Adjustments and Compromises of Household Economy Approach in Burkina Faso

Abstract

The household economy approach is used as an early warning tool to identify areas of intervention and priority groups to benefit from food security support. Adopted in 2012 in Burkina Faso, the application of this tool is still in the experimental phase. After having sketched the national context, from a qualitative survey and using data from targeting surveys, paper exposes questions posed by the development practitioners and realities of application of this tool on a project in Burkina Faso in the region of Boucle du Mouhoun. Implementation of HEA in the field shows a dysfunction. The analyzes reveal a part of methodological subjectivity, the weight of opinion leaders, acting as development brokers and the absence of a complaints committee, an extremely cumbersome mechanism that is unrealistic to initiate. While HEA is seen by communities as a breakthrough, the current trend for practitioners to fill in the gaps is towards increasing the complexity of targeting methods. The initiatives developed require practitioners to maintain a close presence on targeting committees, an unrealistic presence to be deployed in a change of scale in the method and also accompanied by greater bureaucratization of aid.