BURKINA FASO - HOME > Burkina Faso - Projects

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We work in Africa, Asia and The Americas helping children access the education and resources to dream big

Projects in Africa

We’re based in Burkina Faso, Ethiopia & Ghana

Access to quality early-childhood development (ECD) services is a challenge in the rural community of Meguet. The government has made efforts for years, but the need is greater than the available support. Children Believe is working closely with the municipality and the community to improve access to and quality of integrated ECD services in the area for children up to the age of eight. We’re also working with adults to build stronger, safer and more efficient ECD and primary education systems and services that are given equal importance and investment.

At the end of the project, we hope to reach more than 4,500 children, nearly 1,700 parents, more than 60 teachers and more than 240 internally displaced children while also setting up and strengthening seven community-based child-protection groups.

Funding partners: ChildFund Korea

In Burkina Faso, state stats show women are having more than six children each, and more than 60 percent of the population is in their early 20s. So, Children Believe partnered with Educo, Terre des Hommes and Association Burkinabè pour le Bien Être Familial in the Center North, North and Sahel Regions to help address the growth of vulnerable populations. The goals are to promote family planning by training adolescent girls and boys about their sexual and reproductive health and strengthening birth-registration systems, among other issues.

The project will support more than 55 municipalities, 430 schools, 1.2-million children and youth (65 percent girls) and nearly five-million people.
Funding partner: European Union
Seventy-five percent of Burkina Faso’s population is under 35, according to state statistics, leaving many young people susceptible to challenges, such as access to education, violence, unemployment and more. Change is possible through this project, which has already proven successful in other Children Believe offices around the world.
It will help empower 1,000 young leaders, 40 percent of whom are marginalized girls. Fifty local state officials will also be trained in awareness-raising campaigns and advocacy initiatives. This will foster youth participation at local and national levels in three regions (Centre, East and Centre East), so children and youth can learn their rights and help spur positive change.
Funding partner: European Union

One in three infants don’t have a birth certificate in rural Burkina Faso, according to government reports. This will make it difficult for them to access adequate healthcare and eventually school. So, Children Believe helped make birth registration universal in the Central-North, East and Central East regions of Burkina Faso by sharing why it’s important to get a birth certificate when a child is born. We also made services more accessible, connecting moms who give birth at home with local networks to report statistical birth data. We also supported civil registrars, so they’re better equipped to issue certificates.

This project supported 90 percent of newborns in the target areas, more than 2,250 villages, more than 5,190 community health workers, more than 430 health workers and more than 20 community child-protection network officers, among others.

Funding partner: UNICEF

This project supported children who lost one parent (or more) or who suffered psychological disorders due to armed conflict by radical groups, which has displaced more than one-million people. Psycho-social and psychological care was provided as well as cash transfers and emergency kits to families of the most vulnerable children. We spurred long-term plans to ensure a brighter future for all.

The support benefited 6,000 to 20,000 children aged three to 17, including 3,660 girls as well as children taking refuge in host communities, among others.

