The Gouin of Burkina Faso

The Gouin of Burkina Faso, numbering approximately 161,000 people, are Engaged yet Unreached. They are a Gur people of southwestern Burkina Faso, also known as Ciramba or Gwen, whose communities extend across the border into Côte d'Ivoire. They mostly adhere to Animism and Cerma is their primary language.

Photo by Google. (2026). Image generated by Gemini 2.5 Flash: Gouin

Fast Facts:

Affinity Group: Sub-Saharan African Peoples
Country: Burkina Faso
People Cluster: Gur
Primary Language(s): Cerma (cme)
Primary Religion(s): Animism
Population: 161,000
Strategic Progress Index (SPI): Engaged yet Unreached
Global Status of Evangelical Christianity (GSEC): Less than 2% Evangelical, No Recent CP Activity
People Group ID: PG012400
View on Joshua Project

Pray for the Gouin of Burkina Faso

Join others around the world in praying for the lost to be saved, the gospel to advance, the global Church to grow, and for laborers to be sent out and sustained in the harvest.

Dig Deeper (Religion):

Primary Religion: Animism
Religious Affiliation: Ethnoreligion

81%
%
Animism Adherents

Dig Deeper (Language):

Primary Language: Cerma
Language Family: Atlantic-Congo

100%
%
Cerma Speakers

Media Resources in Cerma:

Films:
TitleLink
JESUSView Film

1 film

Bible Resources in Cerma:

Bible Name (Translation)VideoAudioText
2011 Wycliffe Bible Translators Inc.✓✓✓

1 entry

Or check out the Cerma bible at Bible.com

Linked from YouVersion

SPI: Unreached yet Engaged

The Gouin are Engaged yet Unreached, which means there are less than 2% evangelical Christian populations but there are sustained efforts at establishing self-sustaining churches consistent with evangelical faith and practice.

Next steps for the Gouin:
Continue prayer and fasting for this group
Continue gospel seed sowing and church planting among this group
Begin training up local leaders to lead and develop strategies to reach their own people

Pray specifically for the Gouin of Burkina Faso

He went to him and bound up his wounds, pouring on oil and wine. Then he set him on his own animal and brought him to an inn and took care of him
readLuke 10:34

Pray that the lost among them will experience the kind of compassion Jesus taught His followers to show others, and that they will trust in Him because He is the one who brings healing to the broken and lost.

All the earth worships you and sings praises to you; they sing praises to your name.
readPsalm 66:4

Pray that the good news of Jesus will advance here and that many will bow down and sing praises to His name.

For you did not receive the spirit of slavery to fall back into fear, but you have received the Spirit of adoption as sons, by whom we cry, “Abba! Father!”
readRomans 8:15

Pray that as people place their faith in Christ, they will remember the God who has given them freedom from fear so that they will trust Him completely as their good Father who meets all their needs.

O LORD, our Lord, how majestic is your name in all the earth! You have set your glory above the heavens.
readPsalm 8:1

Pray that God will raise up people who love Him and are able and willing to go to and share the hope of the gospel with those who don't know it. Pray that everyone will see His name as majestic in all the earth!

Gouin Across Countries (ROP3 - 103461) reported in the following countries:

Strategic Progress Index
All

2 people groups

To download a comprehensive people group list in spreadsheet form, visit our Research Data page.

Peoplegroups.org relies on updates from the field and other organizations for much of our data, so if you have any updates, please contact us. We use various international naming standards. For a list of these standards and fields, visit our Data Standards section.

Scroll to Top