Alternative learning for children, girls and young people.

Burkina Faso's education system is facing major difficulties that are affecting its development. The Education Orientation Act, adopted in July 2007 as part of the reform of the education sector, has structured the education system into four components : formal education, non-formal education, informal education and specialized education. Despite these efforts, challenges remain, such as unequal access to education, inadequate infrastructure for children with disabilities, and school dropouts. What's more, education no longer meets people's expectations, especially when it comes to the employability of young people. Add to this the insecurity we are experiencing, which has affected the sector since 2015 "More than 5,400 schools closed, affecting more than 832,000 students in general, and specifically 217 schools closed, affecting 29,000 students in the Centre-Est" OCHA report of 31/01/2024. 

In Kouritenga, a province located in the center-east region of Burkina and home to a total population of approximately 480,021 inhabitants, including 222,145 men and 257,876 women (RGPH 2019). This population, largely dominated by the female sex, is mainly composed of young people under the age of 25. The province has nine communes, including Pouytenga (the most populated) and Koupéla, the provincial capital. Trade, agro-pastoralism and gold panning are the main sources of income. Although not directly affected by insecurity, the socio-economic fabric of the province is deteriorating. In fact, neighboring populations affected by the crisis seek refuge in the above-mentioned communes because of their commercial status. This population disrupts the market, causing inflation and poor sales due to reduced transportation to neighboring communities and countries. This reduces the standard of living and leads to social ills: school dropouts and the flight of children and young people to the gold mines and the cities in search of well-being. Driven by the desire for easy money, many of them end up in alcoholism and organized crime, which explains the recruitment of young people into terrorism and the growing prostitution of girls.

The report of the OXFAM study (December 2021) on "Le leadership humanitaire local au Burkina Faso : Passer de Belle Parole aux actes" (Local humanitarian leadership in Burkina Faso: from fine words to deeds) states that as humanitarian needs increase, the logic of intervention shifts towards development.

Local and national non-state actors are adapting as best they can to this new crisis. However, they are unable to respond effectively to the emergency, which explains the strong dominance of the humanitarian response by international actors. International partners and donors are increasing resources for an adapted humanitarian response, but the 0.17% direct transfer of funds to local actors in 2022 testifies to the current lack of consideration for the imperatives of local humanitarian leadership." What's more, as the humanitarian response is a constantly evolving sector, it is essential to keep our knowledge and skills up to date, which requires extensive and continuous training and learning. Without this, the knowledge and skills of humanitarian actors will quickly become outdated and unable to contribute to a responsible response.

The context mentionned above  reveals major challenges that need to be addressed to ensure equitable and sustainable learning. In partnership with Ecoles au Burkina, AMC is developing a web portal and mobile applications to promote and improve education. A website and applications for contextualized and inclusive learning for children, girls and adolescents. Online vocational training in entrepreneurship, humanitarian  and development professions would also help address the issue of employability and contribute to the humanitarian response. E-learning and online training on Microsoft Teams will be used to implement the project. A mentoring program will also be developed to strengthen the leadership skills of young people, especially the most disadvantaged, in developing and managing businesses. Parents will also be trained in income-generating activities so that they can support the beneficiaries in their learning.

Our intervention is aimed at children who have dropped out of school, in particular girls and boys from vulnerable families, children of internally displaced persons, young graduates of the first level secondary and young unemployed graduates.  The project targets girls and boys aged 15 to 17 and young people aged 18 to 35, as well as women's cooperatives and associations.

Through this project, young people will have the opportunity to benefit from advice and guidance at the right time to build their training plan leading to a job, while for unemployed young graduates, this project will offer them the opportunity to find a job and develop a career plan. This opportunity will also serve to strengthen the institutional and organizational capacities of the women in the groups. The project has reached 200 beneficiaries, including 70 girls and 30 boys, 70 women and 30 men.

AMC's strategic plan 2024-2027 has as its vision a society in which young people and women benefit from equitable access to health care and support in the realization of their development initiatives, and as its mission to contribute to a society in which young people are engaged in the sustainable development of Burkina Faso. AMC has developed 05 strategic axes on which it will focus, and this intervention is in line with its third priority, which is "Equitable access to education and training opportunities for all". It has developed a program on this axis, approved by the Ministry of Sports, Youth and Employment, and is mobilizing partners for its implementation. It joined also the education cluster in the east and north center where it  participated in the urgent need of education for childrenMitsolve, through its Global Learning Challenge program, would be an ideal partner for us.

