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Benin Facts at a Glance

• Population: 8.8 million
  
• 45% of Beninese are less than 15 years old
• Boys primary education completion rate: 76%
• Girls primary education completion rate: 53%
• Percentage of National Budget spent on Education: 23%
• 76% of Beninese women state they were victims of gender based violence (GBV)
• An estimated 15,000 Beninese children are trafficked each year within and outside Benin

Program Objective:

"To ensure that a quality basic education is more widely available on an equitable and sustainable basis."

• Improve the quality of primary education;
• Improve girls' education, and remove barriers to education, including child trafficking;
• Increase community participation in the management of the primary education system, and
• Improve the status and protection of women.

• The number of children attending school increased from 418,000 in 1990 to more than 1.3 million in 2005;
• The number of girls enrolled in primary school increased from 141,000 to 560,000 from 1990 to 2005;
• The opening in 2006, after 17 years of closure, of three teacher training colleges; six are now functioning with a capacity to train over 1,800 teachers every two years;
• Support to 1,300 Parents' Associations and Mothers' Associations to help ensure that children attend school and deal with culturally sensitive issues such as child trafficking, forced marriage and HIV/AIDS;
• Over 1,950 victims of gender based violence (GBV) received assistance;
• 50,000 transporters and community members sensitized about the dangers of child trafficking and its legal consequences.

• The African Education Initiative (AEI), to promote girls primary school enrollment and completion, and improve management of the basic education system;
• The Women's Justice and Empowerment Initiative (WJEI) to combat gender-based violence and promote the rights of women.

Main Partners:

USAID/Benin collaborates with Benin's Ministry of Preschool and Primary Education, the Ministry of Family, and several U.S. partners as well as a number of Beninese organizations to improve the quality of primary education and to combat gender based violence and child trafficking.

World Education Incorporated and its local partners ACDD (Action Communautaire pour le Développement Durable) and GAJES(Groupe d'Action pour la Justice et l'Egalité Sociale) manage the Ambassador's Girls Scholarship Program; World Education Inc. manages the Girls Education and Community Participation Projects with the following local partners: Derana, Aldipe (Association de Lutte pour un Développement Intégré et pour la Protection de l’Environnement), FADEC (Femme Action de Développement Communautaire), ODES (Organisation pour le Développement Economique et Social), APAE (Association pour le progrès de l’Agriculture et l’Education), CERD ( Culture, Education et Recherche pour le Développement), ASPPIP (Association des Personnes Promotrices des Initiatives Paysannes), CAPID (Centre d’Action pour la Promotion des Initiatives de Développement), ARED (Recherche Action pour un Développement Intégré) et Alafia-ONG.

UNICEF is a long standing partner of USAID, collaborating in the Combating Child Trafficking Project and the Community Teacher Professional Training Project.

CARE International began activities in November 2007 on the EMPOWER project, which is funded under the Women's Justice and Empowerment Initiative (WJEI). The EMPOWER project raises awareness about gender-based violence (GBV) and women's rights as well as providing services to victims of GBV. Also under WJEI the U.S. Department of Justice will work with courts, judges and lawyers, as well as police and gendarmes to raise awareness and provide training for investigating and prosecuting gender-based violence.

Education Development Center (EDC)Teacher Motivation and Training (TMT) is USAID/Benin’s newest education activity. This four year contract worth $6.3 million was awarded to the Education Development Center (EDC) and launched officially in October 2009. TMT assists the Ministry of Primary Education in drafting policies for more effective human resources management, including teacher motivation, supervision, and evaluation.

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