Our Working Methodology

Burkina News is neither an institutional mouthpiece nor an opposition platform. We observe the state from a strictly documentary and factual perspective: the government sets its goals; we independently record delivery and progression.

We cover structural reforms, major national construction sites, and macroeconomic data by examining tangible physical evidence and auditable public accounts.

Every data point published on Burkina News is classified according to a 5-tier evidential hierarchy:

1. Institutional Primary Sources: Reports by DGMG, INSD, BCEAO, ministerial decrees, and certified administrative budgets.
2. Verifiable Multilateral Bodies: IMF, World Bank, African Development Bank, UN agencies, WHO, FAO.
3. Direct Field Verification: Visual observation, photographic capture, and on-site reporting by our correspondents.
4. Contractors and Technical Partners: Progress audit sheets, concession contracts, certified handover minutes.
5. Third-party Press: Used solely as alert signals, never as stand-alone evidence.

The Tracker monitors major structural projects across Burkina Faso through 6 sequential statuses. No project advances to a subsequent status without a validated primary proof document:

Prior to publishing any investigation or major data update, we apply an editorial stress test (“Red Team Test”): an independent desk editor scrutinizes every number, attempting to find methodological discrepancies, conflicting filings, or alternate interpretations.

If a claim cannot withstand documentary challenge, it is either refined, downgraded in certainty, or withheld from publication.

Web links and online press articles are fragile and subject to disappearance. For every primary document we reference:

• We capture a digital snapshot and store the permanent URI.
• Official statistical bulletins and decree PDFs are duplicated in our offline documentary archive in Bobo-Dioulasso.
• Every fact published in The Brief retains an immutable anchor permalink.

We never modify an article silently. When a factual inaccuracy is identified or a newly published institutional report supersedes earlier data, we publish a full correction entry in our Correction Registry.

Each entry specifies the previous wording, the revised factual text, the reason for the update, and the validating desk.

Statistics published by government agencies are audited against cross-sectional indicators:

• Gold production is cross-checked against custom export declarations, DGI royalties, and regional mining chambers.
• Installed electrical capacity is systematically distinguished from effective feed-in power delivered to the national grid.
• Agricultural projections are correlated with regional rainfall indexes, seed allocations, and UN FAO food balances.