Funding partner: UNICEF
The goal of this project is to provide access to quality Early Childhood Care and Education (ECCE) and primary education for 80 children, between the ages of four and six, and 90 children, between the ages of seven and 10, respectively, primarily impacting those displaced in Oromia Regional State, Ethiopia, following civil conflict in 2018. We’ll do this by funding the construction, and equipping of, an ECCE centre with classrooms for primary students as well as water and sanitation facilities. These activities are expected to improve children’s cognitive, social and emotional development.
Funding partner: Awash Bank and Awash Insurance
The Canada-Africa Initiative to Address Maternal, Newborn and Child Mortality is a partnership among four Canadian organizations — Amref Health Africa, Children Believe, Centre for Global Child Health at The Hospital for Sick Children (SickKids) and WaterAid Canada. With support of $24.9 million from the Government of Canada (85 percent of the total project budget), this four-year project (2016 to 2020) aims to directly reach 1.7-million women, children and men across 20 districts in Ethiopia, Kenya, Malawi and Tanzania. The partners are working together with African communities to improve the delivery of essential health services to moms, pregnant women, newborns and children under the age of five; increase the use of these improved health services; and improve the consumption of nutritious foods and supplements.
Children Believe is implementing the project in Oromia Administrative Zone of Amhara National Regional State, Ethiopia, where it’s impacting more than 400,000 people. We’re working closely with regional government health departments as well as women and child affairs offices to plan, implement and monitor the success of the project.
Funding partner: Global Affairs Canada
The Lead for Education Achievement and Progress (LEAP) project improved early childhood education, addressed gaps in quality primary-school education and promoted access to education for orphaned and vulnerable children. As a result, 19 early childhood care and education centres were built and 40 were renovated. More specifically, 76 centres were equipped with adequate water supplies, latrines as well as indoor and outdoor playing and learning materials. LEAP reached 244,450 people, including 140,036 children, in three districts in Ethiopia.
Funding partner: Global Affairs Canada
In Ethiopia, most of the approximately 11-million children under the age of three don’t receive proper care, resulting in about 44 percent of children being stunted and 29 percent being underweight, reports the Ethiopia Central Statistical Agency. The Saving Brains project encouraged parents to protect and nurture early brain development during prenatal and early childhood periods through the distribution of calendars plotting a child’s development and educational videos, which support the Learning-Through-Play methodology. Through Learning Through Play, parents were encouraged to build toys to encourage positive interactions. The project improved the health, physical, cognitive, linguistic and socio-emotional development of 3,000 children, aged zero to three in 2,500 households in Ethiopia.
Funding partner: Grand Challenges Canada
Promoting the value of giving birth in health facilities with professionals — that was a goal of the Improving Maternal and Child Health: Partnership and Action for Community Transformation project in Ethiopia. It reached more than 120,000 women and children at more than 70 health facilities. As a result, skilled professionals delivered more than 20,700 babies safely, and 14 health centres and 59 health posts received medical equipment. Now women, men, families and communities understand the value of giving birth with help from trained professionals.
Funding partner: Global Affairs Canada
Shea-butter production is the main source of income for 900,000+ women in rural Ghana, and now with this project local businesswomen are learning to improve their efficiency and profitability through training in processing, financial management and more. The 150 project participants will also benefit from group discussions on women’s and girl’s rights to help change perceptions and attitudes within the community about women in business.
Funding partner: Australian High Commission
The Learning-Through-Play-Plus project is providing parents and caregivers in three districts with information on encouraging healthy growth and development of their children (aged zero to six). To start, they received a calendar charting a child’s growth, which is helping them learn the importance of engaging and playing with children to foster their cognitive development and mental health. More than 3,000 men, women and children are benefiting from the project, which made it possible to train 90 early childhood development teachers and integrate learnings about healthcare, hygiene, sanitation, gender equality and more into community group settings. What’s more, the project spurred the development of 42 community empowerment centres with materials provided by ChildFund Korea and Children Believe with artisan work, labour and land resources provided locally.
Funding partner: ChildFund Korea
The $7.7-million Promoting Maternal, Newborn, Infant and Child Sustainable Health Efforts (PROMISE) initiative aims to reduce maternal and child mortality in Ghana, Malawi and Rwanda through an integrated approach focusing on health-service delivery and utilization as well as improved nutrition. It promotes respectful and supportive maternity care as well as mother and baby-friendly environments. It also fosters engagement by fathers and ensures supportive supervision for new mothers. The initiative is being implemented through a consortium led by Children Believe in partnership with ADRA Canada and Emmanuel International Canada.
Funding partner: Global Affairs Canada
In rural Ghana, bicycles are an affordable way to get around. Sadly, they’re a luxury in rural communities where children need them to travel to school, which is usually far away. This leads to illiteracy due to high dropout rates and lower school attendance. This project provided 275 schoolchildren in the Northern Region of Ghana with bicycles. The gifts are making it easier for students to get to school on time, and it’s reducing the dropout rate.
Funding partner: ChildFund Korea
The Accelerating Communities’ Capacities for Essential Services and Self-reliance (ACCESS) project was delivered to speed access to clean water and education while also improving sanitation/hygiene, nutrition and livelihood development, especially for women and girls in two communities in the Northern Region of Ghana. More specifically, inadequate schools were improved with the addition of new classrooms; a solar-powered borehole was also built and 50 farmers were trained in dry-season gardening. The project directly benefited more than 1,500 people, including more than 1,000 children.
Funding partner: ChildFund Korea
In Ghana, access to Free Compulsory Basic Education is a constitutional right. Yet, many Ghanaian children from rural communities don’t attend school due to the cost, failing infrastructure and other challenges — instead many work. That’s why the Transforming Destiny project (TRADE) rescued four children from child labour. Now, they’re enrolled in school and have school uniforms, textbooks, exercise books, pens/pencils, school bags and bicycles to ride to school. The students’ caregivers also have capital and equipment to start and expand their businesses so they can support the children’s education.
Funding partner: ChildFund Korea
During this project, four districts in the Northern Region of Ghana benefited from open discussion about child-protection issues — such as gender-based violence and child marriage. In fact, more than 900 students and members of approximately 20 clubs led peer discussions about the importance of reporting cases of discrimination, violence, abuse, neglect and exploitation, especially among girls. Meanwhile, more than 4,600 adults, including 115 community leaders from more than 20 communities, were involved in similar conversations. As a result, child marriages are being prevented and at least one school has set up a taskforce of high-school graduates to monitor child safety.
Funding partner: UNICEF
The $7.7-million Promoting Maternal, Newborn, Infant and Child Sustainable Health Efforts (PROMISE) initiative aims to reduce maternal and child mortality in Ghana, Malawi and Rwanda through an integrated approach focusing on health-service delivery and utilization as well as improved nutrition. It promotes respectful and supportive maternity care as well as mother and baby-friendly environments. It also fosters engagement by fathers and ensures supportive supervision for new mothers. The initiative is being implemented through a consortium led by Children Believe in partnership with ADRA Canada and Emmanuel International Canada.
Funding partner: Global Affairs Canada
The $7.7-million Promoting Maternal, Newborn, Infant and Child Sustainable Health Efforts (PROMISE) initiative aims to reduce maternal and child mortality in Ghana, Malawi and Rwanda through an integrated approach focusing on health-service delivery and utilization as well as improved nutrition. It promotes respectful and supportive maternity care as well as mother and baby-friendly environments. It also fosters engagement by fathers and ensures supportive supervision for new mothers. The initiative is being implemented through a consortium led by Children Believe in partnership with ADRA Canada and Emmanuel International Canada.
Funding partner: Global Affairs Canada

