Reducing Exclusion and Educational Poverty Through Innovation

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AFRICA 1 / 2011 West Africa Division BRIEF East and Southern Africa Division REDUCING EXCLUSION AND EDUCATIONAL POVERTY THROUGH INNOVATION

“Educate or perish” was how Joseph “Extreme educational poverty”2 is not SDC therefore promotes the principle of Ki-Zerbo, the world famous historian a concept created by the experts who partnership in the management of edu- from Burkina Faso, entitled his book wrote the Education For All (EFA) Global cation and training systems – a strategy on schooling in Africa. “The education Monitoring Report. It is a reality for 50% intended to ensure their relevance, own- system, rather than a driving force, is of young adults (Burkina Faso). It means ership and involvement on the part of a time-bomb which, given the popula- that children’s schooling lasts no more the community and, finally, efficiency. tion explosion, is exhausting economic than two years, which profoundly hin- The articles presented in this Brief dem- resources without yielding an adequate ders the acquisition of knowledge and onstrate the commitment and vitality of return, breaking down social structures prevents any possibility of knowledge African civil society organizations (com- and rendering cultures sterile”1 – a being reinvested in concrete activities. munities, NGOs, rural socio-professional statement which dates from more than Changing and diversifying education and organizations) which, in cooperation with 20 years ago! In more recent times, training offerings is therefore a vital is- the State, have been able to introduce in- have solutions been found to enable sue. However, for education systems to novative educational solutions. The aim African education systems to play their be more flexible and open to the chal- of SDC’s political dialogue is to make role in social, political and economic lenges of development, local actors need governments and bilateral and multilat- development? to be involved. They alone have the le- eral organizations, at the national, sub- gitimacy to define and implement edu- regional and international levels, aware In West and Central Africa, or to be pre- cational experiments which are rooted of the importance of these experiments cise in Benin, Burkina Faso, Mali, Niger in their environment and consistent with and their results. Alternative educational and Chad, and also in South Africa, the their cultural values (including language) models are needed. Here is proof that Swiss Agency for Development and Co- and socio-economic needs. they exist, and that we need to work to operation (SDC) has many years’ experi- disseminate them so that the right to ed- ence in the education sector. It has taken ucation becomes a reality. bold decisions which require long-term 2 UNESCO, Education For All (EFA) Glo- interventions before they can produce bal Monitoring Report, Reaching marginalized significant results, whether in schools groups, 2010 themselves or in changes in the education policies of the countries concerned. The attention of the SDC and its partners is focused on the following aspects: i) fair- ness in access to education and training; ii) improving the quality and relevance of the education provided; and iii) decentral- ized management of education systems.

These three aspects are crucial if you consider that the African context is typi- fied by large numbers of children, young people and adults who are excluded from formal education either for lack of opportunity (few schools in rural areas, long distances to travel, nomadic way of life, high costs) or because the quality of the education given is poor, which means that many people drop out or fail.

1 Joseph Ki-Zerbo. Educate or Perish, Just as with this young girl in Burkina Faso, the efforts of the SDC and its partners have made UNICEF-UNESCO, 1990 it possible for numerous children to gain access to education.

