOs, do not provide sufficient support to enable DPO mobilisation. At an umbrella DPO level, there is also the phenomenon of multiple leadership posts, that is, one person being the president of three different umbrella DPOs, as was the case at the time the fieldwork was being carried out. Meanwhile, the national federation of DPOs is riven by politics:
‘Can we speak of… a disabled people’s movement in Burkina?’
‘It exists, but it functions very weakly…’
‘When you say it exists, it’s who?’
‘It’s the two structures: ReNOH and FEBAH…but their actions are not translated on the ground…. The difficulty is the weak engagement of DPOs: they have a very weak engagement concerning the implementation of their rights… not to speak of the synergy… between the two organisations…. Having two federations… does this help us? I don’t think so.’
(Interview with Joseph, physically disabled man, age 55)
Joseph speaks of the two national federations of DPOs. The original federation was split into two (FEBAH and ReNOH), following disagreements. According to Joseph, there now needs to be a confederation to join these two federations and bring some unity to the disability movement. The problem, once again, is a problem of leadership:
‘It’s a problem of leadership: with white people, things are clear: you have done your mandate, you leave your place… [
‘I cannot say that the DPOs work well…. You know that usually DPOs have a problem of leadership…. Besides the leadership problem, there is also… the notion of organisation per se: it’s not yet well perceived, because they always put forth the problem of means, of lack of means…. Even when you look at DPOs which are well structured, there are always difficulties…. When you take the case of FEBAH, you see how it went: there is ReNOH, you have two federations…. They themselves don’t foster… cohesion…, because it’s always problems of leadership, internal power struggles, low blows.’ (Interview with an INGO national director)
The proliferation of DPOs and their lack of strength, whether they are rural- or urban-based, are major contributing factors, therefore, to the weak disability movement in Burkina Faso. This is then compounded by the lack of cohesion as well as leadership issues amongst DPOs, as commented on by an INGO national director:
‘I think the first thing that disabled people and their organisations should deal with, is the issue of organisation: the DPOs in Burkina are not organised…. They do not manage to get on with each other…. They do not really have an interest in uniting and… working in the same direction… It’s a question of organisation and also of governance… in the sense that it’s always the same disabled people who are at the head of the same DPOs. If I’m not happy here, I go to the other side… if I am not in the head, I leave and create my own… [
This article has explored the currents that underlie and influence DPOs in Burkina Faso, their creation, their functioning and the interplay between DPOs and INGOs. The difficulties encountered by DPOs are partly because of interventions by INGOs, which render DPOs dependent on foreign funding and support. Nonetheless, the argument here is not that there is no need for DPOs. Disabled people’s organisations provide a space where people with disabilities meet, whether or not they have similar disabilities. They provide a space in which comfort and solidarity are provided, and where ideas are exchanged. In addition, there is also a case for strength in numbers, which is important for those most marginalised and rendered invisible in society. Although the economic, political and social situation in Burkina Faso might present difficulties for many Burkinabes, people with disabilities need to be recognised in their own right. The DPOs provide an important space in which they have the possibility and opportunity to come together and speak out and fight for what is rightfully theirs. The challenge for Burkinabe DPOs is to become sustainable with minimal support from INGOs, and to become organisations that truly serve their members’ needs in working towards the well-being of people with disabilities. In this regard, funding might be more beneficial if it were fed directly from donors to DPOs. This would both eliminate the need to fund INGO staff and ensure that funding is used according to the DPOs’ needs.
While encouraging the disability movement, INGOs in Burkina Faso tend to
Charitable action and the evolution of government social policy has all too frequently reflected the hegemony of ‘nondisabled’ people.
Drake (
Handicap International has since changed its name to Humanity & Inclusion.
The term ‘grassroots’ is here used to differentiate these DPOs from umbrella DPOs. Definitions of these two types of DPOs are found in the ‘Research Findings’ section.
Information given to the researcher strictly in confidence, however, was not used in this article.
They are also referred to as organisations in French (including in Burkina Faso):
The names of organisations have been omitted to ensure anonymity.
Such terms are ones used by the participants themselves.
Names of participants have been changed to ensure anonymity.
This denotes the age of the interviewee at the time of interview.
A centre where blind people used to be trained in furniture weaving. ‘
These include both paid employment in the formal sector, or income-generating activities in the informal sector.
These are the researcher’s initials.
The interpreter and the author.