MCA-Burkina Education Program Shows Remarkable Results for Primary School Girls
Ouagadougou – As part of its $12.9 million Burkina Faso threshold program, the Millennium Challenge Corporation (MCC) provided funding for the “Burkinabé Response to Improve Girls’ Chances to Succeed” (BRIGHT) school program in July 2005. The program specifically focused on increasing enrollment of primary-age girls, and was implemented in 132 rural villages throughout 10 provinces of the country where girls’ enrollment rates were the lowest. MCC, in partnership with the U.S. Agency for International Development, Plan International, Catholic Relief Services, and two Burkinabé NGOs—Tin Tua and the Forum for African Women Educationalists -- built primary schools, housing for teachers, and separate latrines for boys and girls throughout the country from October 2005 to April 2008 in an effort to increase school enrollment and completion rates.
Two years ago, in March 2007, the Millennium Challenge Corporation’s Chief Executive Officer, Ambassador John Danilovich, visited the BRIGHT school complex in Tangassogo. He told Burkinabe officials – the Minister of Basic Education , the Minister of Economy and Development, the Governor of Kaya, and the Burkinabe Ambassador to the U.S. – that “Burkina Faso’s BRIGHT Threshold program has a special place in MCC’s history, because it is our very first. It is even more significant for your country as it reflects the commitment and resolve to pass policies and create conditions that will increase the standard of living and improve the quality of life of the poor.”
An independent evaluation of the BRIGHT school program was recently undertaken by Mathematica Policy Research (MPR) to quantify its effect on educational outcomes. MPR reported at a conference in Ouagadougou on June 16 that the following results were achieved:
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Increase in school enrollment: the BRIGHT school program improved overall school enrollment by about 16 to 20 percentage points, from 35 to 55 percent (household-reported outcome) or from 31 to 47 percent (school-based outcome).
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Better test scores: the BRIGHT school program had a positive influence on math and French test scores. The evaluation results indicate that for a student who started at the 50th percentile of the sample, attending a BRIGHT school is likely to increase his or her test score to approximately the 80th percentile.
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Beneficial for boys and girls: while enrollment for both boys and girls improved 16 to 20 percentage points as a result of the BRIGHT program, the evaluation showed a slightly higher improvement, by five percentage points, in school enrollment for girls than boys.
Due to the success of the BRIGHT program, the government of Burkina Faso decided to extend the program and create BRIGHT 2 for $28.83million, which builds on the success of the threshold program and provides funds for building additional classrooms. The BRIGHT 2 program will allow children in the same 132 villages to complete primary school. The initiative provides a good opportunity to assess the long-term effects of strengthening and expanding education in Burkina Faso as a vital factor for sustainable poverty reduction and economic growth.