On June 01, 2023, the inauguration ceremony for the Kaya education and vocational training center was held, along with the handover of installation kits for 16-19 year-old girls from the Centre Nord region. Presided over by the Governor of the Centre Nord region, represented by his technical advisor Fidèle OUEDRAOGO, the ceremony marked the end of training for the first cohort of 120 young girls (from the communes of Kaya and Boulsa) in four (04) trades: aesthetic hairdressing, making pearl-based objects, saponification and sheep fattening. According to Mr. OUEDRAOGO, this infrastructure, together with the training and installation kits, will go some way to solving the high demand for employment in the Centre-Nord region, due to the massive displacement of populations caused by insecurity.
“These trades were chosen on the basis of their relevance to the needs of the beneficiaries, and their complementarity to give beneficiaries more versatility and options for income-generating activities,” explained Dieudonné R. ZAONGO, Solidar Suisse Burkina Faso Country Representative.
Presentation of the saponification kit by the Country Representative of Solidar Suisse Burkina Faso, Dieudonné R. ZAONGO
As part of the vocational training activities, 10 education and vocational training centers (02 in the North, 03 in the East, 02 in the Sahel and 03 in the North Center) have been set up for girls aged 16-19 excluded from the education system. Of the ten (10) centers, five (05) are old centers reinforced by the project and the other five (05) are new infrastructures built and equipped by the project in five localities: Ouahigouya, Dori, Fada, Boulsa and Kaya, which hosted the ceremony. Each center comprises a classroom, a store, a shed for practical work and/or baby care, an office and toilets.
Each center trains 40 girls a year, 35% of whom are internally displaced persons (IDPs), over a 3-year period. Eventually, a total of 1,200 girls, including 420 IDPs, will be trained at these centers.
The training program at the centers lasts nine (09) months and is based on the Learning, ICT, Entrepreneurship and Financial Education for Employment (AT3E) approach. This approach is valued by Solidar Suisse for providing young beneficiaries not only with theoretical and practical trade skills, but also with life skills for better socio-professional integration. So, in addition to training in trades, the beneficiaries received training in leadership, entrepreneurship, personal development, simplified management of micro-businesses, making reusable sanitary towels and the use of information and communication technologies (ICT) to promote their business.
A view of some of the beneficiaries with their beauty kits
As a reminder, the “Promotion de l’accès des filles à un Système Éducatif et de Formation Professionnelle de qualité dans les régions du Sahel, du Nord, de l’Est et du Centre Nord du Burkina Faso (PROMESSE-FP)” project is financed by the Embassy of the Kingdom of the Netherlands in Burkina Faso and implemented by the Solidar Suisse, Educo and Aflatoun international consortium, in partnership with local partners in the intervention zones, including OCADES/Kaya for the Centre Nord region.
The ultimate aim of the project is to “improve access for girls and women in the project regions to quality education and vocational training, and to decent incomes”. The total investment to build and equip the 10 centers amounts to over 200 million CFA francs. And the total value of the installation kits for beneficiaries in the Centre Nord region amounts to 25,588,300 FCFA.
- Read the Lefaso.net media report here
