Better Schools for Girls in Benin

After two years of working for “A better school for girls” in Côte d’Ivoire, we are very happy to share with you that the project has been successfully completed. The beneficiaries have been very active, and the social impact is remarkable. The evaluation of the project showed that teachers are using non-violent teaching methods, students are more fulfilled, there is a strong decrease in violence between students and a drop in gender-based discrimination.

Jules, a primary school teacher shared: “Since I started using the methods I learned with the training, I have noticed a clear shift from violence to courtesy, listening, and understanding in my classroom and in the teacher-student relationship.”  

By the end of the project, we had trained a total of 30 pedagogical counselors, 725 teachers and directors of schools, as well as 35 social workers and community members. The project also raised awareness and knowledge of non-violent education among 4,000 parents and positively impacted the lives of 40,000+ students.

The approaches, training and activities that we developed for the Better School for Girls program have now been integrated into our national teacher training program for Côte d'Ivoire and over the next few years, many more teachers and girls will benefit from the program.

Building on the success in Côte d’Ivoire, our teams are now focusing on the project in Benin. The first steps of the program are well underway with the first training workshops completed for 20 pedagogical counselors, 20 social workers and 400 teachers. Further teacher training is planned for this year as well as the roll-out of community activities. We are also working on the production of a unique TV series aimed at raising community awareness of issues affecting education for girls on a national scale.

We thank you for your interest and your support! We hope you will share this program with your friends and colleagues and encourage them to support the evolution of education for girls in Benin.

Please stay informed about Graines de Paix's activities in Benin on our Benin Facebook page and our other work West Africa, in Switzerland and elsewhere on our website.

Links:

• https://www.grainesdepaix.org/fr
• https://www.grainesdepaix.org/en/accueil?set_language=en

With the generous support of our GlobalGiving donors and other supporters, we have are excited to have launched the Better School for Girls project in Benin.

Despite increasingly equal access to school, girls drop out of school more quickly than boys and are still subjected to specific, gender-based violence such as discrimination, physical violence and abuse and early marriage.

Launching the program in Alibori in the north of Benin, a region bordered by highly unstable countries, our team are working with education directors, teachers, social workers, parents, traditional and religious leader and other non-profits to find local solutions to the questions of why education for girls is less valued than boys, why girls are subjected to particular forms of violence and why girls dont have the same prospects for success.

The next phase of the program will integrate this local context into a comprehensive training and support program designed to ensure that Benin's schools are safe places for girls to grow, learn and achieve success.