Lambs Support Village Girls' Education

The primary school girls supported by the Girls’ Education Project have done very well in school again this year. Eighty six percent of the girls in their final year of primary school passed government exams, qualifying them to continue their studies in middle school, compared to 70% of children in the general population passing these exams. Parents of girls supported through this project have been amazingly engaged which, along with NEEED’s encouragement, support and oversight, and of above all the girls’ hard work, has contributed to the girls’ success.

As a reminder, the project supports the first year of a village girl’s schooling and the purchase of a lamb, at a total cost of $90 through GobalGiving. The girl’s parents are responsible for helping her raise and sell her lamb each year thereafter to support all future educational costs for up to 13 years of schooling. This strategy encourages the parents to support their daughters’ educations in a way that they are able to (that is, once they have the initial donation of a lamb); and enables the project to use our modest funds to support a new group of 6 year-olds each year.

Demand for assistance with girls’ education continues to grow in neighboring villages. With your help, we hope to support an additional 300 girls to enter primary school next year.

With the help of donors from Germany, NEEED (the organization running the project in Burkina) has built two public secondary schools in the region in the past two years, and recently received funding to build a third. The addition of three public secondary schools in the region greatly expands the educational system’s capacity to ensure a secondary education to qualified students.

On behalf of NEEED and all the girls and their parents, we thank you for your past and continuing support which is crucial to the enabling these girls to go to school.

To quote Kofi Annan, former U.N. Secretary General: “There is no tool for development more effective than the education of girls”.

As always, we welcome your comments and/or questions.

Thanks to the generous support of GobalGiving donors, 300 more 6-year old girls entered school this year, girls like Bibata Ouedraogo in the village of Bissegaye (shown in the photo gallery with her grandmother and with her lamb which her parents care for and will sell in order to pay for next year’s school expenses). Bibata is doing extremely well in school and she and her family are very grateful for the support of GlobalGiving donors whose gift of school materials and a lamb have enabled her to begin her education. The yearly sale of a lamb and purchase of a new one will pay for Bibata’s school expenses through secondary school. Photo 9 in the photo gallery is of a group of middle school girls who, like Bibata, were initially supported by donors like you and whose parents continue to raise and sell their lambs every year in order to pay for their school expenses. Note the expressions on their faces. What a difference a few years of schooling can make! Thank you for giving these young girls the chance to go to school. With the initial donation of a lamb, the parents have been amazingly engaged in supporting their daughters’ educations; and the girls, the women of tomorrow in Burkina Faso, are doing extremely well in school.

We have 50 girls in our project who are benefiting from the Lambs For School Project in the village of Toessin and are going to school. As one parent says, "The association of parents of students of the primary school of Toessin thank NEEED and its partners for their support of our daughters through the Lambs For School Project. We are very happy."

Another mother says that she is thankful for the work/support which has been provided here at the primary school of Toessin.

Ouedraogo Rissanata, a student in our project is happy to be at the program and sends her thanks for your support.

Thank you for supporting these girls and their families.

I am very pleased to report that 182 girls who just completed six years of primary school with support of the Lambs For School Project have passed national exams this June, qualifying them to continue on to middle school. This is an 88% pass rate as compared with 61% of students passing these exams in the province as a whole.

The achievement level of these girls is a testament to: · the girls’ abilities and hard work; · the parents’ commitment to follow through with the raising and selling of their lambs, and purchase of new lambs and school materials for their daughters annually; and · the organization and integrity of NEEED (the local NGO whose membership includes school masters of the rural primary schools in which girls are supported by the Lambs for School Project ) to set realistic expectations of the parents and girls, to provide initial resources to enable the girls to enter school, and to provide guidance to the parents encouraging them to fulfill their commitments to support their daughters’ education.

NEEED is also assisting the government of Burkina Faso with the expansion of the public school system in the region. With outside funding, NEEED has just completed the construction of two public village primary schools, and is building two new public secondary schools in order to expand access to education for rural children. NEEED is seeking funding to expand the girls' middle school to accommodate the rising number of students.

Our sincere thanks to you for your past, and continuing, support for the Lambs For School Project.

We are extremely grateful for the very wide & generous support we received for the education of village girls in northern Burkina Faso during America's Giving Challenge (the recent fundraising competition sponsored by The Case Foundation, GlobalGiving, & Parade Magazine). The generosity of our supporters, combined with the very generous Case Foundation award, will help send over 1000 girls through 13 years of school! Your support will help us to respond to the rapid increase in villagers' requests for assistance in enrolling their daughters in school. We are also proud of the parents' remarkable follow through in supporting their daughters beyond our first-year support with school materials and a lamb.