World Ed's work in Benin lauded at White House.

Launching a new USAID policy on gender equality and female empowerment, Administrator Dr. Rajiv Shah took the opportunity to cite USAID/Benin's support to a World Education-implemented girls' education project.

The World Education team, led by Al Miller, has helped create a network of more than 650 school mothers' associations that are working throughout the country to bring girls to school and help them stay there.

The effort is an example of the “cutting-edge work our gender champions and human rights experts do every day around the world,” said Dr. Shah at the White House on March 1. “Originally launched in 36 schools, the network now includes 1,300 associations across the country,” he noted.

The mothers’ associations are a component of the World Education project Girls' Education and Community Participation (CAEF in French), which includes 400 schools in 14 districts of Benin. CAEF aims to improve girls' access to education through increased community participation and leadership, especially on the part of women.

CAEF has facilitated the organization of the mothers' associations as a core strategy of this project. Mothers are traditionally responsible for educating young children in Benin, but they have been largely excluded from decisions about school management. World Education’s work with mothers’ associations has helped women get involved in improving the learning environment, monitoring student progress, and establishing collaborative relationships with the local teachers.

CAEF is also working to expand the associations’ reach by helping them seek revision of outdated statutes and lobby the government on issues relating to education in general and girls' education in particular.

(03/14/12)