Benin: Mothers' Associations
Help Keep Girls in School
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The mothers
of the Tandatédji
AME want their daughters
to be educated, and are willing
to challenge tradition to
see that they are.
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In the district of Karimama, Benin, fathers
often promise daughters—as young
as five or six—as brides to men
who are decades older. This cultural
tradition gains the girl's family favors
and gifts from the suitor, who hoes their
field, buys the girl clothes, and pays
a bride price, which, when paid in a
public ceremony, officializes the marriage
in the eyes of the community. As economic
times worsen in this already poor area,
the practice increases.
Once married, most girls stop going to
school. Even if mothers would like to
protect their daughters from early marriage
and keep them in school, mothers have
little say because, when they were married,
they too moved from their family villages,
so are considered outsiders.
The organization of mothers' associations,
established throughout Benin by World
Education's Girls'
Education and Community Participation
(GECP) project, has given women a
way to stand up for their children because,
as a group, their power is greatly increased.
The
USAID-funded Girls' Education and Community
Participation (GECP) project works in
750 schools in the poorest districts
of Benin to improve access to and the
quality of education for students, especially
girls.
The five-year program increases girls'
access to education by increasing community
participation, especially on the part
of women. GECP has facilitated the organization
of more than 600 school mothers' associations.
The mothers' association (AME in French)
in the isolated village of Tandatédji
in Karimama is making a difference in
the lives of their young betrothed daughters.
At the beginning of the last school year,
seven sixth-grade girls did not arrive
on the day of enrollment. The AME asked
the school director to investigate, and
he, along with GECP's local partner,
four mothers, and the president of the
parent's association (which is run by
fathers), learned that the girls had
entered marriage arrangements. Because
bride prices had been paid, this newly-formed
group of advocates could not convince
the husbands' families to let the girls
finish primary school. Undeterred, the
group approached the village chief, who
was able to convince the husbands to
be patient, and even got them to agree
to allow the girls to go to secondary
school if they passed the qualifying
exams.
Although the marriage contracts still
must be fulfilled, these girls will be
educated and better able to take care
of themselves and their children. The
cooperation between the school administration,
the local authorities, and the parents
was remarkable. And the mothers' association's
bravery and persistence proves that change
is possible, even in highly traditional
environments.
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