The Netherlands Finances a Project for Girls and Women in Burkina

Promoting access to quality education and vocational training for Burkinabe girls and women between the ages of 15 and 35 is the objective of a consortium of international NGOs led by Solidar Suisse. Entitled “Promotion of girls’ access to a quality education and vocational training system” (PROMESSE-FP), the project, worth about $10.8 million (six billion CFA francs), was launched this Friday, July 9th, 2021, in Ouagadougou, under the chairmanship of Salifo Tiemtoré, Minister in charge of Youth. This project covers the North, North Central, East, and Sahel regions.

According to the 2018 statistical dashboard of the Ministry of Youth, Entrepreneurship Promotion and Employment, women have less access to jobs compared to men in Burkina. Indeed, studies conducted over the period 2014 to 2018 revealed that they occupy 43.3% of jobs against 56.7% for men.

Faced with this situation, the consortium of international NGOs (Solidar Suisse, Educo, and Aflatoun International), with the support of its partners, proposes to improve the employability of 15,625 girls and women and their access to a decent income. This will be achieved through the provision of vocational training, financial education, entrepreneurship training, leadership training, and the use of ICTs through the PROMESSE-FP project funded by the Embassy of the Kingdom of the Netherlands.

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A project on which the beneficiaries base their hopes

“Because of the security situation, my family and I left Barsalogho for Kaya since February 1st, 2019. I am happy to be here before you this morning to say thank you on behalf of the beneficiaries of the PROMESSE-FP project […], this project in favor of girls and women in the Sahel, Centre-North, North, and East regions. I am very happy on the one hand because many families like us have been welcomed by the people who help us feel like we are at home. In addition, the Dutch embassy and the consortium think about us, by solving our difficulties to get a job and the problem of unwanted pregnancies to help us to have a good training and a good job, we can only be the happiest […]”, confided Aimé W. Ouédraogo, the representative of the beneficiaries.

For the Minister in charge of Youth, Salifo Tiemtoré, this project is timely in that it will help reduce the number of young people recruited by terrorists. “If they have had an education, it is clear that they will not go in that direction. It is the lack of development that often creates this feeling of ‘left behindˮ that also takes these frustrated people to engage in terrorist actions and I think this project will help curb that,” he appreciated.

If nowadays data on gross access rates to education show almost equal access between girls and boys at the primary level, it is worth noting that the number of girls reduces considerably as they move up to the secondary level. This deserves relevant and significant actions to keep girls in school, according to the chargé d’affaires of the Embassy of the Kingdom of the Netherlands, Maarten Rusch.

Also, the multiple health problems faced by adolescents often due to poor management of their sexual and reproductive health (marked by high fertility, clandestine abortions, unwanted pregnancies in schools, among other things) constitute one of the obstacles to their development.

To achieve the objectives, actions will be carried out on the ground, and to do this, the consortium intends to work with local partners in the regions concerned by the project.

Promoting access to quality education and vocational training for Burkinabe girls and women between the ages of 15 and 35 is the objective of a consortium of international NGOs led by Solidar Suisse. Entitled “Promotion of girls’ access to a quality education and vocational training system” (PROMESSE-FP), the project, worth about six billion CFA francs, was launched this Friday, July 9, 2021, in Ouagadougou, under the chairmanship of Salifo Tiemtoré, Minister in charge of Youth. This project covers the North, North Central, East, and Sahel regions.

“We will set up mixed clubs for girls and boys to improve their sexual and reproductive health management skills in post-primary and secondary schools while sensitizing their fathers. This is to break down a certain barrier. There is also vocational training, to which few girls have access, so we will offer them appropriate training so that they have the courage to undertake […],” explained Sandrine Rosenberger, Solidar Suisse’s program manager for Burkina Faso.

To address this, PROMESSE-FP aims to promote better sexual and reproductive health management for 28,000 girls and 42,000 boys in 200 post-primary and secondary schools by 2024. For its successful implementation and the support of the various stakeholders, PROMESSE-FP was presented to the audience in order to collect their suggestions and recommendations during a panel discussion initiated for this purpose.

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(Featured image by jacejojo via Pixabay)

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First published in lefaso.net, a third-party contributor translated and adapted the article from the original. In case of discrepancy, the original will prevail.

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