AFRICA BRIEF 1/ 2011 Reducing Exclusion and Educational Poverty Through Innovation 1 Parents anxious but involved BENIN: AT LAST… A PROGRAMME In December 2010, a workshop to dis- EXCLUDED CHILDREN: FOR CHILDREN EXCLUDED FROM THE cuss this new alternative education pro- EDUCATION SYSTEM! gramme was organized with local and Children placed in trust: The long- district personnel. This meeting was en- standing practice of placing children, hanced by the presence of Mr. Hansjürg especially girls, in trust with relatives is On the initiative of the SDC, a programme Ambühl, Director of SDC’s West Africa widespread in the Borgou district. Niece/ providing support for the education and Division. Mr. Ambühl expressed pride in nephews are often entrusted to an uncle training of children excluded from the seeing the various actors mobilize their to serve him and meet his needs. Among education system (PAEFE) is under way energies to work together on one of other things, these children are required in Benin’s Borgou district. This is the first SDC’s priority issues: development by and to perform domestic duties and errands, major experiment in alternative educa- for men and women through education, and girls are often subject to sexual ex- tion undertaken in Benin. Schools are in particular non-formal education. ploitation. scheduled to re-open in October 2011 and 2,000 children will have benefited by During this workshop, it emerged that Child cattle-herders: Boys (either from 2013. the education parents desire for their the Peulh or Gando groups) in charge children is one that takes into account of herds of cattle. In the dry season, the With an overall budget of 20 million Swiss search for suitable pasture often takes francs over fifteen years, the PAEFE pro- them far from home. Generally speaking, gramme in support of children’s educa- they are obliged to leave school when tion and training aims to develop and they are old enough to perform this task institutionalize alternative education (11-15). provision for unschooled children aged 9 to 15 in the seven rural municipalities Talibé children: Mainly Muslim boys of Borgou district, with a view to improv- from poor families who are entrusted to ing their living conditions. An ambitious a koranic school teacher. The living con- programme, which once again underlines ditions of these children vary from one SDC’s pioneering stance approach. school to another (koranic school, Arab and Franco-Arab). Too many excluded children! The workshop held in December 2010 was At the present time, more than a third of useful in highlighting parents’ expectations. Gando ‘sorcerer’ children: These chil- children in Benin are excluded from for- dren, whose mothers died in childbirth mal education. The northern part of Benin and who have developed with physical (Borgou) is the most disadvantaged due local circumstances and opens a window deformities, have been the chief victims to structural, socio-economic and cultural on the world. The reason many of them of infanticide. Although the practice is factors which result in the exclusion from refuse to enrol their children in “official” tending to disappear, they are still subject school of thousands of Talibé, cattle- (i.e. state-run) schools is that such schools to strong social pressures (trauma, con- herder and “gando” children, all engaged fail to meet their expectations. Some par- tempt and suspicion). in activities which prevent them from ents, for instance, fear the excessive influ- attending school (see box). Education is ence of Western culture in the education Orphaned/abandoned children: Refusal nevertheless regarded as a priority in Be- system. on the part of a parent to accept pater- nin’s Growth Strategy for the Alleviation nity/maternity often leads to children be- of Poverty. The integration of children ex- One of the great challenges of the pro- ing abandoned. cluded from the education system is also gramme will be to change perceptions of a goal of the country’s Ten-Year Plan for exclusion and education on the part of Children with disabilities and/or HIV/ the Development of the Education Sector. parents and the religious authorities by AIDS: The former are perceived by their providing appropriate forms of educa- parents as a cause for shame or a threat. SDC’s new initiative is therefore part of tion. On the other hand, the programme The latter are an additional burden for the solution described in these reference must offer support to local authorities so their families. These two groups of chil- documents. Following a call for tenders, that they can put more effort into caring dren are of inferior status in the commu- its implementation has been entrusted to for the marginalized children of their par- nity. a consortium of two NGOs with experi- ticular area. ence of new educational ventures: HELVE- TAS Bénin and Solidar Burkina Faso. The Good luck to the PAEFE, which, accord- pedagogical approach adopted is that of ing to the local authorities, is not the Intensive Functional Literacy for Develop- exclusive preserve of SDC, even less of ment (AFID), for children aged 9 to 15, the Helvétas-Solidar consortium, but a which has been tried and tested in Burki- programme owned by the people of Be- na Faso. It is bilingual: national languages nin and the communities of the Borgou and French are used. district.

