Benin

In BENIN Batonga is:

granting scholarships: Batonga is supporting 229 girls in continuing their education, all selected by community members who are closely involved in supporting their success. All of the girls are disadvantaged in some way (they include girls orphaned by AIDS, those who are disabled, or girls who come from very poor families), yet they have taken on their personal challenges with enormous spirit, tenacity, and dedication to their education. Batonga is supporting the scholars from grade 7 through grade 12 with scholarship packages that include tuition, uniforms, school supplies, mentoring, and community awareness activities that broadly promote girls' education.

NGO Partner: World Education

In-country NGO partners: Association pour la Protection de l’Enfance Malheureuse (APEM) and Groupe d’Action pour la Justice et l’Égalité Sociale (GAJES)

Background

Benin is an ancient civilization located on the West coast of Africa with some 75 miles of coastline and a reputation for the most hospitable people in Africa. Historically, residents in the area established the biggest slave trade in West Africa and were members of a powerful kingdom. An indigenous ethnic voodoo religion that is still practiced in Benin attracts large numbers of Africans and tourists to witness its rites and rituals today.

Benin has had the third-highest number of coups in Africa and was the only country in West Africa to wholeheartedly adopt Marxism. Nowadays, it is considered as a leader in democracy in the region. While it has many problems such as bad infrastructure, poor water and health conditions and institutionalized corruption, Benin is wealthier, more peaceful and economically stronger than most of its neighbors. However, according to the United Nations, Benin is still one of the world's least developed nations. The economy is based on agriculture, and is supported by some light industry, handicraft production, and transit trade to neighboring countries.

With a population of over 7 million people and a high birth rate, Benin has made recent strides in providing primary education to its young people. Today more than 56 percent of young men age15 and over can read and write and 26 percent of women age 15 and over can read and write. In 2006 a Government initiative called “ALL Girls to School” was launched as part of a ten-year plan of action for the education sector, which hopes that by 2016 there will be parity between boys and girls in primary school.

From a pan-African perspective, gender disparities against girls are highest in Benin, Côte d’Ivoire, Ethiopia, Guinea, Mali and Togo—all with only half as many girls as boys making the transition from primary to secondary school (based on the UNESCO Institute for Statistics).

Part of the Benin government’s efforts to increase girl’s enrollment in primary school was the elimination of school fees for girls in rural areas, but to get girls into secondary school requires extra effort and Batonga hopes to help make this transition from primary to secondary easier for both girls, and their families.