The project duration is 12 months, from April 2021 to July 2022. The budget is 336,900 USD, donated by Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Japan.
Location: Eastern Burkina Faso, Sahel.
Context
Since 2015, Burkina Faso has experienced a continuous deterioration of security and is facing an upsurge in terrorist attacks. This security crisis is compounded by the COVID-19 health crisis, which affected the entire world in 2020. Among the challenges that these crises have created and exacerbated is the need to make the population more resilient, while growing insecurity is fueled by youth idleness and a sharp increase in the number of internally displaced persons (IDPs). However, the country's technical and vocational education and training (TVET) system is struggling to adapt its vocational skills programmes to these emergency situations, which would ensure the proper socio-economic integration of young people into society.
In order to ensure access to education for all, Burkina Faso has implemented the Stromme Foundation's initiative to reinforce the traditional basic education offer with an Accelerated Schooling Strategy/Bridging Centres (SSA/P). The SSA/P is designed to provide educational support to children and adolescents aged 9 to 12 who are not in school or who have dropped out early. Offering these children an accelerated training of 9 months, including two (2) months of teaching in the national language and seven (7) months in French, it allows them to integrate or reintegrate into Grade 2 of a traditional school.
It is in this context that UNESCO aims to contribute to social stability by developing skills for employment and education for peace and citizenship for out-of-school youth in the eastern regions of Burkina Faso and the Sahel through the project "Support for social stability through education and vocational training for out-of-school youth following the security and health crises in the Sahel and eastern regions of Burkina Faso". In order to ensure the successful implementation of this project, funded by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Japan, UNESCO is working in partnership with two ministries in Burkina Faso:
- The Ministry of Youth, Entrepreneurship Promotion and Employment (MJPEE), to improve the resilience of 150 young people aged 18 to 24 in high-risk security areas through vocational training and capacity building;
- The Ministry of National Education, Literacy and Promotion of National Languages (MENAPLN), to integrate peace and citizenship education modules into the curricula of the SSA/P bridging centres for 600 children and adolescents aged 9-12.
Objective
This project aims to offer young people in eastern Burkina Faso and the Sahel who are no longer in school, due to the security and/or health crisis, a chance to either continue their education through the bridging centres or to acquire the skills necessary for rapid integration into the professional world.
Expected results
600 children and adolescents aged 9 to 12 years old will be able to access a Grade-2 level class in a traditional school, after receiving an accelerated 9-month training in one of the bridging centres established under Accelerated Schooling Strategy/Bridging Centres (SSA/P). This training will provide them with theoretical and practical knowledge, including a component on living together and prevention of violent extremism through education (PVE-E). The children and teenagers will be provided with a school kit to support their learning.
150 young people between the ages of 18 and 24 will also benefit from this project, having the opportunity to undergo short-term vocational training in promising sectors, namely sewing, building electricity/solar energy, animal husbandry and sanitary plumbing. The vocational trainings will include a PVE-E component to build the capacity of youth to become agents of peace and non-violence themselves. In addition, the young people who successfully complete the trainings will receive installation kits to practice their professional skills, and will then be accompanied to carry out their income-generating projects and ensure their rapid and sustainable socio-professional integration.
This project thus contributes to the promotion of social stability in the targeted areas, by strengthening the skills of young people for employment and for their commitment to peace and citizenship, as well as by encouraging the integration of young people who have dropped out of school due to the security and/or health crises into the formal school system.
Beneficiaries
The beneficiaries are 600 children and adolescents aged 9 to 12 and 150 young adults aged 18 to 24, who have dropped out of school due to health and/or security crises in eastern Burkina Faso and the Sahel.
Articles
Partners
