The MIGRAWARE Project, one of the six projects under WASCAL Research Action Plan 2.0, financed by the German Federal Ministry of Education and Research (BMBF), managed and coordinated by WASCAL has organized a two day workshop in Bobo Dioulasso, on data collection strategies with its partners from top universities and national institutions in Burkina Faso.
The objectives of the workshop were to validate data collection strategies road map for the development of exchange and knowledge sharing on migration on one hand and on the other hand, identify sources and availability of data in West Africa, to suggest a digitalized integrated information system for data sharing and necessary action for decision making and key stakeholders such as farmers and livestock raisers.
Speaking about migration and its causes in Burkina Faso, Dr. Safietou Sanfo, Senior Scientist at the Competence Centre and coordinator of the MIGRAWARE project indicated that migration problems are linked to land and water resources scarcity caused by Climate and environmental Changes induced extreme events which often are sources of conflicts.
She emphasized that MIGRAWARE through WASCAL, seeks at finding solutions and providing adequate customized climate and environmental services to key stakeholders such as policy makers, farmers, and livestock raisers in order to retain people from forced migration.
Dr. Mahamadou Belem, Coordinator of the project, gave guidelines for a successful management.
“A good management of migration requires a strong formulation and analysis of migration policies. To achieve this, there is a need to have quantitative and qualitative data to develop tools for decisions makers’’, he said.
Over 20 experts from universities research institutions in Burkina Faso as well as local former migrants interacted on the causes and strategies to solve migration problems in the region.