UNICEF Burkina Faso: Investing in the Future

Investing in the futureSchools for Burkina Faso

Schools for Africa Burkina Faso


Schools for Burkina FasoInvesting in the future

Education is the great engine of personal development. It is through education that the daughter of a peasant

can become a doctor, that the son of a mineworker can become the head of the mine, that the child of

farm workers can become the president...—Nelson Mandela

© UNICEF Burkina Faso 2012

Photos, words, design: Kelley Lynch (kelleyslynch.com)

Editing: Helen de Jode and Tracy Schuster

Drawings: Siaka Diallo and Fatimata Dembelé; old textbook pieces courtesy of the Ministry of National Education and Literacy

Acknowledgements: A big thank you to the people of Sokoroni, especially Seydou Coulibaly, Brahima Sanou and the families of the

three children featured in this book: Oumou, Safiatou and Siaka. Without their patience, good humor, hospitality and assistance this

book would not have been possible. Suzanne Sidibé, Provincial Director for Basic Education in Kenedougou Province was extremely

supportive and helpful as was UNICEF’s Chief of Education, Erinna Dia. Last but not at all least, thanks to UNICEF’s Bernadin

Bationo who enthusiastically shepherded this project through from beginning to end, acting not only as translator and informant,

but also as photographic assistant, fixer and so much more.

The children featured inthis book all live in Sokoroni, a small agricultural villagein the west of Burkina Faso.

Contents006 Schools for Africa: Burkina Faso

016 Oumou’s story The Bisongo: early childhood education

050 Safiatou’s story The primary school

084 Siaka’s story The non-formal basic education centre

114 UNICEF in action Making a difference for children in Burkina Faso

128 About UNICEF

Worldwide, 67 million children are not in school, 43per cent of them in Sub-Saharan Africa alone. Thisequates to one African child in every three. Thosewho do go to school often learn in overcrowdedclassrooms where the quality of teaching is poor.

The Schools for Africa (SFA) initiative is a successfulinternational fundraising partnership between UNICEF, theNelson Mandela Foundation and Peter Krämer Stiftung.

Launched by Nelson Mandela in December 2004, the SFApartnership seeks to provide quality basic education to millions of children in 11 countries in Africa, including Angola, Burkina Faso, Ethiopia, Madagascar, Malawi, Mali, Mozambique,Niger, Rwanda, South Africa and Zimbabwe. Its aim is to help the most marginalisedchildren—particularly girls, orphans and other vulnerable children living in extreme poverty.

SFA supports the implementation of UNICEF’s comprehensive Child-Friendly School(CFS) approach to education. Each country’s programme is somewhat different because itis adapted to local circumstances, but the overall goal remains the same: getting childreninto school and keeping them there—to give children, their families and their communitiesthe chance of a better future.

6 UNICEF Burkina Faso

Schools for Africa: Burkina Faso

Schools for Burkina Faso Introduction 7

Burkina Faso’s challengesSituated at the geographical heart of West Africa, Burkina Faso—“the land of upright people”—shares its

borders with Côte d’Ivoire, Ghana, Togo, Bénin, Niger and Mali. This flat, landlocked country is Sahelian in the

north—with low rainfall and high temperatures, but more tropical in the south—with higher rainfall and lower

temperatures. Population density is highest in the south.

The ninth poorest country in the world (UNHDI 2010), Burkina Faso’s combination of limited natural

resources, little industry, high population density and rapid population growth restricts the economic prospects

for the majority of its 16.3 million citizens, 42 per cent of whom live on less than US $1 a day.

More than 80% of the population still live in rural areas—engaged in livestock production and subsistence

agriculture—where they rely on shrinking plots of land, fragile soil and increasingly erratic rainfall. To provide for

their families many people, including children as young as 12 or 13, migrate to cities or neighbouring countries

in search of work.

The Government of Burkina Faso is committed to investing in a better future for its people. It recognises that

access to quality basic education for all is essential to lifting its people out of poverty.

Education in Burkina FasoIn 2002 Burkina Faso had some of the lowest net enrolment rates in the world and a sizeable gender gap: just

41 per cent of boys and 31 per cent of girls were enrolled in primary school.

Over the past ten years various strategies have increased access to education, particularly for those most likely

to miss out: poor rural children and girls. But the single largest boost to enrolment came in 2007 when the

government, with the support of its partners, removed the major obstacle preventing parents from enrolling


and maintaining their children at school: its cost. Across Burkina Faso public primary school was made free of

charge. Books and materials were also provided for free, and in a specific effort to get parents to send their girls

to school, the government agreed to pay the only remaining fee parents had to pay—the Parent Teacher

Association (PTA) fee—for all girls enrolled in the first year of primary school.

Children poured into schools across the country, and they continue to do so. Four years later, in school year

2010-11, 61 per cent of school age children were enrolled in primary school—63 per cent of boys and 59

percent of girls—with gender parity almost reached. (There are still geographical disparities however: net

enrolment can be 80% in cities and just 40% in rural areas.)

Today, despite this success, some 40 per cent of school age children are still out of school. Some of these

are Burkina Faso’s most vulnerable: children living in extremely poor families, children with disabilities, children

and adolescents living on the streets, and children in remote rural areas for whom school is still too far away.

But a great many of them are children who used to be in school and dropped out.

The surge in demand after 2007, coupled with the country’s high population growth rate (3.1 per cent), has

pushed schools to the breaking point. With not enough classrooms, not enough teachers and not enough basic

classroom materials, students are forced to learn in crowded classrooms with high teacher-student ratios and

poor quality instruction. The result is poor student performance and high rates of drop out. Currently almost half

of those who enrol in primary school will drop out before they complete the full six-year cycle.

Today the greatest challenge to achieving education for all in Burkina Faso is not getting children into school,

but keeping them there. Children who drop out have few options: without sufficient education or skills to do a

job some remain in their villages working alongside their parents, but most migrate to cities or neighbouring

countries where they work as herders, labourers or domestic help without any real hope for the future.

www.schoolsforafrica.org 9

A better future with UNICEFAs a partner to the Ministry of National Education and Literacy (MENA from the French), UNICEF has

considerable influence at grassroots and policy levels. Since 1995 UNICEF has been supporting education

services to vulnerable groups, as well as informing and influencing government education policy.

UNICEF Burkina Faso has worked closely with the government and other partners to develop and implement

strategies focused on increasing the supply of education as well as the demand for it. To increase demand they

have worked to make parents aware of the importance of basic education—especially for girls—and to increase

supply UNICEF has built almost 1250 classrooms, helping to bring schools closer to the communities that

need them.

In 2007 UNICEF Burkina Faso joined the ‘education common basket’ funding mechanism. Their

contribution—both technical and financial—together with that of other donors, has made it possible for the

government to implement initiatives that have significantly improved access to quality schooling. These include,

as mentioned above, eliminating school fees (including PTA fees for girls in the first year of primary school);

providing school materials free of charge to students enrolled in primary school; constructing, rehabilitating

and equipping classrooms; training teachers; and improving the curriculum.

Much has been done, and much remains to be done. At every level UNICEF’s goals are the same: increasing

access to and improving the quality of basic education in the country, particularly for vulnerable populations.

UNICEF: innovative solutions that work In all of its work UNICEF is engaged in developing, monitoring and evaluating innovative approaches that help

to improve children’s education today, while building up an evidence base that will feed into the development of


more effective education policies for tomorrow. Two key UNICEF innovations—Education Complexes and child-

friendly schools—address the key education challenges that Burkina Faso faces: retention and access. These

innovations are now making their way into government education policy.

Education complexes: access to education for all UNICEF’s education complexes are designed to respond to the reality of the situation facing children and

families in Burkina Faso. The nucleus of the complex is a standard six-classroom government primary school.

Built nearby, as part of the complex, are both an early childhood development (ECD) centre (‘Bisongo’) that

serves children aged 3 to 5, and a non-formal basic education centre (CEBNF from the French) for children aged

9 to 15 who are out of the formal primary school system.

UNICEF has been working with communities to build each of these types of educational facilities—Primary

schools, Bisongos and CEBNF—since 1995. Each is integrated into the basic education system, but until six

years ago they remained stand-alone interventions. The advantages of uniting them into a single education

complex became apparent during the 2006 Côte d’Ivoire crisis: Burkinabé who had been residing in Côte

d’Ivoire fled that country’s civil war and settled just inside Burkina Faso’s borders. UNICEF, faced with educating

vast numbers of children of varying ages and abilities, opened its first education complex.

It quickly became apparent that by working together the three educational facilities addressed the educational

needs of all children: the Bisongo played a proactive role by socializing children and preparing them for primary

school so they performed better when they got there; the primary school educated children from grades one

through six; and the CEBNF acted as a second chance for ‘out of school’ adolescents to get an education and to

either re-enter the formal system or go on to learn a trade.

Schools for Burkina Faso Introduction 11

Today, with UNICEF’s support, education complexes are making education for all a reality in 15 villages in

Burkina Faso—and the government has taken note. Additional funds would allow UNICEF to build more

education complexes and help Burkina Faso to make significant progress towards achieving Education for All.

Child-friendly schools: enhancing the quality of basic education UNICEF has always found that where children are at the centre of learning, the community is involved in the

school and the teachers are engaged and motivated, the children’s performance—and thus retention in

school—is better.

UNICEF’s child-friendly School (CFS) model takes the wellbeing of the whole child as its starting point. Child-

friendly schools are inclusive and gender-sensitive. They have adequate resources and competent teachers who

use child-centred teaching methods that make learning fun. They provide clean water, suitable sanitation

facilities, and school-based nutrition services—including canteens and school gardens. They are designed so

that children feel safe and secure—places to learn and grow with respect for their diverse needs.