AFRICA BRIEF 1/ 2011 Reducing Exclusion and Educational Poverty Through Innovation 2 In 2009-2010, 868 young people, 549 of won the national competition for excel- EXCLUDING FACTORS them girls, were attending 21 ECBs in the lence. At present, 57 pupils from this Gulmu region, in the east of the country. programme, 23 of them girls, are prepar- structural: no schools in the vicinity; The students learn to read and write in ing to sit the baccalaureate (i.e. the high a lack of qualified, motivated teachers; their mother tongue, using teaching ma- school leaving examination). Most of the teaching unsuited to the pupils’ needs terials specially written in Gulmancema. pupils, however, have gone into agricul- and circumstances; Oral French is practised right from the ture and animal husbandry, and some are beginning, but the written form of the apprenticed in various trades (garment- economic: households too poor to bear language is not taught until the learners making, carpentry, etc.). the costs of schooling (uniform, equip- have a good command of spoken French. ment, contributions to an often unsalaried teacher) and of children not being avail- At the same time, in conjunction with its able to contribute to the family budget technical partners, the Ecole Communau- A PROGRAMME THAT HEEDS THE VIL- (the loss of labour means less income); taire Bilingue is developing activities to LAGE INHABITANTS enable pupils to acquire skills in a whole socio-cultural: early marriage and preg- range of fields (agriculture/forestry/ani- The success enjoyed by the Ecole Com- nancy in the case of girls, discrimination mal husbandry, crafts, business, industrial munautaire Bilingue (ECB) lies in the fact against children who fall outside of the production, etc.). It also aims to devel- that the village inhabitants play an active norm/have disabilities, the entrusting of op their environmental competence by part in it. In fact, an ECB centre is opened boys to koranic teachers, the placing of equipping them with appropriate tech- only upon a request by the local commu- children in conditions of servitude, con- nologies to combat desertification and nity. The latter is then also charged with tempt for orphans and children with HIV/ improve living conditions, health and food recruiting the pupils through its steer- AIDS. security. There is a common core but the ing committee. The only constraint is content of the training courses may vary to respect gender equality by fostering from one centre to another, reflecting the the access of girls. In the same way, the strategic interests of the different village content of the courses must comply with INFORMAL EDUCATION communities concerned (see box). the needs and expectations of the local population. In this sense, even the pupils’ Educational activities organised out of the This means that, in just four years, young parents turn into resource persons since formal system. It includes programmes people following the ECB programme it is they who act as the facilitators for on adult literacy; basic education for un- achieve the same level as pupils who have the courses based on local knowledge, schooled children and youth; acquisition attended primary school for six years, i.e., culture, history of the village, handi- of social and professional skills and gen- with technical training in addition. They crafts, etc. Such a philosophy contributes eral culture. can then take the national examination to making the ECB a training programme to obtain their primary school leaving that is constantly being solicited by the certificate (CEP). The success of the pro- local communities. gramme is clear from the results achieved: many of the pupils have received national distinctions and several ECB classes have BILINGUAL COMMUNITY SCHOOLS IN BURKINA FASO

Four years to learn to read and write, while at the same time developing technical and vocational skills in a number of different fields! This is the educational alternative offered to unschooled young people in Burkina Faso.

Each year in Burkina Faso, many young people from the countryside arrive to swell the ranks of the illiterate. To help these adolescents, the Tin Tua Asso- ciation has set up an informal education programme – the Ecole Communautaire Bilingue (ECB) – to teach languages (the local tongue and French) and technical, craft or agricultural/pastoral skills. Sup- ported by SCD, this programme is intended for young people aged 9 to 14 who are over the legal age limit for embarking on formal education. Learning out in the open: pupils focus all their attention on listening to the teacher.