Projects in Asia

We’re based in India

Child development has been on India’s agenda for 45+ years. And, although progress has been made, a new National Family Health Study has found too many children are malnourished. This project worked to make change by focusing on nutrition support, parenting practices and partnering with key stakeholders. As a result, micro-nutrient and dry-ration kits were distributed to 2,000 women and children; computers and other learning materials were delivered to Children Believe’s creative learning centres; and a “Nutri-care” app was developed as a resource for facilitators, parents and caregivers. Through the app the community continues to access early childhood care and development resources, parenting tips, vaccination reminders and more.
Funding partner: Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Republic of China – Taiwan, Taiwan Aid for Children and Families
In this project, which translates into English as “a child’s well-being,” the goal is to create 120 child-friendly communities and institutions among the most marginalized in India’s Prakasam district of Andhra Pradesh. Our implementing partner, Social Activities for Rural Development Society, is collaborating with the Andhra Pradesh State Commission for the Protection of Child Rights to improve knowledge and understanding of child rights and child protection. Together, we’re challenging social norms and encouraging change among local governance.
We piloted a three-month project designed to shift the public’s mindset about child marriage. It united 72 civil-society organizations and seven government departments in three states in India to spread awareness about the issue to more than 1.2-million people. The anecdotal evidence shows we helped prevent 173 child marriages during the campaign. Moreover, 141 villages and 127 schools took oaths to create child marriage-free villages.
Violence against children is an ongoing issue in India. And, although this generation comprises a large percentage of the country’s population, they are often left out of conversations about their safety. Through this project, children and youth learned how to advocate for their rights by understanding the legal structure and applying what they learned.
Since the project began, the government has trained more than 250 of its teachers and 2,560+ children on child rights and protection. And, children and youth have successfully advocated that suggestion boxes (to voice safety concerns), be placed in more than 15 government schools and nearly 50 municipalities.
We encourage positive parenting, improving nutrition for children six years old and younger. To do this, we’ve formed committees to encourage learning, facilitate vaccinations and tackle malnutrition in children under the age of five. We’ve also developed animated parenting videos to help pregnant and lactating women, fathers and secondary caregivers understand their child’s needs.
We improve learning opportunities and help make schools inclusive and safe, while ensuring children are treated equally irrespective of their caste, religion, gender, ethnicity or physical and mental abilities. For example, our after-school program at Creative Learning Centres gives kids a place to learn and build their confidence through physical exercise, games and more. We also work closely with the government promoting early childhood care and education to encourage positive parenting and prepare children for school.
Specialized children and youth clubs form to discuss issues pertinent to their development. Working with community members, they address issues such as child marriages, child labour and long-term employment. Some groups access local resources to improve gender equality and education through skills-training.