The CFS model also engages parents, teachers, students, community members and local authorities in the

effective functioning of the school. By working together in School Management Committees (SMC), Mothers of

Students Associations (AME from the French) and PTAs, communities develop the capacity to take their

children’s education into their own hands, enabling them to address the issues that affect their children’s

motivations for coming to school and for staying there.

Since 2010 UNICEF Burkina Faso has built and equipped 47 child-friendly schools to serve vulnerable

populations in some of the most remote parts of the country. It has also invested additional resources to

convert 180 existing primary schools into child-friendly schools in two provinces.


The Government has recognized the potential for this model to enhance the quality of education, and thus

children’s performance and retention in school. As a result the model has been included as part of the national

education policy. UNICEF and the MENA are currently working to adapt the model to the Burkina Faso context,

and pilot interventions are underway in two provinces. In the coming years the government plans to implement

the approach on a national scale, with the goal that by 2017 every school in the country will be child-friendly.

The resources to succeedDespite the successes much remains to be done—and resources are limited. The government does not have

sufficient funds to invest in all of the measures needed to improve the quality of and access to education.

Without significant external investment the country’s prospects for achieving Education for All—even five years

behind schedule in 2020—are low. Schools for Africa funds will allow UNICEF Burkina Faso to:

• Open new education complexes in villages where the demand for education is critical

• Fully equip Bisongos with the necessary learning materials

• Fully equip CEBNFs with the tools required to learn a trade

• Construct additional child-friendly Bisongos, primary schools, and CEBNFs

in the most remote and needy areas

• Convert existing primary schools into child-friendly schools

• Contribute to training teachers in child-centred teaching methods

• Support capacity building for members of school-centred community based organizations

• Promote the empowerment of mothers for school support

• Promote both geographical (urban/rural) and gender equity in education


Investing in the futureIn the following pages you will meet children and community members from the rural village of Sokoroni,

located in Kénédougou Province in western Burkina Faso. This is just one community, but their stories provide

compelling evidence of how, with UNICEF’s help, education for all can become a reality in Burkina Faso.

Just six years ago there was only one school in the village—a crowded three-classroom block that dated to

1954. Today, thanks to UNICEF, there are four—the old primary school (Sokoroni ‘B’), a new six-classroom

primary school (Sokoroni ‘A’), a CEBNF (with three classrooms and three workshops) and a Bisongo—each

serving the needs of a particular group of children.

Oumou, 4, attends the Bisongo, allowing her mother to work and her sister, Korotimi, 8, to go to primary

school. Safiatou, 12, is in sixth grade at Sokoroni ‘A’ public primary school. Siaka, 16, is a student at the CEBNF.

Every morning he attends basic education classes and then spends the rest of his day in the sewing workshop

where he is learning to be a tailor.

A short final section, ‘UNICEF in Action’, explains in greater detail how UNICEF works with communities,

teachers, parents and education officials to implement innovative, sustainable solutions that are an investment

in a better future for Burkina Faso’s children, their families and their communities.

—Oumar TraoreChief’s Representative and President of the Village Development Committee

Sokoroni, Burkina Faso

This education complex, with three schools in one centre, is a great opportunity for us. Our youngest children go tothe Bisongo, which gets them ready for school. Then, whenthey go on to the primary school, most of them will staythere. Those who do well in primary school can go on to

secondary school. And those who are not in school or didn’tdo well in primary school can go to the non-formal education

centre and learn a trade. This three-in-one structure provides opportunities for all of our children. This is what

will lead our village to an education rate of 100%.

—Fatimata DembeleBisongo teacher

I’m working for our children, to open their minds and

give them some of the knowledge and skills they need

to succeed in school. I am also working for parents,

particularly mothers. I have eight children. I know too

well that when you have young children at home it’s

difficult to get anything done.

The Bisongo: early childhood education

Schools for Burkina Faso Oumou’s story 19

As primary school enrolment in Burkina Faso soars, the most pressing question facing educators is no longer

how can we get more children into school, but how can we keep them there? UNICEF recognises that one of

the key answers to this question is early childhood development.

Currently just under four per cent of eligible children in Burkina Faso are enrolled in some form of early

childhood development programme. To most parents singing, dancing, drawing and playing look far less

important than what children learn in primary school. But research shows that the ‘soft’ skills young children

learn in preschool, including the ability to pay attention and focus, work as part of a group, follow a routine,

share, make compromises and resolve conflicts, will translate directly into primary school success. Children

arrive at primary school ready to learn. And those who start school ahead will stay ahead. Studies show that

they do better in primary, and even secondary school, and are far less likely to repeat a grade or drop out.

Helping parents to see the benefits of early childhood development is crucial. In the following pages you will

meet Sita Dembelé and her daughters Oumou, 4 and Korotimi, 8. When Sita enrolled Oumou in Sokoroni’s

community-based early childhood development centre—or Bisongo—four mornings a week, she understood

that it would benefit the entire family: Oumou would spend the morning playing and learning in a safe place;

Korotimi who had already missed a year of primary school because her mother needed her help looking after

her younger sister, would be free to go to school; and Sita would have more time to work to supplement her

family’s income.

Today, as a direct result of UNICEF’s advocacy, early childhood development is part of the national education

plan. The goal is for 8.5 per cent of eligible children to be enrolled in some form of preschool by 2015, and 15.5

per cent by 2020. It is hoped that, as a result, more and more children will go on to complete the full course of

primary schooling.

The Bisongo: early childhood education

06:38 After we get up in the morning I help Oumou and Korotimi wash themselves. After they eat breakfast we leave for school.


07:15 I walk with them until after we cross the river. Then they continue on without me.Korotimi goes one way to the primary school and Oumou goes the other way to the Bisongo.


Sita DembeléOumou’s mother

The Bisongo is very important to me. I have four children at home

and a lot of work to do. Every day I have to pound the grain or take

it to the mill, cook, wash the clothes, and help my husband in the

field. I also do a number of activities that allow me to contribute

something to our family’s income. On top of all of this, some days I

help cook food for the children at the Bisongo, other days I meet

with mothers in my area or with the other women on the

leadership committee for the Mothers of Students Association.

It isn’t easy to do all of this and take care of young children.

As a mother, the children are my responsibility—particularly

during their first three years. After that, if the child doesn’t attend

the Bisongo, I have to find someone to take care of her when I go

to the market or to work in the field—or I have to do it myself. My

husband can come and go and do whatever he needs to do without

worrying about the children. Not me. That’s why, like many

mothers, I used to keep one of my children home from school:

Korotimi was just six years old, but she would help me do the

chores and look after her younger sister, Oumou, when I had to

go to the fields or to the market. I was always worried as I left the

house. What if something happened to them while I was away?

What if they hurt themselves or got sick and there was nobody

there to help them?

Korotimi was already almost a year late starting primary school

when I suggested to my husband that if we sent Oumou to the

Bisongo I could do my work without worrying about their safety

and Korotimi to go to school—and both girls would get something

to eat while they were away. He agreed—but I had worked and

saved up enough money to pay the fee myself in case he said no.

Now I do my work in the morning while Oumou is at the

Bisongo. Then, in the afternoon when she is at home, I can manage

because I’ve had all morning to get things done. Of course I also

have this one on my back to look after. Minata is just one year old,

but I’ve already decided that as soon as she turns three she will

definitely attend the Bisongo.


Some days I help the other members ofthe Mothers of Students Association cookfood for the children at the Bisongo.

While Oumou is at school I have a lot to do...

Other days I buy cerealsin the village and sell themat a profit in the market...

or I prepare shea butter... and roast peanuts to sellat home or in the market.

UNICEF provided five bicycles for use by theBisongo ‘monitor’ (teacher) and leaders of the AME and SMC. The bikes facilitate the monitor’stravel to and from the Bisongo and allow leadershipcommittee members to travel from place to placesensitising mothers about the benefits of educatingtheir children and inviting women to attend theAssociation’s general meetings.

How doesUNICEF

help?


My work is never finished:cooking, cleaning, washingthe clothes...

I was asked to join four other women in leadingthe Bisongo’s Mothers of Students Association.We meet with Fatimata, the Bisongo teacher,once a month to discuss how we can bettersupport the Bisongo.

I organise meetings with mothers in my area to talk abouteducating their children--especially their girls. We also talkabout parents must be involved in their children’s educationand the importance of paying the fees. Many families thinkthe Bisongo contribution of 1600 CFA per child peryear- (US $3.20) plus grain is too much, but thismoney must pay for many things, including learning materials.As we talk mothers come to understand that when theirchildren attend the Bisongo it benefits the whole family.



Korotimi OuattaraOumou’s sister

I like going to school. Before I used to stay at home and look after

my sister all day. It was a hard job. I had to carry her around, feed

her and wash her when she soiled herself. Often we were home

alone because my mother had to go to the field to work or to the

market. Sometimes people we didn’t know would come to the

house and I would pick her up and run with her to a neighbour’s

house where there was an adult at home.

Some of my friends were also at home like me, looking after

their younger siblings, but others went to school. I didn’t like

watching them go off to school every morning when I had to stay

home and work.

Now, because my sister goes to the Bisongo, I get to go to

school too. School is great. I like playing with my friends and

working with them in groups. I like learning to write and I like

drawing and singing. I like school so much that I have decided that

when I grow up I want to be a teacher.


07:40 Oumou runs to catch up with the other children on their way to school.


07:50 Fatimata arrives—-with three of her eight children-—to start the day.


UNICEF hires local contractors (supervised byan engineering consulting firm) to constructBisongos and their associated kitchens toensure they meet good standards for qualityand safety. Then, before the Bisongo opens, thecommunity selects three female monitors andUNICEF trains them to do their job.

How doesUNICEF

help?

08:22 The day begins with clapping and singing. All morning Fatimata keeps the children movingfrom one activity to the next: dancing, counting, learning sounds, playing games...



