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PEOPLE GROUP PROFILE

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
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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.

Pray Now!
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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

Provided by the Jesus Film Project

View all resources

Bible Resources in Cerma:

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

1 entry

Provided by Faith Comes by Hearing

Or check out the Cerma bible at Bible.com

Linked from YouVersion

View all resources

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

The heavens declare the glory of God, and the sky above proclaims his handiwork.
readPsalm 19:1

Pray that those who are lost will look to the heavens and see the glory of God displayed, leading them to seek Him and know Him as their Creator and Savior.

Again, the kingdom of heaven is like a merchant in search of fine pearls, who, on finding one pearl of great value, went and sold all that he had and bought it.
readMatthew 13: 45-46

Pray that they will recognize the treasure of knowing Christ Jesus and be willing to give up everything else to gain Him.

I wait for the LORD, my soul waits, and in his word I hope.
readPsalm 130:5

Pray that as people place their faith in Christ, they will wait on the Lord and have patience and trust, knowing His ways and His timing are always perfect.

At the same time, pray also for us, that God may open to us a door for the word, to declare the mystery of Christ...that I may make it clear, which is how I ought to speak.
readColossians 4:3-4

Ask God to open doors for believers to share the gospel and help them communicate it clearly so that more people will understand the mystery of Christ and turn to follow Him.

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

Strategic Progress Index
All

2 people groups

PhotoPeople Group IDNameCountryPopulation ▼Strategic Progress IndexLanguageReligion
GouinPG012400GouinBurkina Faso161,000Engaged yet UnreachedCermaAnimism
GouinPG013084GouinCote d’Ivoire3,800Engaged yet UnreachedCermaAnimism

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.

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