There is a lack of feasible and psychometrically sound instruments assessing social-emotional development in young children in low- and middle-income countries. The objective of this cross-sectional study was to investigate the psychometric properties of the Brief Infant-Toddler Social and Emotional Assessment (BITSEA) in two West-African populations. We administered the BITSEA in an interview-based mode to 289 mothers from Côte d'Ivoire and 227 mothers from Ghana for assessing their two-year-old children. In confirmatory factor analyses of four possible underlying theoretical models, we found only minimal support for the validity of the Problem scale and no support for the validity of the Competence scale. Consequently, without adaptation and subsequent validation of the modified version we cannot recommend the use of the BITSEA in West-African countries.