The World Bank has approved a new initiative, the Restoring Education System Performance and Improving Resilience (REPAIR) Project, aimed at enhancing Burkina Faso's education sector. This $140 million project includes a $10 million grant from the Window for Host Communities and Refugees.
The REPAIR Project seeks to address various challenges in Burkina Faso’s education system by increasing access to preprimary and primary education, improving learning outcomes, and strengthening educational services. The project will focus on building climate-resilient educational infrastructure, supporting emergency education for displaced, refugee, and vulnerable children, enhancing the quality of foundational learning through improved teaching materials, and bolstering institutional capacity for evidence-based decision-making.
Hamoud Abdel Wedoud Kamil, World Bank Country Manager for Burkina Faso, stated that "The REPAIR project will contribute to the implementation of the government’s education strategy and to the long-term resilience of Burkina Faso’s education system. It supports investments in human capital and is aligned with the Presidential Initiative for Quality Education for All (IPEQ)."
The project is organized into four components: expanding access to education through modern school infrastructure; supporting emergency and inclusive education; improving foundational learning quality; and building institutional capacity.
Kaliope Azzi-Huck, World Bank Task Team Leader for the project, highlighted that “The REPAIR Project is a major initiative designed to support the country’s efforts to address the specific challenges facing its education sector. It aims to cover a wide range of beneficiaries, with an estimated 2,200,000 students and approximately 40,000 teachers expected to benefit from the planned interventions. Key beneficiary figures include 120,000 learners 60,000 of whom are girls, 13,500 displaced learners, 10,000 learners from host communities, and at least 2,500 refugee learners.”