Ouagadougou: An expert in community economics and governance, Karim Tou, praised the economic model being implemented in Burkina Faso as part of the Popular Progressive Revolution (RPP), considering it an original approach better suited to African realities.
According to Burkina Information Agency, the transformation undertaken in the country since the arrival in power of the President of Faso, Captain Ibrahim Traore, opens the way to an economic system based on three complementary pillars: the State, the private sector, and the community. The expert describes this model as a "community economy," with the aim of placing people at the center of economic decision-making and resource management, a departure from approaches long inspired by external references.
The community economy, in the expert's opinion, is an ideology that relies on a spirit of endogenous development. This ideology is reflected in the education and culture of a people. The expert explained that for a long time, development policies in African states were designed based on references developed in Europe or America, which contributed to strengthening economic dependence. He noted that when guidance and resources come primarily from outside, as was the case in the past, local communities often remain on the margins of the production and sharing of wealth.
Several initiatives undertaken by the Burkinabe authorities already illustrate this direction. Infrastructure, industrial transformation, and local development projects are being led by the State, while also mobilizing private companies for their implementation. Karim Tou also relies on the record of Captain Ibrahim Traore's three years of governance to highlight the positive impact of certain economic initiatives undertaken. He questions why certain actions were not entrusted solely to the private sector or traditional state structures, believing that institutional adjustments are sometimes necessary before fully opening up certain sectors.
As the author of the book "Community Economy and Governance: An Economic Model for the Development of African Societies Attached to Their Identity and Culture," the expert argues that African societies need both a wealth-producing state, a dynamic private sector, and an organized community. In his view, the economic restructuring undertaken in Burkina Faso could contribute to experimenting with a "third way" of development, based on economic sovereignty and the collective participation of the population.