Centre-Ouest Region

Centre-Ouest Region surrounds Koudougou, Burkina Faso's third-largest city and historical center of labor organizing that challenged colonial and post-colonial governments. This legacy of political activism—Koudougou hosted strikes and protests that contributed to multiple political transitions—gives the region distinctive political character within Burkina's otherwise hierarchical Mossi social structures.

Agricultural production focuses on sorghum, millet, and cotton, with livestock playing secondary roles. The region's position between the capital and western cotton zones makes it a transit corridor, though road quality limits transport efficiency. Food processing—milling, oil pressing—provides some industrial employment in Koudougou, which hosts one of Burkina's universities.

Relative security compared to northern and eastern regions has made Centre-Ouest attractive for internal migration. Population density creates land pressure that intensifies competition between farmers and herders—a conflict pattern common across the Sahel. Whether the region can absorb displaced populations while maintaining agricultural productivity depends on management of these tensions and continued absence of systematic jihadist infiltration.