Burkina Faso
“Commitment and involvement are the only viable option that circumstances of our world leave open to us. Those are the only way to transform the world and to bring about the better world that we want.”
Cheick Fayçal Traore is a peacebuilding and development professional from Burkina Faso. In his talk he shares his work to support young people in Burkina Faso and the lessons he has learned about personal commitment, about not leaving anyone behind and about the need to forge a different path if we want a better future.
Cheick’s desire to contribute to community well-being started at an early age. After presiding over the Children’s Parliament and the Youth Parliament, together with his friends, he created the Association of Youth for Sustainable Development in Burkina Faso (AJDD/BF) in 2007. Subsequently, it was renamed Citizen Action for Development and Peace (Action CiDeP). This organisation provided the framework for implementing numerous initiatives aimed at benefiting young people, children, and women.
In 2017, he assumed leadership of the African Network of Adolescents and Youth for Population and Development (AfriYAN), also becoming a member of the regional office for West and Central Africa. AfriYAN works to promote the sexual and reproductive health of young people and adolescents. Under this mandate, the organisation spearheaded various initiatives, including awareness campaigns and intergenerational dialogues on targeted themes.
Cheick is the commissioner general of the national campaign to promote women’s leadership – the Women Leadership in Africa (WoLAf) Initiative. This initiative includes a prestigious mentoring programme for girls aged 16 to 29 since 2017. This programme facilitated the collaboration of approximately 50 successful women from diverse fields who mentored close to 200 young women as part of the mentoring programme. These young women have gone on to distinguish themselves within society, both through various initiatives and within public and private sector entities.
In his professional capacity, Cheick is currently the Country Representative for the international peacebuilding organisation, Interpeace. Cheick holds the honour of being an Officer of the Order of Merit of Burkina Faso.