Fatimata DembeléBisongo ‘monitor’

I love children, and I have some education. That’s why, when the

Bisongo opened in 2008, the community asked me to be the

teacher.

I’m not working here to earn money. I’m working for our

children—to open their minds and give them some of the

knowledge and skills they need to succeed in school. I teach them

some French sounds, numbers and counting. We sing songs and

dance, and I read them stories and poems. They learn to be

respectful to their teachers and to one another. They learn good

manners. And they learn to sit still and to work in groups.

I am also working for parents, particularly mothers. I have eight

children—three of them are here with me in the Bisongo—so I

know too well that when you have young children at home it’s not

easy to get things done. But if their children are here, mothers are

free to go about their business.

Right now there are 61 children aged three to five enrolled in the

Bisongo and I am the only teacher. Initially two younger girls were

trained to work with me, but they left because they were not paid.

Even when you love children it can sometimes feel completely

overwhelming. Like today: I’m trying to read them a story, I’ve


almost lost my voice, some children are crying, others are fighting

and others are running in and out of the room. And I see that

someone just had an accident on the floor over there and I had

better go and clean it up. With so many children it’s hard to

maintain discipline and keep an eye on everyone.

The lack of materials makes my job even harder. I have a few

dolls, but not enough for everyone. If I give some of the children a

doll, everybody else wants one so they end up fighting over them.

I have a box of building blocks and some wooden shapes, but again,

not enough. And I have ten slates and some bits of broken chalk.

Fortunately some of the women from the Mothers of Students

Association come every morning to cook. If I need help I can ask

them, but when it comes to my work in the classroom I am alone.

The Bisongo would definitely function better if we had more

materials and if I had some help. I would also like to be paid

something for my work. Even so, I am committed to what I am

doing here: preparing our children for the future.

UNICEF provides locally made playgroundequipment, chairs and wooden toys to the ever-increasing number of Bisongos openingthroughout the country. Additional resourceswould enable us to equip all of these Bisongoswith adequate learning materials for the growingnumber of children that enrol every year.

How doesUNICEF

help?


UNICEF provides Mothers of Students Associations with training in how to conduct income generating activities and thenprovides them with the money they need to initiate those activities. This takes the form of a capital fund from whichshort-term rotating loans are given to Association members. Women use the money to enhance their income generatingactivities, the profits of which benefit members and their families. The interest collected on the loans is used to benefitthe school. More funds would enable UNICEF and its partners to provide larger capital funds, in addition to literacy andnumeracy training for Mothers engaged in income generating activities.

How doesUNICEF

help?

Each of the three schools in this complex has its own Mothers of

Students Association. All of the women in the village are members

of one or more of them. This is because even if they don’t have

children or grand children in one of the schools now, they will.

Meeting together with the other women in the association gives us

a place where we can talk about our views on schooling and

children, and what we can do to make things better.

We hold a big meeting for all of the members once a quarter

during the school year. But the five of us in the leadership

committee meet more often. It is our job to make sure the Bisongo

functions well. This means supporting the monitor so she can do

her job. Two or three mothers come in every morning to cook a

snack of couscous for the children. Because we are here we can

also help by taking children out to pee, bringing water from the

borehole, and taking home any child who falls sick.


Another way we help the Bisongo is by doing income generating

activities. In 2009 UNICEF provided our association with 190,000

CFA (US $380) in seed money. We have been using it to generate

income for our families and for the Bisongo. It works like this: every

three months some of the women in the association take out small

loans of 5000-10,000 CFA (US $10-20) from the capital fund. Some

use it to buy cereals that they sell for a profit in the market. Others

dry mango slices or roast nuts and sell them. Still others make and

sell shea butter or a local condiment called ’Soumbala’.

After having use of that money for three months, the women

keep any profit they make and return the money they borrowed

along with ten per cent interest. The money goes back into the

capital fund and the interest supports the Bisongo. If all goes well,

that means we contribute 19,000 CFA (US $38) to the Bisongo

every three months. Most of this money is used to provide the

Mothers of Students AssociationSet up to give women a voice in their children’s schooling, Mothers of Students Associations are working in schools across the country to support education—particularly for girls—and to support schools through income generating activities.


children with food every day. Our husbands provide the maize for

the couscous as part of the annual Bisongo contribution. We use

the money we take in to buy the onions, oil and shea butter we use

to prepare it. Our contribution has also allowed us to buy plates and

bowls, buckets and cooking pots and to help to provide school

materials for the children. If there is anything left over we give the

teacher a little something for her work.

The system is working well. The profit from our income

generating activities allows us to buy clothes and shoes for our

children and contribute to any shortfall at home. Some of us also

use it to pay the annual Bisongo fee. But it would work even better

if we had more money in the capital fund.

Currently each woman only gets a small loan of 5,000 to 10,000

CFA (US $10-20) once or maybe twice in a year. If there was more

to loan out we could make more in profit and the return for the

Bisongo would be greater. That would allow us to buy more toys

and learning materials for the Bisongo and improve the snack.

The Bisongo is important to women. We are always the ones

who suggest sending our children there, and if our husbands say

no or can’t pay the fee we will work to find a way. The Bisongo

allows us to work, it allows our older daughters to go to school,

and it provides our young children with a safe place to play and

learn—and prepares them for primary school. Children who go to

the Bisongo are sharper. They pick things up faster and they do

better in school.

Most of us never had the chance to go to school. We don’t want

our children to be like us. Being illiterate is discouraging. Some-

times we don’t even know if our income generating activities have

earned a profit. If we had gone to school things would be different.

Sending our children to the Bisongo is an investment in their future.


UNICEF training also makes members of the Mothers of Students Association aware of steps they can take topromote girls’ education and welfare. This includes sensitizing other women about the necessity of enrolling theirdaughters in school and helping them succeed, participating in the annual recruitment of pupils to make sure girlsare accepted in school, and monitoring girls’ attendance to ensure they come to school regularly. Members alsolearn about preventing early and/or forced marriages of young girls who are in school.

How doesUNICEF

help?

10:38 The Children sit in the shade and eat the cous cous we prepared.


11:23 Fatimata finishes the morning by reading the children a story.


13:18 Back at home, Oumou spends the afternoon playing with her cousin.



15:35 My workgoes moreslowly duringthe afternoon.


16:40 My husband is a farmer. He has workedall day to build a granary to store the harvest.


17:27 My two older children come home from school.


17:40 While Korotimi does her homework I usually sit withOumou and ask her about what she did at the Bisongo. I enjoy

seeing how her time there is helping to develop her mind.

Sending young children like Oumou to preschoolprepares them to succeed in primary school.

UNICEF is working with communities and education authorities to provide quality

community-based preschools to young childrenthroughout Burkina Faso.

www.schoolsforafrica.org

—Oumar SanogoSafiatou’s father

In the past if your child didn’t succeed inschool you just said ‘Oh well, never mind. Youcan come back to work with us in the fields.’And we really didn’t understand the value ofeducation for girls. Now things are differ-ent. We understand the value of educationand we know what parents and children

would be missing without it.

The primary school

Schools for Burkina Faso Safiatou’s story 53

In 2002 just 31 per cent of girls in Burkina Faso were enrolled in primary school, compared to 41 per cent of

boys. Not only were parents unconvinced of the value of school—particularly for girls—but also sending girls to

school meant high costs, both indirect and direct, for their families. Girls who spent their days in school were no

longer available to take care of younger siblings, do household chores, or work to earn an income. For many

families the cost of school fees and materials was prohibitive. Without sufficient resources to send all of their

children to school, parents had to choose, and they chose to send the boys.

UNICEF’s strong advocacy for the promotion of girls’ education has helped bring about change. They have built

more schools, designed them with girl-friendly features like separated latrine blocks and brought them closer to

villages. The support of UNICEF and other partners has enabled the government to eliminate school fees,

provide free school materials and pay PTA fees for girls in the first year of primary school. The result is that today

many more girls attend school than ever before. Gender parity has almost been reached and gaps in enrolment

have narrowed. However, when it comes to completion and success rates, girls are still at a disadvantage,

particularly in rural areas. In 2010-11 59 per cent of girls enrolled in primary school (compared to 63 per cent of

boys), and only 49 per cent completed the six-year cycle (55 per cent boys). Of those that stayed on, just 62 per

cent passed the end of primary school exam (69 per cent boys).

In the following pages you will meet Safiatou Sanogo. She is now in the sixth grade, and if she successfully

finishes school this year, she will be the first of the 16 children in her family to complete primary school.

Whereas just ten years ago it was unlikely that girls like Safiatou would have been in school, today her family’s

hopes are riding on her success. An important factor that has promoted girls’ education in her village is the

narrative you hear from every parent who has a daughter enrolled in school: girls who get an education will get

a job and look after their parents much better than their brothers ever will. Safiatou’s aunt, who is a nurse, has

made good on this promise. Safiatou and her parents hope that she will too.

The primary school


06:03 In the morning I sweep outside our house and fetch water from the well to wash myself and more for my family to use during the day.


06:40 We eat rice porridge for breakfast.

07:05 I leave for school with my cousins and other children who live nearby.


07:30 When I get to school I play with my friends and then we line up and go into the classroom.


Safiatou SanogoSafiatou, 12, is in the sixth grade at Sokoroni ‘A’ primary school

When I grow up I want to be a teacher or a nurse or maybe

something even better, like a doctor.

I’m glad that I am going to school. Those who don’t get to attend

school usually have to work in the field with their parents. I think it’s

better to go to school because if you do, then one day you can get

a job and help your family. This is especially true for girls. When a

girl succeeds in school and gets a job she will help her parents and

her family.

