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Intern relocated people interview

The right to education of internally displaced children/youth in Burkina Faso preserved thanks to the WAN

Insecurity in the Sahel has displaced hundreds of thousands of people, including many children and young people. In the 9th district of Ouagadougou in Burkina Faso, entire families are settled and live in precarious conditions, with food, economic, health and housing problems. Sensitive to the situation of internally displaced children and young people and faithful to its commitment in their favour, ISS-WA, through the RAO, set up in December 2019, as a matter of urgency, an initiative to promote the rights to education called INITIATIVE 1-2-3. A total of 123 of them supported in an educational project. Three months after their reintegration into school, ISS-WA and the AMWCY organised a follow-up mission for these children and their families.

"I was very sad to flee my village and abandon my comrades, with my parents, brothers and sisters, because of the war. I could no longer go to school and that made me very unhappy. But today I have started school again thanks to people who helped us. I am very happy, I will be able to study and make new friends. This is how Ali, a student in 9th grade, one of the young beneficiaries of the RAO, met during the follow-up, expressed himself. Like him, the other 122 children and young people supported and their families are relieved: the threat of dropping out of school is now behind them.   

To find their way back to school, these beneficiaries had to count not only on the support of ISS-WA through the RAO, but also on the sense of understanding and commitment of private school promoters, who accepted to welcome them, almost 3 months after the beginning of the school year on the one hand, and on the other hand, to significantly reduce their school fees.      

Supporting internally displaced families

Support for IDPs in Burkina Faso is not limited to schooling for children and young people. It is part of a holistic action that also takes into account vocational training for those over school age, the development of a national plan to anticipate and manage village-town internal migration in collaboration with the government of Burkina Faso, but above all the economic strengthening of families so that they are able to meet the basic needs of their offspring. The monitoring mission therefore made it possible to evaluate these families and to carry out the first reflections on the Income-Generating Activities to be set up.

 

 

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