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Support for girls' education in central-west Burkina Faso
In Burkina Faso, socio-cultural barriers hinder girls' access to education. Many girls in Burkina Faso do not go to school or drop out early. There are many reasons for this:
- Lack of consideration for the importance of girls' schooling, reflected in the unequal distribution of domestic tasks and responsibility for the household's economic subsistence activities.
- The persistence of traditional practices such as dowry and abduction, leading to early marriage and pregnancy.
- A social construct based on the principle of the supremacy of men over women. Victims of structural gender inequalities, young girls are negatively affected in their relationships with their environment and quickly come up against obstacles inherent to their gender in challenging situations.
- Failure to take account of problems specific to girls, such as managing menstruation periods and pubertal crises, which are more intense in girls than in boys.
To support this project :
The aim of the project
This project aims to contribute to the process of empowering women by improving access, retention and completion of primary education for vulnerable girls in the Centre-West region of Burkina Faso.
To achieve this, two specific objectives have been defined:
- Facilitating access for girls, in particular 1,000 vulnerable girls, including 700 new registrations and 300 reintegrations, in communities with low school enrolment in the Centre-Ouest region. Reintegration takes the form of a year in a bridging class (refresher course), followed by reintegration into a mainstream class.
- Helping 2,000 vulnerable girls in 30 communities in 6 communes in the Centre-Ouest region to stay in school and complete their primary education.
Our actions
- Setting up bridging classes to enable girls to brush up their skills and re-enter mainstream classes
- Support for the economic recovery of 500 families in difficulty. This is vital if young girls are not to be encouraged to work to the detriment of their schooling.
- Organisation of community awareness-raising sessions on the importance of sending girls to school. Vulnerable girls receive textbooks and school supplies, solar lamps so they can do their homework after dark, and support with school fees.
- Textbooks and school supplies for these young girls
- Provision of teaching materials to teachers
- Solar lamps for 500 vulnerable girls to enable them to do their homework after dark
- Support for school canteen operations
- Support for the organisation of support courses
- Organisation of community awareness-raising sessions on the importance of getting girls into school
Key figures
young girls have joined bridging classes to bring them up to standard
disadvantaged families received financial support to ensure their children can go to school
teachers and headteachers trained in gender inequality
vulnerable girls monitored at school
young girls obtained birth certificates, an essential document for taking the school-leaving certificate
Our partners
Fondation Audemars-Watkins - Commune de Plan-les-Ouates - Fondation l'Occitane
Find out about all the other projects carried out by Action Education in Burkina Faso in our 2023 Activity Report
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