CREDO, Burkina Faso
Our flagship partner in Burkina Faso
Thirty years of Burkinabè leadership. One shared mission.
Perhaps you have wondered who is really on the ground when you give to Burkina Faso. Meet CREDO: a Burkinabè organization founded in 1993, trusted by international agencies, and our flagship partner for children, families and communities across the country.
A partner with a track record
Built in Burkina Faso, for Burkina Faso.
CREDO, the Christian Relief and Development Organization, was founded on January 28, 1993, by Dr. Moïse Napon. Its name is also its creed: Compassion, Respect, Equity, Devotion and Openness. Three decades later it employs 123 people and works in 9 regions of the country.
Figures reported by CREDO: credobf.org and its 30th anniversary, 2023 (Burkina 24).
Why CREDO
The partner you would choose if you could see the field.
Local leadership
- Founded and led by Burkinabè people who know every region, language and village.
- Its own motto says it: “Burkinabè must sponsor Burkinabè.”
International trust
- Benchmarked against the Core Humanitarian Standard by HQAI (2025).
- Works alongside agencies such as UNHCR, UNESCO and World Vision.
Opportunity at scale
- Technical schools in Léo and Bobo-Dioulasso and an accelerated school program that has brought more than 5,000 children back to class.
- Its microfinance program grew into ACFIME in 2007, now our microfinance partner.
How we work together
One program. Two partners. Shared purpose.
Our programs in Burkina Faso are Bridges of Hope programs, carried out with CREDO under written agreements. For microfinance, we work with CREDO’s sister institution in spirit, ACFIME.
Bridges of Hope
Direction and accountability
- Sets the program’s purpose, budget and results
- Raises and receipts gifts in Canada, with US giving through Bridges of Hope USA
- Reviews reports and tells donors the story
CREDO
Presence and expertise
- Identifies the children, families and communities most in need
- Carries out child protection, education and food security activities on the ground
- Reports on activities, spending and results
Our roots in Burkina Faso
Rooted together. Trusted to deliver.
Some partnerships are signed. Ours was grown. CREDO, ACFIME and the leader of Bridges of Hope come from the same home church in Burkina Faso. Decades later, that shared root has become a network that reaches hundreds of thousands of people.
CREDO is born
Dr. Moïse Napon founds CREDO to serve children and families across Burkina Faso.
ACFIME is born
CREDO’s microfinance work becomes its own institution, putting credit within reach.
A son goes further
Daniel Zopoula serves with CREDO, mentored by Dr. Napon, then carries the vision to Canada.
A bridge is built
Bridges of Hope joins donors in Canada and the USA to programs in 21 countries.
14,000+ and growing
Entrepreneurs funded, children in school, families moving beyond charity.
Give
to a Bridges of Hope program you choose.
Directs
purpose, budget, results and accountability.
Deliver
CREDO and ACFIME carry out the work under written agreements.
Flourish
and move from beneficiary to benefactor.
“These are not partners we found. They are partners we were formed with.”Daniel Zopoula, CEO, Bridges of Hope
Daniel continues to walk with CREDO and ACFIME as a leader, coach and partner. Gifts are made to Bridges of Hope for its own programs.
Imagine a different future
Beyond charity. Beyond poverty.
Charity as usual keeps people waiting for the next gift, and dependency grows quietly, one handout at a time. We believe in a different ending: the day a mother no longer needs help, because she has become the one who gives it.
becomes a benefactor
The girl who once received a school uniform grows up to pay a teacher’s wage. The family that once received food now feeds its neighbours.
can care for themselves
Skills, health and education let a mother and father provide for their own children, with their heads held high.
becomes a livelihood
A small loan becomes a tailor’s shop or a market stall. The loan is repaid, and it lifts the next family.
This is already happening. Through Hope Enterprises, our economic development programs, Bridges of Hope works in Burkina Faso with our microfinance partner ACFIME, in a wider network of partners that includes Kiva. Together, more than 14,000 entrepreneurs have received a loan to start or grow a business, nearly 9 in 10 of them women, with a repayment rate of 99.97%. Thousands of microcredits are freeing families from poverty. Meet ACFIME See Hope Enterprises
That is the moment we move beyond charity. When one family takes that step, its children inherit a different story. When a whole community takes it, a thousand generations inherit a different future. That is how we move beyond poverty.
Every Bridges of Hope program exists for one purpose, our mission: To promote poverty relief and community empowerment among the poorest nations of the earth.
“Burkinabè must sponsor Burkinabè.”Josias Sanogo, Secretary General of CREDO, 2023
This partnership is personal. Dr. Moïse Napon, CREDO’s founder, has been a mentor to our CEO, Daniel Zopoula, and in Daniel’s words, a spiritual father.
That conviction is why this partnership works. Your gift does not replace local effort. It stands behind it, until the families who once borrowed become the neighbours who lend a hand.
Your part
Three ways to move a family beyond charity.
Sponsor a child.
School fees, meals and health care for a child, while the family builds a livelihood.
Sponsor a childFund a school year.
A year of school fees and supplies for a child in Burkina Faso.
Give a scholarshipFund a microloan.
Capital for a mother’s business, through Hope Enterprises and our microfinance partner ACFIME.
Meet ACFIMECREDO is an independent Burkinabè organization. Gifts on this site are made to Bridges of Hope, a registered Canadian charity, for its own programs, which Bridges of Hope carries out with partners such as CREDO under written agreements. Bridges of Hope does not issue receipts on behalf of any other organization. Learn more about CREDO at credobf.org.
Disclaimer: Bridges of Hope International Network of Development Agencies (BOHINDA) is a registered Canadian charity. Donors may indicate a preference for how their donation will be used; however, the final decision on the use of all funds rests with BOHINDA. In accordance with CRA guidelines, if BOHINDA is unable to use the donation as the donor prefers, the donation will not be returned, but will be applied to the organization’s charitable purposes where it is needed most.
Stand with Burkinabè leaders.
Stand with Burkinabè leaders as families move from beneficiary to benefactor.
Why we do what we do
In Jesus’ name. For the glory of God.
“For I was hungry and you gave me something to eat, I was thirsty and you gave me something to drink, I was a stranger and you invited me in, I needed clothes and you clothed me, I was sick and you looked after me, I was in prison and you came to visit me… Truly I tell you, whatever you did for one of the least of these brothers and sisters of mine, you did for me.”Matthew 25:35–36, 40 (NIV)
Six people Christ asks us to see. Six ways we answer.
Matthew 25 is our inspiration: we answer the call of Christ to care for the poor, the hungry, the thirsty, the naked, the stranger and the prisoner, with compassion, love, justice and mercy, and we serve every person with dignity, whatever their faith. Every plate, well, classroom and loan is an act of worship. To God be the glory.