It is good that so many girls are in school now. We do the same

work as the boys— sweeping the classrooms, cleaning the

latrines—we work side by side. Girls are just as good as boys. But

if you ask me, girls are smarter. The boys like to play and we like to

learn. We work harder in school and we do better. It is always a girl

who is top of the class.


08:56 Geography is my favorite subject. I like learning about what is around me: the land, the rivers the trees and the sky.

Alimata Konate

Member, Sokoroni ‘A’ Mothers of Students Association

There are a lot of students in this school. Parents need to help if the scho

ol is going

to function well. I come every day to check up on things in the classrooms. I don’t have

a regular time. I come at a different time every day so that they can’t prepare for

my visit. Every morning the children are supposed to take turns sweeping out the

classrooms. If I find that a classroom is dirty I have them sweep it again. If a child is

sick, I take them home and make sure their parents take them to the dispensary. If

a child is absent I go to their house and ask why. Sometimes I learn that, for example,

a boy was sent to be a herder. If that is the case I talk with his parents. I

help them

to understand that while there is a future in herding, it is limited. I explain to them

that there is a broader, more important future in education. After I talk with them

for a while they understand. They find someone else to watch the cattle and send

the

child back to school. Schools for Burkina Faso Safiatou’s story 61

09:22 Madame Konate comes in to checkour classroom every day. She walks aroundto see if anybody is absent or if any of the students in class is sick. She alsomakes sure the students who cleaned the classroom that morning did a good job.



Brahima SanouDirector, Sokoroni ‘A’ Public Primary School and Safiatou’s teacher

When I was a boy my father had a lot of land and 22 children. But

only five of us went to school—and that was primarily because our

mothers paid for it. My father didn’t believe education had any

value. ‘Every day educated people—teachers and civil servants—

come and ask me to sell them a small piece of land on which to

grow some crops,’ he would tell me. ‘Why on earth would I want

to pay to keep you in school? Clearly there isn’t any value in getting

an education.’ When I told him I wanted to train to be a teacher he

said the same thing. I found the money elsewhere and continued

my studies.

Eventually my father was forced to re-evaluate his position. It

had started raining less and less and agriculture was in decline. He

could no longer feed his family very well. That was when he came

to me for help—which I never hesitated to give.

Education may have been a luxury in the past, but with all of the

changes taking place in the world today, it is key. Take something as

simple as a cell phone. If you don’t know how to read and write,

you can’t use a cell phone very well. Mathematics is important for

women involved in small commercial activities who need to know

how to count and calculate. Educated people who travel from place

to place can do so without getting lost. Mothers who are educated

take better care of themselves and their children. Even a herder can

use what he learns at school. He will know how to better manage

the cattle if he knows how to read, write and calculate.

The rapid growth of our population means there is not enough

land for everyone. We need to teach our children to do other things.

They can’t all be farmers. Education is key for development. It

provides the basis for the skills people need to get a job. Many

parents now understand this and it is one of the reasons enrolment

is going up every year.

We want many more children to go to school, and the

government and its partners are making every effort to get them

there. For many parents the cost has always been a challenge. In

2007 the government took a big step by making primary schooling

free and making school materials—books, notebooks, pens and

pencils—free for all students. Materials alone could cost parents

as much as 4000 CFA (US $8) per child per year. Today parents only

pay the PTA fee, which in this school is 1000 CFA (US $2) per child

per year. Most can afford to pay but for some even this is too much.

In 2007 the government also started paying PTA fees for girls in

the first year of primary school. This, along with the work we have

When UNICEF builds a school they equip it withdesks and chairs, provide water and sanitationfacilities and contribute to teacher training. TheMinistry of National Education and Literacy(MENA) trains the teachers, pays their salaries,provides school supplies and contributes two-thirds of the food cooked in school canteens.

How doesUNICEF

help?


been doing to make the community aware of the need for girls’

education, resulted in a big increase in enrolment, especially for

girls. In that one year the number of girls in this school went from

40 to 106. Today girls outnumber boys 227 to 187.

Now that many more children are enrolled, we face another

challenge: we don’t have enough classrooms or teachers. When I

first started teaching here eight years ago there were just three

classrooms and, on average, 50 children in a class. UNICEF built six

new classrooms here in 2006-7—one for each grade. Now each of

these classrooms has, on average, 60-70 students per class—and

some have far more. Our fifth grade class has 116 students in one

classroom with one teacher. This makes it hard for teachers to

teach; we spend a lot of our teaching time just maintaining

discipline. It also makes it hard for students to learn.

Of course, students who don’t learn don’t do well in school. Poor

performance is a big reason students drop out of school. Others

drop out because their parents are no longer willing or able to pay

the PTA fees. Still others are pulled out to help at home. But even

those who continue may not successfully complete primary school.

In school year 2010-11 only 79 per cent of our sixth grade students

passed the primary school exit exam. And only 60 per cent of those

who passed went on to the local secondary school. This is in part

because families can’t afford it, but it is also because space is even

more limited in secondary school. They simply cannot take all of the

students that want to attend. And even if they had the space—say

another three classrooms—there would not be enough teachers.

So they take only the best. Until recently those who were denied

entrance had two choices: repeat the sixth grade hoping to get a

better score the following year, or drop out.

This is where education complexes like this one are really

benefitting the community. Previously adolescents who were not in

school had few choices. They could go somewhere to look for work

or work with their parents in the field. Now, when they do not

succeed in school they have the immediate alternative of going to

the CEBNF.

And for those who are just starting school, the Bisongo gets

them ready for school, so they do better when they get there. The

very first class that ‘graduated’ from the Bisongo is now coming

through the primary school. I know all of them. Most if not all of

them have continued in school and they are better students than

those who did not have the chance to attend.

No one school totally meets all of our needs, but these three

complementary schools, taken together, allow us to respond to the

differing needs of all of our children.

UNICEF’s child-friendly schools model, set to berolled out across the country by 2017, will increaseaccess to primary education for children in remotevillages—with a particular focus on girls’ enrol-ment. It will also improve student performance and reduce the dropout rate by providing a child-friendly learning environment and more trainedand motivated teachers.

How doesUNICEF

help?



10:04 At break time I buy a snack: bean beignets with shea butter.


10:15 Every day atbreak some of thechildren clean thelatrines. Today theboys bring water fromthe borehole and thegirls do the cleaning.

UNICEF’s Child-friendly schools always featurespatially separated latrine blocks for boys andgirls along with a borehole to provide studentswith potable water. Separate latrine blocks makeadolescent girls in particular feel comfortable atschool and safe water means that children stayhealthier—and are able to attend regularly.Hygiene education is an important part of thechild-friendly curriculum, contributing tochildren’s well-being both at school and at home.

How doesUNICEF

help?


11:35 Every morning a group of mothers cooks our lunch. Theystart cooking early in the morning and finish just before noonwhen they fill our lunch pails full of warm cous cous.

Karidia Sanogo

Canteen manager and member of

Sokoroni ‘A’ Mothers of Students Association

Every day members of the Mothers of Students Association

take it in turns to cook lunch for all of the children in the

primary school. The food is free-—provided by the government

and by parents’ PTA contributions.

The canteen is important. Without it some of the children

would go home at noon and find that most of the food has

been eaten by the rest of the family, or that their parents

are away working in the field and there isn’t anything to eat

at home. In Burkina Faso we have a saying: when you pound

millet the hens will come around and eat it. After that they

won’t go anywhere else. It is the same for children. If they

get food at school and don’t have to go looking for it else-

where, they will stay here. And all of the time and energy

they save can be put into learning.


12:14 After lunch I talkwith my friends for awhile and then I gohome. Classes don’tstart again until 15:00.



Parent Teacher Association Found in all schools, the PTA is a traditional community-based organisation that works to support the functioning of the school. The committee consists of both men, who make up the leadership of the PTA, and women, who lead the AME.

There are a lot of children in the school and not enough resources.

If the school is going to function well it needs the help of the PTA.

It is our role to work with the teachers to support the school and

find solutions to its problems.

This involves organising all kinds of work. Every year before the

beginning of school we mobilize the community to clean the

school. We also repair windows, doors and school furniture as the

need arises, and repaint the blackboards.

We buy teaching and learning materials if what the Ministry

gives is not enough, we pay the cost of the school’s participation in

sports activities, and we give money to the director if he has to

travel on school business.

The money to do all these things comes from the PTA

contribution of 1000 CFA (US $2) that parents are asked to make at

the beginning of each school year for every child they enrol.

Unfortunately getting them to pay has proved a major challenge.

But we never force them. The law is strict on this. No child should

be put out of school for not paying the PTA contribution. And if we

try to use force they may take their children out of school, and then

both the child and the community lose. Instead we try to make

them understand how the money is used and why it is important.

Parents are also asked to give eight kilograms of grain per child

per year to the canteen. This makes up two-thirds of our yearly

grain needs. The government gives the rest.

Attendance and tardiness are other challenges we are working to

address. Some children leave home and never actually arrive at

school. We talk with parents to make them aware of the problem

and encourage them to follow up. Other children come to school

late because they are doing their chores at home. Doing chores is

fine, but we talk with parents about the importance of ensuring

their children can still get to school on time.

Being a PTA member requires a lot of our time, but who better

to support the school than its parents? Everything we give is an

investment in our children’s futures.

As part of its child-friendly approach, UNICEFsupports capacity building for communitymembers in the PTA, AME and SMC. Literacylessons, parental education and sensitization onthe CFS approach allow community members tobetter support their children and the school.

How doesUNICEF

help?


13:21 While I’m home during the lunch break I help my family...


15:47 I have French and Mathematics classes in the afternoon.


Suzanne SidibéProvincial Director for Basic Education, Ministry of National Education and Literacy (MENA), Kénédougou Province

School enrolment in this district continues to rise, reflecting the

success of a number of measures. Over the last decade, as part of

the National Basic Education Plan, the government of Burkina Faso

and its partners have invested heavily in building schools and

eliminating fees so that most, if not all, of the children in Burkina

Faso have access to school.

