Church organisation targets girls' education

The Catholic Relief Services (CRS) has embarked on a one-year project which hopes to improve long-term food security in Benin by promoting the education of some 10,000 rural primary school students. Under the project, funded with over US $1 million by the United States Department of Agriculture, CRS and its local partner, the Global Food for Education Initiative (GFEI), will expand the formal education programme to about 60 new schools in the impoverished northern regions of Benin. According to a CRS statement on Wednesday, the project wants to establish community-run canteens and a programme under which girls will receive take-home rations so as to increase their participation in primary education. It also aims at mobilising communities to increase their involvement in primary schools and improve school infrastructure. CRS-Benin, in collaboration with Benin's Ministry of Education, other organisations intervening in the education sector, and various Parent-Teacher Associations (PTAs), will this month start selecting the schools that will participate in the first year of the project, the statement said. Other start-up activities include a baseline survey, training of management committees, research on obstacles to girls' education and assistance to PTAs in the development of school action plans focusing on participatory learning. CRS/Benin plans to submit a follow-up proposal for continuing activities through the 2002-2003 school year, it added.