Once the project has been approved and funded, AMC will mobilize and engage key stakeholders in the project, followed by the official launch. Project planning and implementation will be based on good governance, and participation will be at the heart of the process in order to foster an integrated intervention, complete with Pouytenga's communal development plan, and adaptive to the requirements of beneficiaries and MitSolve. The key deliverable of this phase is the Project Implementation Document, comprising the various implementation plans. To this end, a beneficiary targeting session by setting up a management committee and a complaints management committee will serve as modest inputs into the execution of this project. We will set up a project implementation team made up of :

• A Project Management Specialist;
• A Specialist in Monitoring Evaluation Accountability and Learning ; 
• A Specialist in Education ; 
• A Specialist in Protection, Gender and Development; 
• A Specialist in Enterpreneurshi.

These human resources will be supported by the AMC team and its volunteers corps, who will also contribute to the successful implementation of the project in the field.

The project management approach will be cycle based and results oriented. The implementation of this project will consist of the application of the project implementation plan and its management through the use of the necessary tools recommended by MITSolve and in accordance with project management standards. Deliverables produced during this phase include activity, progress, and financial reports, as well as an updated transition and accountability plan. The final phase is the Project Closure phase, that is defined is the creation of a training center for professional trades and will serve as implementation of the sustainability plan. The project team, supported by the Executive Office, will carry out the administrative, financial and contractual closure. Final reports and the sustainability plan will be the deliverables of this phase.

In its strategic planning process, the AMC has given crucial importance to education and training, both as a means of overcoming the weaknesses identified and as a strategic axis to be implemented in order to contribute to quality education and training opportunities for all.

It is with this in mind that we have entered this field, which allows us to solve difficulties such as the acquisition of a headquarters, as well as the assumption of fixed costs. We organize both free and paid training courses, and most of the time we use the free ones as a hook for young unemployed graduates and employees who want to improve their skills.

On average, we have more than 15 participants per quarter for certification training and about 120 for free training. People no longer have confidence in education and training, as even students lack the skills to enter the job market, young graduates are unaware of the need for training, and even those who have been trained lack confidence in the skills they have acquired. As a result, young people prefer to go out and work rather than develop a training plan. Running these activities as a pilot has allowed us to learn about the above challenges, and that's why we're counting on your support to integrate apprenticeship training into further implementation.

Through its application to Solve, AMC is looking for technical partners who can help us to set up a vocational training center for trades in general and humanitarian and development trades in particular, and to extend the project to other regions of Burkina Faso and even West Africa. Of course, there are financial obstacles, especially when it comes to investing, but the major ones remain cultural, especially in terms of gender stereotypes, whereas the female gender is more dominant and technical, especially when it comes to integrating young people into the workforce. Our expectation of Solve is that it will be able to offer us partners who can help us to have a salvific image full of opportunities for young girls, and also partners who can help us in the employability of young people, especially in the humanitarian and development fields, as the majority of non-governmental organizations still have their headquarters out of Africa. Better still, a mentoring program with professionals in the aforementioned fields will help strengthen the leadership of young people in our areas of focus.

The innovative nature of our solution is that it provides professional and practical academic skills tailored to their specific context and situation, and that it is inclusive. It also strengthens local humanitarian leadership for sustainable development and involves women who, thanks to this opportunity will be able to develop endogenous actions through the promotion of income-generating activities. 

In addition, this project will provide coaching and mentoring support to help beneficiaries trained in humanitarian and development project management find employment and to incubate young people trained in entrepreneurship. A monitoring and evaluation system will also be established to track the impact of the project.

Finally, the implementation of the project will be in line with basic humanitarian standards and will promote protection principles and the Humanitarian Charter.

According to our intervention logic, objectives 1 and 3 will be achieved when children, girls and young people are trained in the vocational, humanitarian and development fields. These outputs, which will be delivered after the completion of activities in accordance with the above-mentioned objectives, will enable us to achieve intermediate results 1 and 3.

For specific objective 2, by delivering the outputs of distributing educational tablets to the beneficiaries and training women in income-generating activities and financial management, the parents of the beneficiaries will be able to improve their income to support the beneficiaries during their learning period.

In short, the strengthening of the training and learning system will improve the quality of education and training, providing an alternative for children, girls and young people, and strengthen the humanitarian response and economic resilience of the population of the communes of Pouytenga and Koupéla in Kourittenga Province. 

