On March 24, 2023, the members of the Réseau de l’Éducation de qualité par le bi-plurilinguisme (REB) held their 2023 general meeting. An opportunity to take stock of activities and identify new perspectives.
In its 05 years of existence, the network has already built up a good reputation with educational authorities, which has led to its participation in several key MENAPLN activities, including :
- International Literacy Day in 2021 in Manga, where REB presented a paper during a panel discussion, and in 2022 in Ziniaré, where REB moderated the panel;
- Workshop in Koudougou to draw up a diagnostic report on bilingual education in Burkina Faso;
- African Language Week 2022, during which REB delivered a paper and rented stands for exhibitions of documents from its member organizations;
- Implementation of the AMI OIF in collaboration with the Permanent Secretariat of the National Commission of the Francophonie.
In addition, to strengthen advocacy for the increased introduction of bi-plurilingualism in Burkina Faso’s education system, the network received support from the SDC for the implementation of a project entitled “Projet de soutien aux initiatives de promotion des langues nationales”, worth 28,465,000 FCFA. This has enabled various advocacy activities to be carried out, including the production of a documentary film capitalizing on the innovative educational practices of REB member organizations, and participation in Galian 2022, with a prize of 1 million FCFA awarded to the best media production on the promotion of national languages.
At the end of the discussions, a number of prospects were identified for strengthening the network’s actions. These include
- Greater involvement of member structures in resource mobilization;
- The creation of a functional and autonomous executive secretariat;
- Sustainability of the REB-DDC project’s achievements.
