buildOn Launches to Burkina Faso!
While it is one of the culturally richest places in the world, Burkina Faso is currently ranked by the UN as the 3rd economically poorest country.
78% of the population is illiterate and only 58% of children living in Burkina Faso are in in primary school. Global Illiteracy drives extreme poverty and undermines democracy. No country has ever achieved continuous and rapid economic growth without first having at least 40% of its adults able to read and write.
The schools that we will help build in Burkina Faso are not meant to be a quick solution, but rather projects that will ignite a new commitment to education and change the trajectory of education and learning in rural Burkina Faso.
The current school in the village of Taga, Burkina Faso. This will be replaced by a new school constructed by buildOn and the commmunity itself.
Our first school in Burkina Faso will be built in the village of Taga, where there are more than 130 school-aged children. The children of Taga are currently learning in a dilapidated mud hut, but once the new school is complete they will have clean and safe place to learn instead. Additionally, the local ministry of education has agreed to send more teachers to the village and will provide new desks for the school.
Education is the backbone of development and social and economic advancement. We believe that community members in rural Burkina Faso are the ones who are going to change education for themselves.
buildOn’s Founder and CEO, Jim Ziolkowski, and 12 students from buildOn’s youth service program have traveled to break ground on our first school in Burkina Faso.
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Related: Katharine McPhee Partners with buildOn to Construct Schools in Burkina Faso