Involving civil society has also helped. As parents have come to

understand that the future of their children now depends less on

the education they get at home and more on the education they

get in school, they have looked for ways to help schools to function

well. They are now involved in School Management Committees,

PTAs and Mothers of Students Associations. They are also working

to sensitise others in their communities about the importance of

schooling their children.

If you come here during enrolment time you will see long lines

of children with their parents waiting to register for school. And

today in many schools over half of the students are girls.

In 2012, as we embark on a new National Basic Education Plan

(2012-2020), we face great challenges. The first is still access to

school. But today, in most cases, this is because the demand for

education is greater than the supply. We don’t have enough

schools, and the existing schools cannot take all of the children

who want to attend.

Retention in school is another challenge. The government is

working on measures to address the issues that lead to children

UNICEF’s contributions to the Common BasketMechanism (which it provides through theagency’s own resources, not donor funding) havehelped make it possible for the government ofBurkina Faso to eliminate school fees and materialcosts for children in public primary schoolsthroughout the country.

How doesUNICEF

help?


We often use examples ofsuccessful women to convinceparents to send theirdaughters to school. Theformer Minister ofEducation came to Sokoronifor the innauguration of theschool. Our ProvincialDirector for BasicEducation is also a woman.When she visits the schooleveryone is inspired.

—Brahima SanouDirector, Sokoroni ‘A’ Public Primary School



dropping out. By 2015 we aim to see 75 per cent of the children

who start primary school successfully complete the sixth grade.

Children with disabilities are another challenge. Some schools

have the facilities to let them in, but most do not. The government

realises that they cannot achieve the Millennium Development Goal

for education unless all of these children are in school. We realize

that it is unlikely that we will be able to achieve this by 2015, but we

are committed to ensuring that by 2020 all children will be in school

and they will stay there long enough to finish.

In order to achieve this we must respond to the reality of this

country. We want to educate our children but we also realise that

there are not enough jobs for all of them afterwards. Education

must be relevant and adapted to the country’s needs. Our plans

take this into account. School complexes like this one are an accep-

ted model: those who graduate from the formal school and cannot

go on to secondary school now have the option of going on to the

CEBNF. And those that do well can go on to secondary education.

Burkina Faso has limited resources. Achieving our goals will

require us to mobilize the entire society. We will also need the

help of our partners and donors.

Over the years UNICEF has made a great contribution to

education in Burkina Faso. They have constructed schools and

CEBNFs, trained teachers, and provided technical, logistical and

material support to the MENA. Working together we look forward

to the day when our joint efforts will finally result in Education

For All.

UNICEF is working to reinforce MENA’sinstitutional capacity by providing staff withtraining in the development of gender sensitivecurricula and materials, child rights issues, micro-planning, etc. They also provide the Ministry withessential logistical support, including motorbikesthat allow school inspectors to travel to remoteschools for monitoring and evaluation.

How doesUNICEF

help?


17:30 Some of our oranges are ready to harvest. After school I help my family collect some of the fruit so that it can be taken to the market tomorrow.



Oumar SanogoSafiatou’s father

My concerns for my children are, in order: feeding them, making

sure they have a place to live, taking care of their health and then

finding the means to ensure their education.

This hasn’t always been easy. I have 16 children. Ten are grown

up, and one is a baby. Currently five of them are in school—one in

the non-formal centre, one in the Bisongo and three in the primary

school. The PTA fees really add up. But we try. We tighten our belts

and pay little by little.

Most of my ten oldest children never went to school. Those who

did all ended up dropping out. I never pulled them out; they were

performing poorly so they didn’t want to continue. At that time

most people had a poor understanding of what school was all

about. If your son didn’t succeed you just said ‘oh well, never mind,

you can come back to work with us in the fields.’ And we really

didn’t understand the value of education for girls.

Now things are different. We understand the value of education

and we know what parents and children would be missing without

it. That’s why all of my youngest children—except the baby—are in

school. School provides the knowledge, skills and abilities they

need for the future. My dream for Safiatou is that she will progress

well in school and if she finishes, that she will get a job that will

allow her to take care of herself and to help us.

But there are immediate benefits, too. For example, because

she can read, Safiatou can sort out all of our family papers like birth

certificates. And if we ever had to go to court for any reason,

having someone in the family who speaks, reads and writes in

French would be really important.

Over the years I have also come to believe that education can

even help you do better as a farmer. For a long time I felt a lot of

regret at not having gone to school myself. So five or six years ago,

when I was about 60, I decided to attend literacy classes in the

village. Now I can read and write in Dioula [the local language].

The world has changed. Today education provides the basis for

so much of what you need to know. Without it you are ignorant.


The education of girls like Safiatou is essential to the development of Burkina Faso.

UNICEF is working with communities and educationauthorities to ensure all children in Burkina Fasoreceive the kind of quality basic education that

is the springboard to a brighter future.


—Issa DialloSiaka’s father

I am pleased with what Siaka is learning at thenon-formal education centre. In fact, I prefer it tothe formal school because in addition to receiving abasic education he is also learning a trade. He willbe able to make a contribution to the family, notonly with what he earns but also by sharing with

us all of the things he is learning at school.

The non-formal basic education centre

Schools for Burkina Faso Siaka’s story 87

The non-formal basic education centreToday in Burkina Faso about 29 per cent of children never go to school. For those who are fortunate enough to

attend, success is not a given. Over the course of the six-year cycle, a staggering 48 per cent of the children will

drop out—mostly due to poor performance—leaving just 52 per cent of the children who originally enrolled (55

per cent boys and 49 per cent girls)—to complete their primary education.

With only enough space for the best and brightest to go on to secondary school, it is clear that what most

parents see as the promise of formal education—that their children will go to school and eventually acquire

sufficient knowledge to get a salaried job—is not being met. So it is that, armed with a sixth grade education or

less, many rural adolescents migrate to cities and neighbouring countries in search of whatever menial work

they can find.

With UNICEF’s support, non-formal basic education centres (CEBNF) are addressing these challenges by

offering out of school adolescents a second chance at basic education and the opportunity to learn a trade.

In the following pages you will meet Siaka Diallo. Siaka entered Sokoroni’s CEBNF with minimal basic

education and a dream: to be a tailor. Today he spends the first hour of every morning at school learning the

basic literacy and numeracy that provide the foundation he needs to do well in the tailoring workshop, where he

spends the rest of his day. For some adolescents the basic education they receive in the CEBNF provides them

with an alternative route into the formal system, but for most it is a path into vocational training in mechanics,

masonry, weaving or tailoring.

Parents like the CEBNF: their adolescents now have the chance to learn right there in the village. They no

longer worry about them leaving home and putting themselves at risk working as herders, or as hawkers or

domestic workers in distant cities. Children like it: they are in school for a shorter time and come away with a

practical skill that allows them to support themselves and their parents. And the Government likes it: providing

out of school children with a basic education is essential to achieving education for all.

88 UNICEF Burkina Faso88 UNICEF Burkina Faso

06:00 I sweep outside the house and light the fire before everyone gets up.

06:21 We have maize porridge for breakfast.

Schools for Burkina Faso Story title 89www.schoolsforafrica.org 89

07:00 My sister and I walk to school.


Siaka DialloSiaka, 16, is a first-year student in the non-formal education centre in Sokoroni where he is studying to be a tailor.

This is my first year in non-formal education. I like it. In school I

learn a lot of things—how to read, how to write. But what I like

best is that I am learning to sew. I have a dream: to become a

successful tailor and have a big shop where I make the best suits

for people and I become well known and appreciated for that.

I didn’t always go to school. I was a herder until I was 11. Then

I went to live with my aunt in the city. She enrolled me in night

classes. I didn’t have much to do in the day so I told her I wanted

to learn to sew. She used to send her clothes to a tailor. One day I

asked him if he could teach me to sew. He agreed. For the next

four years I worked with him every day. In the morning I would do

my chores, wash, have breakfast and then go to the tailor shop. I

would work with him until 6 pm, when I would go home, take a

shower and go to school.

A few months ago I moved back home to Sokoroni. My father

told me about the non-formal basic education centre and I wanted

to go. In night school I was only learning a little French. I am still


learning French, but I am also learning so much more. We read

about animal husbandry, health and nutrition and the environment.

We do drama and take care of the school garden. On top of all of

that I am also learning a practical skill that will bring me a lot of

benefits in the future.

When I’m not at school I help with the family chores. I help my

mother clean the compound. I work in the vegetable garden with

my uncle or help with the harvest in the fields. If there is no other

work I help my brother with our cattle. He’s working as a herder

this year. I’m glad it’s not me.

Herding is a difficult job. It’s a lot harder than going to school.

And there’s not much of a future in it. Some people my age leave

school to look for work far away from their villages or to work as

herders. If I could, I would advise them to look beyond all of that. It

won’t lead you anywhere. One day you will be back where you

started. But if you go to school and learn a trade you will have a

future and you will also be able to help your family.


07:30 It’s my turn to raise the flag before school starts.


07:58 I have one hour of basic education every morning. We learn to read and write by studying practical subjects:health, nutrition, hygiene, population and the environment,gardening and animal husbandry. We also learn about HIV/AIDS.


Non-formal education normally serves children aged 9-15 who

never had the chance to go to school or dropped out along the way.

Drop out rates are high. But this is not about the children as

much as it is about the parents. They may accuse the child of

performing poorly and send them to work in the fields or herd the

cattle. Or they may say they don’t have enough money to pay for

school—education is free, but the PTA contribution can be a lot,

especially if they have many children in school. Other parents with

too few children will often withdraw them to help at home. Still

other parents don’t feel that school fits their needs: a child has to

finish six years of primary school and then spend four years in

secondary school, and maybe even go on to further education or

university before they see any tangible benefit in the form of a job

and an income. Whereas if they send that child to herd someone’s

cattle, in two years he will receive two animals of his own.

