Abstract

Self- help groups are increasingly becoming platforms used by development organizations to induce behavioural change and especially to target women’s empowerment, but little is known about the effectiveness of such policies. This paper examines the contribution of Self- help groups to women’s empowerment in Burkina Faso, focusing on the case of the township of Gaoua through data collection from a reasoned choice sample of beneficiaries. The results show that membership of women in these groups enables them to increase their purchasing power, which in turn enables them to participate in the primary needs of their households and thus improve their empowerment. Therefore, it is suggested to the development actors intervening in the township of Gaoua to put together their efforts to cover all the villages of the Self- help groups in order to enable a large number of women to benefit from the spin-offs of these projects.