The Wala of Burkina Faso

The Wala of Burkina Faso, numbering approximately 43,500 people, are Engaged yet Unreached. They are described as an ethnolinguistic subgroup of the Dagaaba people in Burkina Faso They are an Indigenous people, with Dagaaba (Dagaari) as their ethnic/kinship group and are in the Gur people cluster of the Sub-Saharan African Peoples. Their primary religion is Folk Islam. They primarily speak Dagaari Dioula.

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

Fast Facts*:

Affinity Group: Sub-Saharan African Peoples
Country: Burkina Faso
People Cluster: Gur
Primary Language(s): Dagaari Dioula (dgd)
Primary Religion(s): Folk Islam
Population: 43,500
Strategic Progress Index (SPI): Engaged yet Unreached
Global Status of Evangelical Christianity (GSEC): Less than 2% Evangelical, No Recent CP Activity
People Group ID: PG012458
View on Joshua Project

Pray for the Wala 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: Folk Islam
Religious Affiliation: Islam

100%
%
Folk Islam Adherents

Dig Deeper (Language):

Primary Language: Dagaari Dioula
Language Family: Atlantic-Congo

99%
%
Dagaari Dioula Speakers

Media Resources in Dagaari Dioula:

Films:

No film resources are listed for this language.

Bible Resources in Dagaari Dioula:

1 entry

Or check out the Dagaari Dioula bible at Bible.com

Linked from YouVersion

SPI: Unreached yet Engaged

The Wala 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 Wala:
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 Wala of Burkina Faso

For the Son of Man came to seek and save the lost.
readLuke 19:10

Pray that those who are lost will respond to the One who came to seek and save the lost, and experience the joy of being found.

Let the peoples praise you, O God; let all the peoples praise you!
readPsalm 67:3

Pray that God will be working in people's hearts, give them opportunities to receive the gospel, and bring many to faith in Himself.

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.

For the wages of sin is death, but the free gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord.
readRomans 6:23

Pray that God will bring people to faith who are excited about the eternal life they have in Christ and will want to cross cultures to share this hope with others.

Dagaari Dioula, Wala Across Countries (ROP3 - 102367) reported in the following countries:

Strategic Progress Index
All

1 people group

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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