AFRICA BRIEF 1/ 2011 Reducing Exclusion and Educational Poverty Through Innovation 3 Schooling in step with seasonal live- ONE OF THE LOWEST LITERACY RATES MOBILE SCHOOLS FOR NOMAD stock movements IN THE WORLD CHILDREN IN MALI To date, the association has opened 28 mobile schools in the regions of Mopti, With less than 30% of its population able Because of their culture and way of life, Douentza and Timbuktu. to read and write, Burkina Faso has one of the nomadic groups living in the Niger They follow the traditional itineraries of the lowest literacy rates in the world. Al- Delta find it difficult to send their chil- the groups concerned. Lessons are given though progress has been made in recent dren to school. But a solution has been in locations where these communities years – 60% of children of school age now found: making school as mobile as the temporarily settle, the condition being attend school, against 45% ten years ago* pupils themselves. that they must not migrate more than - the situation continues to give cause three times a year and that it be possi- for concern. For instance, only 41.7% of It is not easy to attend school regularly ble to teach the children for at least seven students reach the final year of primary when you are the child of a nomadic com- months. Classes consist of a minimum of school (UNDP: 2010). munity living in Niger’s Central Delta area 20 pupils, half of them girls. As far as pos- and you are often on the move. The best sible, the teachers are recruited from the With help from its partners, the Tin Tua thing would be if the school itself could communities concerned, and the educa- association therefore intends to continue move, in step with the seasons and the tion provided tends to put the emphasis to combat illiteracy in the region, while need to find fresh pasture. This is the on the local language and practical local providing practical training for the vil- complex task that the NGO Delta Survie knowledge. Another aim of the mobile lage people. It is also working to create a has set itself. Having begun as a village schools is to reduce inequalities between literate environment by developing writ- association, this NGO aims to offer all the Delta and the rest of the country, as ten materials in Gulmancema, the local the nomad children in the region a basic well as between boys and girls. language, which at present has only an education rooted in the social, economic oral tradition. In Gulmancema, “Tin Tua” and cultural realities of their environment. Much progress still to be made means “self-development”. There was only one way of doing this: set- Although this approach definitely meets * Source: UNICEF, DEP-MEBA, memorandum, 8th ting up mobile schools that could adapt the needs of the groups concerned (there joint mission. to the needs and movements of the no- were 200 applications for new mobile madic groups. schools in 2010!) and is now recognized

The straw-hut school of Laggal Hamassa in the district of Douentza.

AFRICA BRIEF 1/ 2011 Reducing Exclusion and Educational Poverty Through Innovation 4 BACK TO SCHOOL, THANKS TO ACCELERATED LEARNING CENTRES IN MALI

How can unschooled children be brought (back) into the education system? In Mali, Maïmouna and Alou-Sey- ni have been able to return to school thanks to an innovative “accelerated learning” programme. Something of a fairytale…

Maïmouna Traoré, from the Sikasso region in the south of Mali, is absolutely delighted. Having had to leave school at the age of nine, she has recently been reunited with her books and pencils. Goodbye domestic tasks and the sadness of thinking she would never learn to read and write: she is now a pupil in the 4th The participation of girls is an essential component of the alternative-education programmes. grade and her ambitions are boundless: “One day, I’ll be a doctor”, she confides.

