USAID Benin: Education: Peer Tutoring: Helping Girl Students in Northern Benin

In 2001, USAID/Benin awarded CARE International a grant of $1,262,806 for a four-year period to promote girls' education in two targeted communities (Gogounou and Kalalé) located in northern Benin, where girls' enrollment and retention rates in primary schools are particularly low. Among the thirteen communities that needed critical community support to promote girls' education, Gogounou had the fifth lowest girls' enrollment rate. CARE International provided support by conducting community sensitization programs, including meetings at the village level to raise parents', teachers', local authorities' awareness about the importance of education in general and girls education in particular; establishing local monitoring committees to see to the enrollment of school-aged girl students as well as their retention in school; asking teachers to offer on a voluntary basis a one-hour reinforcement session to students after classes every day; and organizing girl students' peer tutoring activities. To strengthen local capacity, CARE International established a partnership with one local NGO per targeted community to work in the field with their members to implement the activities mentioned above.

In Gounarou, one of the 33 villages of the commune of Gogounou, located some 700 kms north of Cotonou, Benin's economic capital on the Atlantic coast, a group of twelve girls in grade six have benefited from peer tutoring activities. This consists of the best girl students in the group helping the weakest do their homework. Thus, over the past two years, on each school day, peer teachers worked with the girls for one hour after classes. With the support and supervision from CARE International and its local partner NGOs as well as supervision from the members of the community, the girls would gather in groups of four on each school day after dinner to revise the day's lessons, complete their homework and study. At the beginning of the project, two community workers were recruited by each local NGO in each targeted community to supervise twice a month the peer tutoring working groups. To ensure sustainability, parents were sensitized on the importance of girls' education, trained in capacity strengthening, and organized into local committees for girls' education. They were members of the supervision teams.

At the end of the 2002-2003 school year, the twelve girls took the primary school leaving exam and all of them passed. It so happened that the weakest girl in the group obtained the highest grades which earned her direct access to a secondary school government scholarship. This was the first time since the creation of this primary school in 1975 that girls were able not only to reach grade 6 but also to achieve a 100% success rate for their primary school leaving exam. The performance of the other eleven girls earned them entry to secondary school but without a government scholarship.

Members of the communities were very happy and proud of these achievements all the more so as the news spread around and congratulations were received from surrounding villages. The event became the topic for discussions in the village and neighboring communities. Life suddenly seemed different as there was hope for the future. And because of the successful results achieved by their "heroes" as well as the resulting fame gained by their village, the communities decided to continue the peer tutoring experiment in the 2003-2004 academic year with the support of a neighboring teacher. All the twelve girls committed themselves to work hard, complete secondary education and serve as models for their younger sisters.

The success of this activity offers a promising means of raising the primary school enrollment and retention of girls.

For more information contact USAID-Benin

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