On Thursday June 22, 2023, a meeting was held on the premises of the NGO Solidar Suisse Burkina Faso, between the technical team of the project “Promotion de l’accès des filles et des femmes 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)” and the financial partner, the Embassy of the Kingdom of the Netherlands in Burkina Faso. The meeting provided an opportunity to demonstrate the progress of the PROMESSE-FP project in the field, by presenting some of its achievements.
Mr. Maarten Van Den Bosch , Head of Cooperation at the Dutch Embassy (representing the Ambassador), was unable to make a field visit to the insecure project areas, but was able to discover the project’s various achievements through the screening of a film and the testimonies of the beneficiaries invited to the meeting.
Participants watched with interest the film on the state of implementation of PROMESSE-FP project activities.
Launched in May 2021, the PROMESSE-FP project aims to improve access for girls and women in the intervention regions to a quality education and vocational training system and decent incomes. After 02 years of implementation, some positive results have already been achieved:
- 10 vocational education and training centers (CEFP) set up with 388 girls and women, including 131 IDPs (34%) trained by 2022 (in hairdressing, saponification, sheep fattening, beadwork, social and financial education, entrepreneurship, etc.);
- 1,370 girls, including 499 IDPs (36%), benefited from short-term training in workshops run by model master craftsmen in various trades (weaving, saponification, hairdressing, solar energy, 02-wheel mechanics, dairy, etc.);
- Establishment of 388 VSLA (Village Savings and Loan Associations) groups, bringing together 10,823 girls and women, including 3,443 IDPs (31.81%) , with savings of 251,519,365 FCFA mobilized by December 31, 2022;
- 1,235 beneficiaries equipped to use ICTs to promote their activities;
- Set up 50 Aflatoun clubs in 40 pilot schools and 10 CEFPs (to organize regular awareness-raising sessions for their peers on good social skills, financial management and sexual and reproductive health management).
- Advocacy process underway for the integration of social and financial education (SFE) into teaching curricula in Burkina Faso, etc.
The Dutch Embassy’s Head of Cooperation, Maarten Van Den Bosch, believes that it is important to invest in the training of young people, especially vocational training, because there is always a gap between the needs of the market and the skills learned at school.
In his view, vocational training and studies must be reconciled to ensure that young people are competitive on the job market. The Head of Cooperation at the Dutch Embassy expressed his satisfaction with the results presented.
According to Dieudonné R. ZAONGO, Solidar Suisse’s Country Representative, beneficiaries are free to choose the training they want to do within the framework of this project. This allows the beneficiaries to take a keen interest in the training.
“Training centers have been built and equipped to enable beneficiaries to develop their skills. Girls and women are also received at the level of master craftsmen selected on the basis of criteria so that they receive short-term training. At the end of the training, they receive a minimum of equipment to enable them to start their own business”, indicated the Country Representative of Solidar Suisse.
The technical departments of the regional directorates for youth, vocational training and employment in the intervention regions are also involved in project implementation.
“As far as entrepreneurship training is concerned, it’s our departments that provide this training. We monitor vocational training centers to ensure that they comply with what we call the “referentials”. These are technical documents based on training modules. We monitor them to make sure that this is what the young person wants in terms of training. And that the trainer is following the technical aspect to accompany the young person”, explained Isaac DIAPA, Regional Director of Youth and Vocational Training and Employment for the East region.
Beneficiary of the project, Delphine KABORE was able to open a hairdressing salon thanks to the project’s support. For 09 months, she learned hairdressing, saponification and beading. Today, Ms. KABORE is being approached by other projects to train others in beading. “Thanks to the project, my life changed in just one year. Today, I give training to other people thanks to the knowledge I’ve acquired. I can only say thank you to the people involved in the project”, said the beneficiary. As a reminder, the PROMESSE-FP project is funded by the Embassy of the Kingdom of the Netherlands and implemented by the Solidar Suisse-Educo- Aflatoun International Consortium for the period 2021-2024. The project’s areas of intervention are: vocational training, promotion of social and financial education, promotion of sexual rights and reproductive health. The overall cost of the project is 5,869,062,904 FCFA.
