With almost half of its population living with less than USD 1 per day and a literacy rate of only 21.8%, Burkina Faso is one of the world's poorest and least developed countries. It ranks 134th of 137 according to the World Bank/United Nations Human Development Index.
Since 1986, AMURT has maintained a presence in Burkina Faso, engaging in various activities in the fields of healthcare and agroecology. In recent years, AMURT has expanded its presence to several regions where programs focus on community building, improved water access, sanitation and ecological regeneration.
In 2011 AMURT responded to the East African drought in northern Kenya's Samburu district.
In 2010, AMURT launched a program in Nigeria aimed at developing community healthcare systems and reducing the country's maternal mortality rate, one of the world's highest. Providing some of Nigeria's poorest and most rural areas with proper health facilities warrants the service of more than one NGO, so AMURT has teamed with ActionAid Nigeria as well as Nigeria's overwhelmed state health department and the members of local communities to accomplish this task.
The 2011 drought in Kenya was declared a national disaster by President Mwai Kibaki in April of 2011. Access to food and water had become very scarce, millions of livestock have died, and territorial violence had increased drastically as people competed for patches of fertile land. When nourishment could be found, heightened demand raised prices and made staple goods difficult to obtain. On June 28th of that year, the United Nations reported that 3.5 million people weere in need of humanitarian relief.