Maïmouna owes this renewed hope to an by the Ministry of Education, many chal- innovative programme designed to help lenges still have to be faced: a shortage of NOMADS IN THE MAJORITY pupils make up lost ground. An initiative teaching materials and aids; not enough of the Norwegian Stromme Foundation, competent teachers; equipment and in- In the Inner Niger Delta, half of the popu- the Accelerated Learning Strategy (ALS) frastructure unsuited to the people’s way lation belong either to nomadic or half- offers unschooled children a special “ac- of life; lack of a long-term strategy. Great nomadic groups. Whether they are Peulh celerated” course, lasting nine months, progress has nevertheless been made, or Touareg herdsmen, or Bozo fishermen, delivered in their local language and with school attendance in the region hav- all are obliged to live a nomadic way of in French, to enable them to rejoin the ing risen by 5% over the last three years. life due to the seasonal water and grass mainstream education system. cycle, and by the unpredictable climate of In 2009, 1,500 nomad children, 800 of the Sahel. Due to their frequent moves, For Maïmouna, things had begun badly: them girls, were able to attend school children face great difficulties in integrat- after two years’ schooling, and due large- thanks to these mobile schools. The ing modern schools. Thus, the schooling ly to the repeated absence of her teacher, confidence of local communities and a rate does not exceed 5%. she was ejected from the school system growing number of technical and finan- on the grounds of poor results, in com- cial partners is, however, undermined by In Mali, nomads account for more than mon with most of her schoolmates. As a lack of political will on the part of the 21% of GNP. Despite their social and eco- her village was too far from other schools, government. nomic importance, these peoples are Maïmouna had no other option but to rarely taken into consideration when it drop out… The opening of an ALS centre SDC support comes to planning development pro- in the region was a real godsend. Maï- SDC had been giving technical and fi- grammes. Gone are the days when the mouna was among the first to enrol and nancial support to mobile schools in Ni- region along the River Niger, from Djen- concluded her nine months with a mark ger’s Delta area since 2006. Working with né to Timbuktu, was recognized as the of 8.72 out of 10. Now she would urge its partners (local authorities, national heartland of Muslim’s learning world! all parents to grasp this opportunity of a and local education services and NGOs), Nowadays, the literacy rate for adults of better future for their children. SDC is helping to improve the quality of the regions stands at 23% among which the teaching given, adapt it to the prior- 28% are men and 11% are women. The dream of Alou-Seyni, shepherd ity needs of nomadic communities, and From the age of six, Alou-Seyni’s whole ensure the long-term future of these world had been the pasturelands where schools. he looked after his sheep. Livestock husbandry is an essential source of income for the Peulh people of the Sikasso region. But Alou-Seyni had a dream: he wanted to get an education. And when his flock was in the vicinity of the local school, he would enviously watch his friends going into class. His father had intended that he

AFRICA BRIEF 1/ 2011 Reducing Exclusion and Educational Poverty Through Innovation 5 attend koranic school, but this proved im- A bit of background… possible. At the age of 12, Alou-Seyni was IN CHAD, HALF OF ALL PUPILS In the early 1980s, the civil war ravaging still working as a shepherd. In any case, ATTEND A COMMUNITY SCHOOL. Chad led to a breakdown of the State. The he was way beyond the age for entering authorities were no longer able to provide a state school. Would he ever be able to Established in the early 1980s by parents, even a minimum of services, and schools overcome this problem? Then the Accel- community schools are a source of pride closed down. Local communities there- erated Learning Strategy was launched in for the people of Chad. Generously sup- fore formed associations, built sheds to the region and, at the shepherd boy’s in- ported by SDC, they are now common- serve as classrooms, and recruited young sistence, his parents agreed to enrol him place throughout the country - a success people who had benefited from educa- there. which has not been achieved without re- tion themselves to help their younger sistance. brothers and sisters learn to read and Alou-Seyni has now fulfilled his dream. write on a voluntary basis. He has swapped the sheep pasture for Their detractors refer to them as “unof- the classroom. After nine months of in- ficial” or “makeshift” schools. But can an In its hesitant early stages, the initia- tensive study, and a final average of 9.66 initiative carefully thought out by a com- tive was scorned by “intellectual” cir- out of 10, he has transferred to the 4th munity to meet its needs be described cles. When the war was over, community grade at state school. “Now I am like the as “makeshift”? Especially when it proves schools which refused to join the state other children, and one day I shall be- enduring, wins people’s commitment, education system were threatened with come a teacher”, he affirms. From now on, and flourishes all over the country? Con- closure. But local communities, led by Alou-Seyni will lead his flock to pasture ceived during the civil war by communi- parents, resisted, refusing to send their only during the school holidays. ties deprived of an education system, children to the official schools, which community schools now account for 48% were then corrupted by abuses of power, of the country’s primary provision; there racketeering, absentee teachers and the are 3,800 of them. In rural areas, they are lingering influence of the colonial edu- A SPECIAL COURSE TO ENABLE CHIL- educating 502,400 pupils, 41% of them cation system. The myth of the superi- DREN TO RETURN TO SCHOOL girls. And yet, the success of this form of ority of official schooling was destroyed education, the fruit of community partici- when, in the 1990s, community schools Created in 2004 on the initiative of the pation, in a sector traditionally dominated began presenting their pupils for the Stromme Foundation, a Norwegian NGO, by the State, has not been achieved with- high-school entrance examination: they the Accelerated Learning Strategy (ALS) out friction. achieved excellent results, often superior is being deployed in Mali, Burkina Faso to those of pupils who had attended pub- and Niger. SDC has been providing tech- lic schools! nical, financial and practical support for this project since 2008. The course com- prises nine months’ training. The focus during the first two months is on learning to read, write and do arithmetic in the local language. The second, seven-month phase enables pupils to acquire the main elements of the curriculum for the first three years of official schooling, so that they can then transfer directly to the 4th grade. The quality of the education provided is central to the ALS experiment. Special attention is given to training the trainers and monitoring their progress. To date, 16,000 children have benefited from this programme.

