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Success Story
Scholarships providing
meals and mentors help
keep children in school
Educating Africa’s Poorest Children
Photo: USAID/André Roussel
The Ambassadors Girls Scholarship
Program (AGSP) puts a smile on
Rachida Moussa, right, and her mentor,
Bernadette Ouinin Mora.
Free lunch is part of
what entices scholarship
recipients to stay in school.
“Before, I had to take food from home,” said Mamanfati Issifou.
“Now, thanks to the scholarship lunch, I have lunch at school.”
The Ambassador’s Girls Scholarship Program (AGSP) started in
Benin in 2004, part of the African Education Initiative that USAID
implements in 12 West African countries to help the poorest
children go to primary school. To date, 4,600 girls have received
scholarships. Since 2007, 1,200 of the neediest boys have also
received scholarships, including new uniforms, school supplies,
and daily lunch.
For many scholarship recipients, lunch is often the only meal
they will have each day, and is part of what entices them to stay
in school. Most students live far away and travel to school by
foot. Without the school meal, they would not eat all day.
Issifou, 12, has been an AGSP scholar since 2004. She attends
6th grade at the Zongo primary school of Parakou, a town in
the heart of Benin. Her father died four years ago. Her mother
supports her and five brothers by doing laundry, and can only
afford school for two of Issifou’s brothers. One is in 8th grade,
and the other is in his last year of high school. Thanks to the
scholarship, Issifou’s mother is able to send her to public school
with her two brothers. In addition, Issifou is also able to receive
help with homework not only from her older brothers, but also
from her mentor, Bernadette Ouinin Mora.
Mentors are volunteers and key players in keeping girls and
boys in school. A teacher’s assistant, Mora visits 35 students in
their homes after class, providing advice and supervising their
homework. Mora also makes sure to keep parents motivated to
let the students study instead of working.
Issifou has great ambition and wants to eventually become a
medical doctor. In Benin, the USAID-implemented scholarship
program is giving hope to many of the most vulnerable children
so that they may also have a brighter future like Issifou.
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