Projects in South/Central America

We’re based in Nicaragua and Paraguay

The $7.3-million EMPUJE (Youth Employability: Closing the Gender Gap in Youth Employment in Nicaragua) initiative is a four-year project designed to improve the well-being of 12,000 youth (60 percent women) in six provinces of Nicaragua. 
Children Believe is leading the project in partnership with local partners and government.
The project aims to boost life skills and soft skills among youth, so they can: identify, gain and retain employment; gain awareness of gender equality in accessing and identifying non-exploitative job opportunities; improve opportunities in engaging youth, especially women, in dialogue and consultations with potential employers and/or employment services; and improve access to skill-training.
Funding partner: Global Affairs Canada
Children Believe is leading a $15.2-million regional project in El Salvador, Guatemala, Honduras, Mexico and Nicaragua, designed to improve the well-being of children and youth who are at risk of irregular migration. The Government of Canada is contributing $12.6 million to the four-year project. The initiative addresses a number of the root causes that fuel irregular migration — from high levels of crime and violence, limited employment and educational opportunities, to social exclusion and a lack of information on the inherent dangers of migrating without following the normal immigration procedures. For this project, Children Believe is partnering with two non-governmental organizations: ChildFund International-USA and Educo.
Funding partner: Global Affairs Canada
Nicaragua ranks second among countries most affected by tropical storms and 30th among countries most affected by earthquakes, according to the UN’s “Global Report on Reducing Disaster Risk.” Children are most vulnerable during disasters as they usually comprise 50 to 60 percent of those affected.
This project targets 6,000 children and adults in Managua, Ciudad Sandino, Masaya, Estelí, Pueblo Nuevo, and Somoto, the most vulnerable communities where we work. Together, youth and adults are strengthening their emergency-preparedness processes, enhancing their ability to manage risk as it relates to child protection.
There are high levels of violence towards women in Nicaragua’s northern city of Estelí. The attacks manifest physically, psychologically, economically and sexually, and they often continue in the patriarchal society where women are commonly financially dependent on their aggressors.
This project is empowering 50 women who meet regularly for self-help reflection and mutual support, while discussing issues related to self-esteem, identity, self-care, women’s health as well as training in laws passed to protect and prevent gender violence. The women are also motivated to manage their individual and collective development, as many will have access to job and entrepreneurship training, based on their interests.
The country’s Ministry of Family identified five factors limiting learning at schools. For example, bullying, sexual abuse, drug use, alcohol abuse and gun violence are ongoing issues. The challenge is to equip teachers with the resources to prevent and detect risks while protecting students who need it.
This initiative targets more than 1,000 principals and teachers who are learning to promote values, recognize early warning signs of risks to learning and effectively report situations affecting a student’s safety.
A 2015 evaluation of our Remansito program uncovered that just five percent of mothers of children aged zero to five felt they lived in a safe and healthy environment. So, we worked with 1,000+ children, youth and adults to create 100 educational kits for community leaders to reflect and inform others about local issues. There was discussion about safety (to prevent abuse), hygiene, HIV/AIDS, teen pregnancy and good nutrition. In 2017, our end-line evaluation showed a nine percent improvement in how mothers felt about the health and safety of their community. And, the results are expected to continue as the initiative continues in local schools.
Children Believe is leading a $15.2-million regional project in El Salvador, Guatemala, Honduras, Mexico and Nicaragua, designed to improve the well-being of children and youth who are at risk of irregular migration. The Government of Canada is contributing $12.6 million to the four-year project. The initiative addresses a number of the root causes that fuel irregular migration — from high levels of crime and violence, limited employment and educational opportunities, to social exclusion and a lack of information on the inherent dangers of migrating without following the normal immigration procedures. For this project, Children Believe is partnering with two non-governmental organizations: ChildFund International-USA and Educo.
Funding partner: Global Affairs Canada
Children Believe is leading a $15.2-million regional project in El Salvador, Guatemala, Honduras, Mexico and Nicaragua, designed to improve the well-being of children and youth who are at risk of irregular migration. The Government of Canada is contributing $12.6 million to the four-year project. The initiative addresses a number of the root causes that fuel irregular migration — from high levels of crime and violence, limited employment and educational opportunities, to social exclusion and a lack of information on the inherent dangers of migrating without following the normal immigration procedures. For this project, Children Believe is partnering with two non-governmental organizations: ChildFund International-USA and Educo.
Funding partner: Global Affairs Canada
Children Believe is leading a $15.2-million regional project in El Salvador, Guatemala, Honduras, Mexico and Nicaragua, designed to improve the well-being of children and youth who are at risk of irregular migration. The Government of Canada is contributing $12.6 million to the four-year project. The initiative addresses a number of the root causes that fuel irregular migration — from high levels of crime and violence, limited employment and educational opportunities, to social exclusion and a lack of information on the inherent dangers of migrating without following the normal immigration procedures. For this project, Children Believe is partnering with two non-governmental organizations: ChildFund International-USA and Educo.
Funding partner: Global Affairs Canada
Children Believe is leading a $15.2-million regional project in El Salvador, Guatemala, Honduras, Mexico and Nicaragua, designed to improve the well-being of children and youth who are at risk of irregular migration. The Government of Canada is contributing $12.6 million to the four-year project. The initiative addresses a number of the root causes that fuel irregular migration — from high levels of crime and violence, limited employment and educational opportunities, to social exclusion and a lack of information on the inherent dangers of migrating without following the normal immigration procedures. For this project, Children Believe is partnering with two non-governmental organizations: ChildFund International-USA and Educo.
Funding partner: Global Affairs Canada

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