An education adapted to the needs and expectations of local communities.

AFRICA BRIEF 1/ 2011 Reducing Exclusion and Educational Poverty Through Innovation 6 ing vocational training projects. Drawing Switzerland’s commitment COMMUNITY SCHOOLING IN FIG- on Switzerland’s wealth of experience in This was the situation in which SDC began URES/SDC RESULTS this field, the programme proposes cred- providing support for community schools. ible solutions to help the South African It initially funded discussion workshops • 426 community schools supported by government combat youth unemploy- involving local communities to help them SDC, i.e. 11% of the total. ment. According to official statistics, 47% define and sharpen their expectations • 60,000 pupils (46% of them girls) – 5% of young people between the ages of 18 where education was concerned. Subse- more than in the case of state schools – and 24 (more than three million of them) quently, school management committees have been able to access a high-quality are unemployed or not taken in charge by were set up, and teacher training mod- basic education. the education system. The figure for this ules and teaching aids devised. Some • 1,516 teachers have received training age group is as high as 70% in some rural new schools were built; others were re- to improve their teaching skills. The areas. furbished and equipped. pupils’ success rate is close to 80% in some schools. Since it began work in 2001, SSACI has This commitment on the part of Switzer- • 488 school committees, practically and run targeted activities for these young land has borne fruit in terms of improving financially involved in the running of the people, who are deprived of schooling access to schools and academic results, schools, have been helped to broaden and employment. At the end of 2010, as well as in boosting the reputation of their horizons and improve their man- more than 5,500 of them were enrolled in community schools at national level (see agement skills. one of 50 training projects, with a success box). They are now supported by the • In more than 60% of these schools, the rate of over 90%. Subsequently, more that State, which trains teachers and pays their academic year is longer, and the teach- 70% of these young people found quality salaries, though not in the case of all the ers are more motivated because they jobs offering decent remuneration. In ad- schools concerned. Community educa- are paid regularly. dition, gender equality is a basic principle tion is now developing in tandem with the • More and more villages are adopting of the programme: 49% of the beneficiar- formal state system, while maintaining its the community schools model, and the ies are girls. special features: community participation number of such schools is increasing by in formulating the curriculum and a com- between 20% and 30% per annum. In The training courses offered by SSACI mitment to using local languages to en- 2010, 108 new schools were opened in cover not only technical fields, but also sure that the education given is culturally SDC intervention areas. essential human skills. The pupils are in- rooted. Community initiatives have now troduced to such concepts as the work been extended to the secondary sector, ethic, setting objectives, decision-mak- with an increasing number of community ing, problem-solving and building net- colleges being set up. works of contacts. The programme also NEW EMPLOYMENT OPPORTUNITIES provides help in finding employment and CHALLENGES TO BE FACED FOR YOUNG SOUTH AFRICANS support in the workplace. SSACI aims to Although community education is now an ensure that these young people are em- irreversible phenomenon of which Chad The SDC is keen on using Switzerland’s ployable for the long term by focusing on can be proud, there are still challenges vast experience to promote profession- rapidly growing sectors of the economy to be faced: maintaining what has been al training in South Africa and to facili- achieved (level and stability of teachers, tate the access of young South Africans capacity of local communities to fund this to the job market. kind of education), and providing vocational training for young people. Not to Maxwell Ramabolu, night manager at the mention greater involvement on the part City Lodge Hotel in Bloemfontein, John of the State, which could have a deter- Mkhumbu, dental technician at the Mos- mining influence in these areas mean- vold Hospital in the north of KwaZulu- while ensuring an education of quality Natal, and Almaree Fritz, principal of an accessible to all. infants’ school in Cape Town, have never met. But they have something in common: they are all young South Africans from disadvantaged communities. Today, thanks to vocational training programmes supported by the Swiss-South African Co- operation Initiative (SSACI), they are each pursuing careers in fields which once would have been closed to them.