For their part children can become impatient when it comes to

school. They are attracted to money and material things. They think

that if they leave school they can work and earn money. So they

leave home in search of work. In time they return home with some

money, they buy a bicycle and go back to farming with their family.

And there are so many people to feed. The harvest is not enough to

meet the family’s needs and they realise that it would have been

good to have the income a job would have provided. That is when

they finally understand the necessity of having an education.

This is one of the reasons so many of them are now coming to

the CEBNF. When it opened in 2007-8 we had just 40 students. In

the years since there has been a continuous positive progression in

enrolment. This year we have 83 students (36 girls, 47 boys) and

Seydou CoulibalyDirector of the Non-Formal Basic Education Centre (CEBNF)

UNICEF constructs basic education classroomsfor CEBNFs and equips the workshops withsewing machines, tools and supplies formechanics, masonry and weaving. In addition,UNICEF provides support in the form of capacitybuilding for teachers and improvements to thecurricula. They also monitor and evaluate thelearning that is taking place.

How doesUNICEF

help?

demand continues to grow as more parents become aware of the

centre and what it can offer their children.

Parents and children both like what the centre offers: it gives

them a measure of knowledge and also teaches them a trade. For

example, they can learn tailoring—and then they can make clothes

for their parents and their community and also earn some money to

help their family. It is the same for those who are learning

mechanics, masonry or weaving. Having a child who is skilled in

these areas is a big advantage not only for the family but also for

the community.

I feel good about what we are doing here with non-formal

education. Burkina Faso is a poor country without a lot of means.

Parents know that kids will go all the way to the end of their studies

before finding a job—if they find a job. That’s why centres like this

are so important. It is not a long cycle but it still commits young

people to acquiring knowledge and allows them to create

something through their own labour, which meets their needs in

addition to those of their families and their communities.

Siaka is a good example of what this centre has

to offer. Here is a child who only went to night

school, but his abilities surpass a lot of children

who have spent much more time in primary

education. One gets a sense from him that he

really wants to learn. Joining the CEBNF has

been a great opportunity for him.—Seydou Coulibaly


Moumount Sanogo, Theatre trainer and farmer

I have been working as a volunteer with the children in the CEBNF since 2009. I work with the

teacher to figure out what themes will reinforce the life skills they are learning in class. We’ve

done shows in the village that have focused on forced marriage, FGM/Cutting, HIV/AIDS and family

planning. Nobody here has a television. People can receive some of the same messages we present

if they listen to the radio, but there is a difference. The radio is passive and this is active. The

kids love doing it and the people in the village enjoy watching and learning. We are currently working

on a drama about the CEBNF. The idea is that if more people understand its benefits, more will enrol.

One of the characters in our play explains it this way: “In non-formal education you will learn some-

thing theoretical and you will also learn something using your ten fingers. This school is here to

solve the problem of young people having to go away to find work and being exploited.

08:24 In the CEBNF we have two hours of theatre class every week.

Alim SuloSewing trainer, CEBNF

I try to make the training in the workshops as

practical as possible. Theory is always followed by

a lot of hands-on work. At the end of the school year students hold an

exhibition where they show and sell some of the

items they made during the year. This shows the

local market what they can do—and it shows parents

the practical benefits of sending their children to

the CEBNF. After three years in the workshops the students

graduate. I help to place them in apprenticeships.

After some time most will go on to set up their

own workshops to work and earn for themselves.

It feels good to be teaching young people a

practical skill that they can use to create a better

future for themselves and their families.


09:08 In the workshops the trainerstarts the day with an hour of theory.Today she is showing us how to makethe bodice for a girl’s dress.


10:12 After the trainer shows us what to do, we work to make our own patterns.



13:14 The CEBNF breaks for lunch from noon to three. Today during lunch I go to the field to help my family harvest our sorghum.

Issa DialloSiaka’s father

I have seven children. The first two are boys, both named

Siaka. We call them ‘Siaka one’ and ‘Siaka two’. Siaka one

is 16 and he is studying to be a tailor. Siaka two is 15 and

right now he is working as a herder—-not because I need him

to herd cattle, but as a sort of punishment. A few months ago

he finished his first year of secondary school. He got bad

marks so he decided to drop out. That’s when I decided he

should spend a year herding our family’s cattle—that way he

could learn what his life will be like if he doesn’t go to

school. I’m still thinking about what I will do with him at

the end of the year. But one thing is sure: having my

children work as herders is not an option. It’s a waste of

their time. I can always pay someone else to look after the

animals. School, on the other hand, is important. They learn

things that will help them to one day get a job of their own.

So for Siaka two there are really only two options: returning

to secondary school or, like Siaka one, attending the non-

formal education centre. I’m not yet sure which it will be.

Siaka two:Going to school is a lot easierthan working as a herder. Rightnow I am out with the cattleevery day from 06:00 to 19:00. I have a lot of time to think——andI’m thinking that next year Imight like to go to the CEBNF andlearn to be a tailor like my brother.



Issa DialloSiaka’s father

It was our fault Siaka didn’t go to school. We hesitated. He is our

oldest. We didn’t know which year we were supposed to send him,

and by the time we understood our mistake, it was too late. So we

sent him to live with my sister in Bobo. She said that she would

take responsibility for schooling him. I know she had good

intentions, but night school wasn’t what we had in mind; a few

hours each night is not enough time to learn much. We brought him

back because I heard about the CEBNF and wanted him to take

advantage of that opportunity.

There are things that are difficult for me because I never went to

school. For example, when I take my produce to the market in

Sikasso I have to cross the border [with Mali]. There are customs

and police formalities. I can’t understand when they ask me

questions in French. And when I go into a shop that has price tags

on the goods I can’t read them. I have to ask the shop assistant to

read them for me. I always wonder if he is lying to me so that he

can charge me more. It is important that my children go to school.

I don’t want them to live with the same regrets and limitations

as me.

I am pleased with what Siaka is learning at the CEBNF. In fact, I

prefer it to the formal school because in addition to receiving a

basic education he is also learning a trade. Our family farms and

sells our crops, but what we earn is never enough. With Siaka

going to school and learning a trade he will be able to make an

added contribution—not only with what he earns, but also by

sharing with us what he learns every day at school.


15:32 Because I worked with the tailor I already know a lot more than the other students, but I just act as if I know nothing and do everything the way the trainer says to do it.

UNICEF constructs basic education classrooms forCEBNFs and equips the workshops with the tools,equipment and supplies to learn tailoring,mechanics, welding, carpentry, masonry andweaving. In addition, UNICEF provides support in the form of capacity building for teachers andimprovements to the curricula. Additional fundswould enable us to equip more CEBNFs with thetools these adolescents need to learn their trades.

How doesUNICEF

help?


16:08 We take turns working on the sewing machines.



The arrival of the non-formal education centre in this village was a

big relief for parents and children. Previously our children who were

out of school—whether because they had never gone or because

they had bad marks and at some point could no longer continue—

had few options. Some of the boys would hang around the village

with nothing to do. Others would herd cattle. Most would leave for

neighbouring countries to look for work.

The girls might stay and help their mothers with the housework

or work in the fields until they married, but most of them would

also leave to look for work in town.

We didn’t want them to go. We knew they would be exploited,

working long hours for little pay and that they wouldn’t have anyone

around that they could rely on. We were worried that our girls

would return pregnant.

The CEBNF is like a medication for these difficulties. Now our

children have another option. They learn to read and write and they

also learn a trade that will allow them to stand on their own two

feet when they finish.

Our role is to support the CEBNF in any way we can. This means

making sure the buildings are clean and safe, handling repairs,

making sure students attend regularly, helping with the school

garden, collecting contributions in kind for the canteen, holding

School management committeeThe School Management Committee (SMC) includes everyone in the village who has a stake in the CEBNF—including the Mayor, Commune Representatives, parents and teachers.

quarterly meetings with the community and thinking about how we

can make the education our children receive even better.

Recently we have been talking about the subjects on offer at the

centre. We would like to see the addition of some locally relevant

trades. For example, there are a lot of trees here. It would be good

if they could learn carpentry. Welding would also be good. Right

now if something breaks and needs welding we have to take it all

the way to Koloko (eight km away). There is also a lot of fruit in this

area—so much that mangoes often end up rotting on the ground.

Perhaps they could learn ways to dry the fruit and sell it.

Having our children here with us is very important. Thanks to the

CEBNF we can now follow them closely as they are learning and

make sure they have everything they need to grow up well.

The SMC was a UNICEF innovation that is nowconsidered so important that the MENA, with thesupport of the Japan International CooperationAgency (JICA), is now putting it in place in all of theschools in the country. The link is clear: where thecommunity is involved, children’s school performanceis better. UNICEF trains SMC leaders members sothat they understand relevant education issues andknow what is expected of them.

How doesUNICEF

help?


17:25 When I get home from school I quickly take down the laundry and start my homework.


17:50 I meet some friends on the way to my family’s garden.

18:03 I help my uncle water the garden. He is growing lettuce and tomatoes to sell in the market.



18:22 My friends and I walk back home.

Adolescents like Siaka, regardless of their schooling history, deserve the opportunity to learn and to achieve their dreams.

UNICEF is working with education authoritiesthroughout Burkina Faso to provide out of schooladolescents with a second chance at educationthrough non-formal basic education.


—Nelson Mandela

A good head and a good heart are always a formidable combination. But when you add to that a literate tongue or pen, then you

have something very special.

UNICEF in action:Making a difference for children in Burkina Faso

Schools for Burkina Faso UNICEF in action 117

In this final section we take a look at some of the ways UNICEF is working to address the educational

challenges faced every day by millions of children in Burkina Faso.

