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A innovative government program supported by IFAD attempts to unlock the entrepreneurial spirit in one of the world's poorest countries.

Interventions for adolescents are less in Burkina Faso, and even fewer exist for married girls. Majority of adolescent girls are married - frequently to older men as 2nd /3rd wives.

"I used to be able to make about CFA15-20,000 per day selling fruits", says 28-year-old Lalla. "Look at my fruit stand now – there's nothing here. All I've got to sell are these baskets, but no-one buys them on this side of the border because we're the ones that make them." 

Balki Sa Mohamadou is two months old. His mother died because of complications during childbirth, near the village of Touka Bayel in the drought-ravaged north of Burkina Faso.

There are no roads to Sini Moussa's cotton farm.

Once you veer off the busy main road to Sapone, about an hour from Burkina Faso's capital, Ouagadougou, the path quickly turns to dusty scrub.

In 1994, Jacqueline Boni decided to start up a business as a dressmaker in Ouagadougou, the capital of Burkina Faso. She had no idea her business would grow so fast.

Modeste Ouédraogo’s career path has had many twists and obstacles along the way; however he is now clearly forging ahead in his career as a dairy farmer.

Could the Internet be useful to farmers, even those who are illiterate? Father Maurice Oudet, a priest who lives in Burkina Faso, shares his views and experience.