This programme was set up in 2001 by SDC and ten or so Swiss companies oper- ating in South Africa. SSACI’s objective is to open up new employment opportuni- Almaree Fritz now exercises an important po- ties to young South Africans by support- sition in a school.

AFRICA BRIEF 1/ 2011 Reducing Exclusion and Educational Poverty Through Innovation 7 likely to generate new opportunities. It gie du Texte. In Switzerland itself, many also enables young people with no quali- CONCLUSION civil society organizations and academic fications to undergo training and get a institutions have proven experience in job with career prospects. The positive The examples presented in this Brief de- education in the countries of the South. results of SSCAI’s activities have been liberately focus on SDC’s priority coun- SDC also makes contributions to multilat- confirmed by independent analyses car- tries in Africa; they all put the accent on eral organizations active in this field – a ried out in 2004, 2005 and 2009. Accord- the need to reach and include disadvan- topic we shall cover in a future Africa Brief ing to these assessments, the factors en- taged groups in development processes on education … suring the success of SSACI programmes by providing quality education and train- are total commitment to educating young ing which is as diversified as possible. people, an innovative approach geared to However, intervening at the local and na- achieving concrete results, and efficient tional levels is not sufficient: it is also es- In 2010, SDC has devoted nearly 18 mil- management. sential to encourage the sharing of expe- lion CHF of its budget for the support of rience between countries, cooperate with education and training programmes in Through its small-scale projects, SSACI regional (or even continental) partners, Africa. gives the government an insight into what and launch sub-regional programmes. it can accomplish on a larger scale and over a longer period to meet the coun- Where the sharing of experience is con- try’s vocational training needs. Unlike cerned, for some years the West Africa other developing countries, South Africa Division has relied on Topic Groups which has the means to fund vocational train- document good practice and look into ing programmes. During his recent visit common concerns in their respective to Switzerland, South Africa’s Minister of fields. The Education Group has under- Higher Education and Training reiterated taken many activities in such important his country’s interest in Switzerland’s sys- areas as post-primary education in the tem of professional training. rural setting, integrating African languages into basic education, monitoring the effects of education, and the education and training of shepherd popula- tions. These regional workshops, based on practical experience, always provide opportunities to reinforce the skills/com- petencies of SDC and its partners’ teams. They are much appreciated, the aim being to improve current practice and foster political dialogue.

SDC is also supporting regional partners and programmes with a view to gaining greater influence. The Association for the Development of Education in Africa (ADEA), which brings together African ministers of education and cooperation agencies, is a forum which places such issues as educational quality on the Af- IMPRINT rican and international agenda at a time when everyone is tending to focus on Publisher access and non-formal education (when Swiss Agency for Development and formal education attracts all the inter- Cooperation SDC est and funding, etc…). ROCARE (Réseau West Africa Division Ouest et Centre Africain de Recherche East and Southern Africa Division en Education/West and Central African Freiburgstrasse 130, CH-3003 Bern Educational Research Network) is an- Mail: [email protected] other of SDC’s regional partners; it aims www.sdc.admin.ch to promote African expertise in research and strengthen links between research- Photographs ers and decision-makers. Finally, there is a SDC, Delta Survie, SSACI, Tin Tua regional programme to improve trainers’ skills. Based at the University of Ouaga- Bern, July 2011 dougou, it is supported by the NGO En- fants du Monde, which has devised a new This publication is also available in French and educational approach known as Pédago- German

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