Though Burkina Faso is not on track to achieve Education for All by 2015, innovative UNICEF models such as

the education complex Oumou, Safiatou and Siaka attend, will help to ensure that all children—especially girls

and children in rural areas—have access to education by 2020.

UNICEF’s child-friendly school (CFS) model, with its focus on the well-being of the whole child, will help to

keep children in school. The quality of primary education on offer will improve as the CFS model is rolled out

across the country in the years leading up to 2017.

By working with communities, including school officials and members of Parent Teacher Associations (PTA),

School Management Committees (SMC) and Mothers of Students Associations (AME from the French) UNICEF

ensures the sustainability of these changes and brings communities together to invest in their children’s futures.

UNICEF in Action


UNICEF Burkina Faso contributes to the achievement of the

objectives of the national education plan (2012-2020). This includes:

• Increasing gross enrolment from 74.8 per cent (in 2009-2010)

to 100 per cent by 2015, with particular focus on vulnerable

children and children with specific needs.

• Increasing the completion rate from 46 per cent (in 2009-2010)

to 75 per cent by 2015, with particular attention to girls.

To achieve these objectives UNICEF and the Ministry of National

Education and Literacy (MENA from the French) are currently

implementing UNICEF’s child-friendly school (CFS) approach in

three regions of the country—with a focus on very remote

villages. The successful implementation of this approach will yield:

• An increase in both the demand for and the supply of education

services in the two regions, at both preschool and primary

school levels.

• An improvement in the quality of education at preschools,

primary schools and non-formal basic education centres.

Additionally, UNICEF Burkina Faso recognizes that in any

community, children have a variety of educational needs and

the formal primary school cannot meet all of them. To match

educational offerings more closely to the reality of children’s lives

and educational needs, UNICEF develops education complexes

made up of at least a preschool (Bisongo) and primary school or,

ideally, a Bisongo, a primary school, and a non-formal basic

education centre (CEBNF).

Each of these types of schools is already integrated [as stand

alone facilities] into Burkina Faso’s public education system.

However, UNICEF has found that bringing them together into a

single ‘education complex’ provides a seamless system whereby

all of the children in the village have access to appropriate

educational opportunities that take into account their age and

their previous experience in formal education.

The Bisongo provides children aged 3-5 with an appropriate

preschool education that is followed by an easy transition into

primary school. On the other hand, a 12-year-old girl who has

never gone to school or a 13-year-old boy who has dropped out,

will learn at the CEBNF, where the instruction on offer is adapted

to their age and learning needs—rather than entering into first

grade with six-year-old children.

To date 15 communities in Burkina Faso serving 5160 children

and 900 adolescents are benefitting from a UNICEF-supported

education complex. Having been thoroughly tested and

documented, the results of this approach now feed into national

level policy making. The government would like to roll it out

nationwide as a means to helping the country achieve Education

for All. However, limited resources make this difficult. Even now,

some CEBNF are not fully functional: significant resources are

required to provide enough tools to effectively teach adolescents a

trade—be they sewing machines on which to learn tailoring, looms

and thread with which to learn weaving or motorbikes and cement

Education for All: a comprehensive approach


with which to practice mechanics and masonry. Additional

resources would allow UNICEF to provide similar schooling

opportunities to more children in vulnerable communities and to

make the education complex model more of a reality in Burkina

Faso’s national education policy.

The following sections describe the three educational entities

that together constitute an ideal education complex.

Bisongos: community-based, child-friendlyearly childhood development centresAs part of an education complex, the Bisongo plays a critical role:

studies show that early childhood education, especially for

vulnerable children, significantly improves children’s chances to

succeed in primary and even secondary education. And children

who succeed are much more likely to stay in school.

For years UNICEF was the lead agency in early childhood

development in Burkina Faso. Few other organisations were

willing to invest. Today, thanks to UNICEF’s strong advocacy, a

national strategy has been drafted and adopted and many other

partners are involved. Though only three per cent of eligible

children are enrolled in Early Childhood Development (ECD)

programmes to date, that will soon change. The government’s

national education plan (2012-20) now includes an ECD strategy.

It aims to have 8.3 per cent of children aged three to five years

enrolled in ECD programmes by 2015 and 13.5 per cent by 2020.

To get more children into these programmes, UNICEF

developed the Bisongo model, which provides an affordable,

community-based approach to early education. Parents are

involved in the building process, women are selected by their

communities to work in the Bisongo, and parents contribute

to the provision and preparation of food for the children.

While Bisongos were previously built as stand alone facilities,

UNICEF has found them to have greater value when built in

conjunction with or near to an existing primary school, thereby

facilitating children’s transition into primary education.

Parents—particularly mothers—find the Bisongo valuable, as

it provides a safe place for their children to stay while they work.

It also frees older siblings, particularly girls, to go to school.

Some Results

Between 2000 and 2011 UNICEF Burkina Faso:

• Supported the building and equipping of 83 Bisongos that have

served more than 155, 000 children

• Worked with the Government to develop the national ECD

policy and curriculum

• Funded the training of about 4500 members of Mothers of

Students Associations (AME) and School Management

Committees (SMC) around existing Bisongos

• Provided 450 bicycles to the 83 Bisongos (five for each) for

use by monitors (3), AME members (1) and SMC members (1)

• Improved the competencies of 350 ECD trainers

• Trained over 200 parents in ECD integrated care, including

children’s education, health, nutrition, hygiene and safety.

Child-friendly primary schoolsIn Burkina Faso, as in many other developing countries, students

often attend schools in which the conditions are not conducive to

learning. A single teacher may have 70, 80 or even 100 students in

a class and students may sit on the ground instead of at desks. In

addition, schools often lack sanitary facilities, easy access to safe

drinking water and playgrounds.

UNICEF applies the child-friendly schools (CFS) model to all of

its schools around the world—whether formal or informal—as a

means to improve access to and the quality of education. The

model rests on the understanding that children’s learning and

development are affected by more than just teachers, curricula

and textbooks. The entire school and local environment—which

includes infrastructure, but also takes into consideration school

and community safety, gender and cultural issues, sanitation,

health and nutrition—also has a profound impact.

In many countries girls face particular challenges when it

comes to education. UNICEF Burkina Faso supports a variety of

‘girl-friendly’ measures to promote girls’ enrolment, retention and

learning. These include making curricula and school materials more

gender sensitive, training teachers and their pedagogic super-

visors to use gender sensitive approaches in the classroom,

creating student–led clubs to prevent violence against girls and

providing separate latrine blocks for boys and girls. The latter have

been found to play an important role in keeping girls in school as

they enter puberty.

In Burkina Faso the child-friendly model will be rolled out to

public primary schools throughout the country by 2017. Education

complexes, while not yet entirely child-friendly, already have many

child-friendly features—appropriate furniture, improved water and

sanitation, a sports field, a school garden and a canteen. In

addition, the community is involved in these schools through a

number of associations, including the PTA, SMC and AME. As

child-friendly schools become the norm, both children and

teachers will benefit from more participatory teaching and learning

practices and more group activities. Communities will benefit from

the emphasis on life skills and hygiene education.

Some Results

Between 2009 and 2011 UNICEF Burkina Faso built 47 new child-

friendly schools and converted 180 primary schools in two

provinces into CFS. In the process they achieved the following:

• Trained 443 teachers and pedagogic supervisors in UNICEF’s

child-friendly schools (CFS) approach

• Developed a CFS manual and teacher training guide

• Sensitised 180 SMCs on the CFS approach



Eliminating the cost of public primary education has had a

profound impact on the number of girls enrolled in primary

school. But when it comes to post-primary education there

is still a sizeable gap: 49 per cent of girls complete primary

school but only 28 per cent go on to enrol in post-primary

education (compared to 35 per cent of boys).

A host of factors conspire to put secondary school out

of reach for most girls including poor school performance,

critical shortages of classrooms and teachers and the burden

of school fees. But for many the biggest factor is the

distance to the school—often over five km —which is too

far to travel on foot every day and raises security concerns.

As a result, girls from rural areas must often move to town

to attend secondary school. Parents are reluctant to send

them. There is the additional cost of room and board, but

more troubling is the likelihood that their daughters may

return home pregnant, bringing shame on the family.

In response to these difficulties UNICEF Burkina Faso

has developed a model girls’ community house in the city

of Manga. This supervised and subsidized boarding house

provides a safe place for 100 girls to live while they are

attending school. Additional funds would allow UNICEF

to duplicate this model where need is greatest.

Girls and post-primary education• Provided literacy training for PTA, AME and SMC members

• Trained 250 parental education trainers who in turn trained 230

parent educators

• Provided financial support to 25 AMEs to facilitate the

implementation of their income generating activities

• Created 50 functional school gardens

• Installed sporting fields in 20 schools

• Opened school libraries in 20 schools.

Non-formal basic education centres In Burkina Faso 40 percent of children are out of school. There are

those who have missed out because they did not start school at

the official school entry age. Others may have started school but

for various reasons, dropped out without having attained basic

levels of literacy, numeracy and other school-taught skills.

CEBNFs give all of these children a second chance at learning—

in a programme that is locally relevant and appropriate to their

ages and needs. This alternative to formal education offers a

shorter course of basic education combined with training in the

skills adolescents need to pursue a trade.

The curriculum is practical, featuring life skills such as health

and nutrition, hygiene, HIV and AIDS prevention, the environment,

gardening and animal husbandry.

The trades on offer at each CEBNF vary according to regionally

specific employment and production needs and may include some

or all of the following: mechanics, tailoring, welding, carpentry,

weaving and masonry.

In the future UNICEF and the MENA will continue developing new

courses of study tailor-made for local conditions.