The Development goal of the project is to contribute to the strengthening of the education and learning system for children, girls and young people in the communes of Pouytenga and Koupéla, in the province of Kouritenga, from November 1, 2024 to October 31, 2025. To this end, the following specific objectives have been set:

• Intermediate result1: To focus education and learning on meeting the expectations of the people of the communes of Pouytenga and Koupéla, in the province of Centre-Est from November 1, 2024 to October 31, 2025;
• Intermediate result 2: Capacity building in the communes of Pouytenga and Koupéla, in the province of Centre-Est from November 1, 2024 to October 31, 2025 ;
• Intermediate result 3: Digitization of educational and learning modules in the communes of Pouytenga and Koupéla in Centre-Est Province from November 1, 2024 to October 31, 2025. 

The keys indicators for these intermediate results are :

• Intermediaite result 1

80% of trained girls and boys obtain their first-cycle diplomas and become entrepreneurs by the end of project implementation;
80% of unemployed young people and women trained in humanitarian and development professions are active in the humanitarian response by the en of the project implementation.

Verification methods

Activity report
Registration form
Training report
Attendance list                                                                                              Monitoring Report                                                                                          Part time project report                                                                                End of training report

• Intermediate result 2

By the end of the project, 80% of the parents of the beneficiaries have regained their dignity by meeting the needs of their children by the end of the project implementation.

Verification methods

Activity Report                                                                                        Distribution report
Attendance List                                                                                            Training report                                                                                              Monitoring Report                                                                                        Evaluation report                                                                                          End of Project Report

• Intermediate result 3

80% of beneficiaries continue their online and digital learning in a climate of confidence and free from further harm by the end of the project implementation.

Activity Report                                                                                      Distribution report                                                                                  Attendance List                                                                                            Training report                                                                                              Monitoring Report                                                                                        Evaluation report                                                                                        Satisfaction survey                                                                                        End of Project Repor

For the technologies to be used for the implementation of this project, the kobotoolbox tool will be used for targeting beneficiaries and also for monitoring activities and beneficiaries. The Gantt chart will also be used to plan the implementation schedule. 

The educational tablets and the learning website of the partner schools in Burkina and a mobile learning application and the Microsoft Teams tool will be at the heart of the training activities.

As full time part we have 04 persons as in administration of the solution;

07 persons as contractors, the trainers;

and the volunteer corps of 12 persons as part-time members.

we have been working in this solution since 2 years.

AMC is a youth organization governed by the Burkinabe legal provisions applicable to non-profit associations, in particular Law No. 064-2015 /CNT on the freedom of association. Created in 2021, it is non-political, secular and non-profit and is in line with international policy on non-governmental organizations.

In order to strengthen its organizational and institutional structure, its vision is to contribute to a society in which young people and women benefit from equitable access to health care and support in the realization of their development initiatives, and its mission is to contribute to a society in which young people are engaged in the sustainable development of Burkina Faso. To achieve this, it has drawn up its codes of conduct and values, which define the ethical, environmental and legal framework within which it and all its members, stakeholders and partners operate. Even better, it has developed its policy against exploitation, abuse and sexual harassment (PSEA). To better coordinate its actions, an administrative, operational and financial procedures manual has been developed. 

Our business model is to use subsidies from donors as a hook to better present our products to direct beneficiaries and indirectly to the population through the positive impact of our offers on the lives of direct beneficiaries. 

Our main target is youth and women, and through our offers we impact their lives by alleviating their need for jobs and contextualized knowledge enabling them to improve their income through endogenous resources. 
In fact, our training courses on entrepreneurship and income-generating activities will reinforce their know-how and skills to improve their yields.
Training in humanitarian and development professions will enable unemployed young and female graduates to enter the job market, while increasing local humanitarian leadership and the rate of investment by local humanitarian and development actors. Our products are provided according to the needs of our beneficiaries, while insisting on their participation by adapting to their needs for integrated and comprehensive actions according to the development plans of the areas concerned.

Our sustainability plan is defined by the sustainability of the project, which will consist of setting up a training center for the benefit of the local population. After approval and financing, we will proceed to mobilize partners such as the municipality, which will find premises for the center for one year's support, the provincial business and trade center, which will contribute by subsidizing 15 women and 5 boys for training, and the communities, which will serve as technical partners for implementation and monitoring. A communication system will be developed to better inform the population about the opening of the center after the official launch of how the fence is developed, during the project and after closing. In addition, a system will be set up to support women's groups, associations and cooperatives in formalizing their activities and finding partners.