An end of year exposition provides CEBNF students with the

opportunity to showcase and sell their handiwork in the local

market—and presents parents with a compelling reason to send

their out of school children to the CEBNF.

If relevance is one of the keys to the success of CEBNFs, then

flexibility is the other. Each child’s schooling history is individually

assessed and the child is channeled into one of several tracks that

provide the right combination of literacy, basic education and

vocational learning to meet their specific needs.

For those who have never been to school, attaining a certain

level of basic education is key to getting the most from their

subsequent vocational training. These adolescents are streamed

into a four-year track where they acquire basic school and life

skills. Training during the first two years is in the local language.

The final two years are in French. At the end of the four years

students who are of the right age and have caught up sufficiently

have the option of transitioning into the formal school at secon-

dary level or continuing on at the CEBNF and learning a trade.

Adolescents who come to the CEBNF with some education

take a minimum of one year of basic education classes while

attending one of the workshops to learn their chosen trade.

While the benefit of these centres is clear, the high cost of

equipping them with the essential tools to teach students a trade

has kept their number low. Additional funding would allow UNICEF

to build and equip more CEBNFs thereby serving more out of

school youth.

Some results

Between 2000 and 2011 UNICEF Burkina Faso:

• Built 48 CEBNF serving 6122 students

• Provided CEBNF with the following: 36 received mechanic

tools; 16 received carpentry materials, 9 received masonry

material/equipment, 44 received sewing machines, 13 received

weaving materials, 2 received dyeing materials, 17 received

agricultural equipment, 4 received gardening equipment,18

received animal husbandry equipment, and 17 received

environmental education equipment

• Participated in the training of 250 MENA trainers and specialists

from other ministries who contribute to the CEBNFs

• Provided the MENA with 81 motorbikes to facilitate monitoring

and evaluation activities at UNICEF built schools and CEBNF

• Made technical contributions to reviews of the CEBNF

curriculum and learning materials (particularly books)

• Gave 130 kits to new CEBNF graduates; the kits contained

equipment related to their trade and allowed them to set up

their own small workshops.



Water, Sanitation and hygiene (WASH)in schools: an essential component of child-friendly schoolsPoor water, hygiene and sanitation contributes to poor

health, and consequently, to loss of school days due to

diarrhoeal diseases. Moreover, when girls reach puberty, the

absence of spatially separated blocks of latrines for boys and

girls can cause girls to drop out or miss school—particularly

during menstruation—for lack of privacy.

UNICEF was the first to promote WASH in schools in

Burkina Faso. As part of the CFS model, all UNICEF-

supported ECD centres, primary schools, CEBNF and

education centres are all equipped with safe water and

improved sanitation infrastructures. These, combined with

training in hygiene—with particular emphasis on using

latrines and proper hand washing with soap and water after

using the bathroom and before eating—have been proven to

increase school attendance and improve the health of all

students. By bring-ing this information home to their families,

children become agents of change—and better health—in

their communities.

Such improvements will become the norm in primary

schools in Burkina Faso as the CFS model is rolled out across

the country in the years leading up to 2017.

Mobilizing communities: it takes a villageSome of UNICEF’s most important partners in promoting child-

ren’s education are community members: mothers and fathers,

local leaders, principals, teachers and the children themselves.

As part of UNICEF’s child-friendly approach to schools, the entire

community becomes involved in the education of its children.

Committees and associations are formed to ensure continued

support for the children and the school. Traditionally public primary

schools in Burkina Faso have relied solely on the Parents and

Teachers Association (PTA). Today all UNICEF-built schools and an

increasing number of government-built schools—whether they

are Bisongos, primary schools or CEBNFs—rely on two other

associations that play an important and complementary role in

the functioning of the school: the School Management Committee

(SMC) and the Mothers of Students Association (AME).

Each community is different and has different needs. UNICEF

provides these community-based organisations (CBOs) with a

foundation in children’s rights, micro-planning and parental

education. Then, working together, members address local needs

and find locally appropriate solutions to the challenges they face.

Poverty is still the primary obstacle to education in Burkina

Faso. As in other developing countries, the poorer a child’s family,

the less likely that child is to attend and complete school—his or

her labor is needed to contribute to the family’s survival. And

though schooling is free, the PTA fee [1000-2000 CFA (US $2-4)

per child per year in the primary school] and SMC contribution

[2000-5000 CFA (US $4-10) per child per year for the Bisongo and

CEBNF] can still be prohibitive for some families.

The effects of poverty are exacerbated when the child is a girl,

has a disability or lives in a remote, rural area. Education for these

children is often seen as an unnecessary investment. Some of the

most vulnerable children suffer from a combination of these

excluding factors.

Getting the entire community involved in promoting the

inclusion of all children in school allows communities to develop

and implement sustainable, homegrown solutions that work. For

example, parents of out-of-school children may receive a visit from

a member of the AME or the SMC. If, for example, the child is not

coming to school because the family is too poor to pay the school-

related fees, arrangements can be made with the teacher for a

payment plan. If the child is out of school because her parents

don’t allow her to attend, community members talk with her

parents about the value of education and convince them to let

the child come to school. And if it is a health problem that is

keeping a child out of school, members of these CBOs might

offer to lend the parent money to take the child to a doctor.

Working together, communities are far more powerful and

flexible. They know how to best solve their own problems.


Parent Teachers Association (PTA) The first community-based organization in schools was the PTA.

This traditional association has long played a role in collecting

money for school needs and food for the canteen. The money is

used to take care of a variety of major needs including repairing

broken desks and chairs or purchasing new ones, helping new

teachers find a place to live, paying for the transport of books and

supplies from district headquarters to the school, and purchasing

additional classroom materials if there is a shortage.

School Management Committees (SMC) UNICEF supports the development of democratic school

management committees. These include more than just parents

and teachers. Everyone in the community is a member—from the

Mayor and local officials to teachers and parents. This provides a

broad base of support for the school.

After being elected or appointed by the community, the men

and women in the leadership committee attend a week-long

training to learn their role in the proper functioning of the school.

This includes maintaining the infrastructure, doing repairs, keeping

the school safe and clean and working with the Director and the

community to create an environment that is conducive to learning.

A UNICEF innovation, the MENA has been so happy with the

benefits SMCs bring to schools that they are building them into

the plan of every public school in the country.


Mothers of Students Associations (AME) In Burkina Faso, as in many countries, men dominate much of

public life and discourse. It was no different in the PTA, where

women, though they were members, were seldom given the

opportunity to speak. After repeated efforts to change this failed,

one school inspector decided he would try something new: setting

up a women-only association for the mothers of the students. It

worked. For the first time, women were able to express their

views on schooling and to discuss the best ways to make things

better for their children. Today its role is complementary to that of

the PTA: AME members help with the day to day running of the

school by making sure the food is cooked in the canteen, the

classrooms cleaned, the students are present, clean and following

the rules for good hygiene. Though not compulsory, the MENA

has encouraged schools across the country to set up AMEs.

When, as a result of UNICEF’s advocacy, the MENA began to

promote girls’ education country wide, AMEs became a natural

ally. Most of the members are illiterate—a condition they believe

is at least partially responsible for their lower social status—and

they do not want their daughters to share the same fate. Knowing

that their girls still have less opportunity than their boys to go to

school and to succeed, women in the AMEs decided to include

promoting girls’ education as one of their responsibilities. Having

their own association gave them the freedom to find the best

ways to do that.

It started with the fundamentals: each mother in the asso-

ciation was responsible for making sure her own daughters were

in school.

Members also agreed that it was important to encourage other

families to send their girls to school and then to check that the

girls who were enrolled were regularly attending. For the AME

leaders charged with doing this work, walking everywhere would

have required more time than they could spare. By sending bikes

to AMEs in UNICEF-built schools where girls’ education was low,

UNICEF helped to make this possible.

Later the women from the AME proposed the idea of doing

small-scale income generating activities, the proceeds from which

would help to support to both their children and the school. Today

UNICEF provides the “seed money” and AMEs loan it out to their

members on a revolving basis. The women keep the profits from

their activities and use this extra income to help feed their children

and to pay PTA and Bisongo fees if their husbands cannot—or will

not—pay. The ten per cent interest charged on each loan is used to

support the school.

Ending the cycle of poverty for children, their families and their communities

begins with education.—Anthony Lake

Executive Director, UNICEF

For further information contact

UNICEF Burkina Faso

UNICEF - Ouagadougou

01 BP 3420 Ouagadougou 01

BURKINA FASO

Tél : (+226) 50-30-02-35

Fax : (+226) 50-30-09-65

www.unicef.org/burkina faso

All children have rights that guarantee them what they need to

survive, grow, participate and fulfill their potential. Yet every day

these rights are denied. Millions of children die from preventable

diseases. Millions more don’t go to school, or don’t have food,

shelter and clean water. Children suffer from violence, abuse and

discrimination. This is wrong.

UNICEF works globally to transform children’s lives by protec-

ting and promoting their rights. Their fight for child survival and

development takes place every day in remote villages and in

About UNICEF

The Schools for Africa initiative is a successful international

fundraising partnership between UNICEF, the Nelson Mandela

Foundation and the Peter Krämer Stiftung. For more information

please visit www.schoolsforafrica.org.

bustling cities, in peaceful areas and in regions destroyed by war,

in places reachable by train or car and in terrain passable only by

camel or donkey.

Their achievements are won school by school, child by child,

vaccine by vaccine, mosquito net by mosquito net. It is a struggle

in which success is measured by what doesn't happen—by what

is prevented.

UNICEF will continue this fight—to make the difference for all

children, everywhere, all the time.

To fund all of its work UNICEF relies entirely on voluntary donations from individuals, governments, institutions and corporations. We receive no money from the UN budget.

UNICEF’s goal is to make a difference for all children, everywhere, all the time.



Documents

UNICEF Burkina Faso: Investing in the Future