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PROGRAM NAMEBeoog Biiga II (BBII), Tomorrow’s Child

LOCATIONBurkina Faso

TIMELINEOctober 2014-September 2018

IMPLEMENTERCatholic Relief Services (CRS)

FUNDERUnited States Department of Agriculture (USDA) McGovern-Dole International Food for Education and Child Nutrition (MGD) program

PARTNERS• Ministry of Basic Education and

Literacy (MENA) of Burkina Faso • Burkina Faso Ministry of Health

and Ministry of Social Action and Solidarity (MASSN)

• Organisation Catholique pour le Développement et la Solidarité (OCADES) Ouahigouya

• OCADES Kaya• Friends of African Village Libraries

(FAVL)

PROGRAM GOAL

BBII was a four-year program designed to improve the literacy, health, and dietary knowledge and practices of school-aged children in Bam and Sanmatenga counties in the Central North region of Burkina Faso. BBII was an expansion of BBI, a three-year (2011-2014) program that sought to improve food security through education, health, and capacity building activities.

INDEPENDENT EVALUATION

IMPAQ International (IMPAQ) conducted performance and impact evaluations of the BBII program using qualitative and quantitative methods to measure changes in key outcomes from 2015 to 2018. IMPAQ also designed a randomized control trial to measure the impact of the BBII mentoring intervention on the literacy of school-aged girls. The study included:

SUMMARY OF FINDINGS

TheevaluationofBBIIshowsthattheprogramhaseffectivelyhelpedtargetedcommunities reach project goals:

• Grade2students’ability to read at grade level increased by 17 percentage points during the life of the project.

• Animpactevaluationonmentoringshowednoimpactongirls’readingproficiencybutapositivesignificantimpactonboys.

Recommendation: Further research is recommended to investigate the disconnect between mentoring activities and girls’ literacy.

• Communitiessawanimprovement in their students’ knowledge of nutrition (8 percentage points) and improved hygiene practices (15 percentage points) compared to baseline. However, a gap between hygiene knowledge and practice persists with students unable to practice good hygiene possibly because of poor infrastructure.

Recommendation: To better translate hygiene knowledge into practice, future programs should consider including strategies to address water, sanitation, and hygiene challenges.Adetailedexplanationofthetechnicaldesign,thefindings,andrecommendations are provided in the full report found at www.impaqint.com/BB2.

W W W. I M PA Q I N T. C O M

INDEPENDENT EVALUATION MCGOVERN-DOLE INTERNATIONAL FOOD FOR EDUCATION

AND CHILD NUTRITION PROGRAM BEOOG BI IGA I I

44Schools

600Students

(Grades 2-6)

327Parents

108Teachers

(Grades 2-6)

134Parent-Teacher

Association Members (PTA)

30School

Administrators

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OBJECTIVE 1: IMPROVE LITERACY OF SCHOOL-AGE CHILDREN

ACTIVITIES SHORT-TERM OUTPUTS LONG-TERM OUTCOMES

• Local, regional, and national capacity building

• Training teachers and school administrators

• Raising awareness of the importance of education

• Train school administrators• Local, regional, and national capacity

building• Standardized reading assessment tool

• Distribution of deworming pills, vitamins and minerals

• Health and nutrition training• Distribution of school materials

• Provide school meals• Take home rations• Raising awareness on the importance of

education• Mentoring• Teacher training

• Raising awareness on the importance of education

• Raise awareness on importance of education

• Establish libraries• Reading groups• Mentoring• Form savings and lending groups (SILC)• Take home rations• Provide school meals

• Distribution of school materials • Establish libraries• Train teachers to use materials

Consistent with baseline, 89% of teachers in target schools attend school regularly

107,856 textbooks and other teaching and learning materials provided as a result of USDA assistance

31 percentage point increase in the number of educators who received literacy training

100,099 girls and 112,118 boys enrolled in schools receiving USDA assistance

21 percentage points increase in parents showing a positive attitude towards girls’ education, as well as 11 percentage points increase in the proportion

of parents joining PTA

Teachersinqualitativeinterviewsconfirmedthat parents had a greater understanding of the

importance of education

Almost all students reported eating a school meal provided by the program-a 70 percentage point

increase

Consistent with baseline, only 4% of students reported being hungry during the day

32 percentage point increase in SILC membership among parents with a higher proportion of SILC

members (a 35 percentage points increase) using their money for education

District administrators in qualitative interviews report that absences due to illness have decreased

100% of surveyed district administrators reported holding at least one teacher training and spending

time observing teachers in the classroom

• Distribution of school materials

• Provide school meals

IMPROVED QUALITY OF LITERACY INSTRUCTION

The data revealed no improvement in the

usage of new literacy skills among teachers. However some lessons learned included that

teachers needed more time to practice to gain

confidence.Teachersalsoshowed lack of motivation

IMPROVED ATTENTIVENESS

No improvement in student attentiveness reported by teachers. However, due to the

subjectivity of measuring attentiveness, this should

be interpreted with caution

IMPROVED STUDENT ATTENDANCE

Consistent with baseline, 99% of girls and 100% of boys attended school

regularly

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ACTIVITIES SHORT-TERM OUTPUTS LONG-TERM OUTCOMES

OBJECTIVE 2: INCREASE USE OF HEALTH AND DIETARY PRACTICES

• Training on good health and nutrition practices• Distribution of deworming pills, vitamins and

minerals• Distribution of school supplies and materials• Local, regional, and national capacity building

• Training on good health and nutrition practices• Distribution of deworming pills, vitamins and

minerals• Distribution of school supplies and materials• Local, regional, and national capacity building

• Local, regional, and national capacity building

• Distribution of school supplies and materials

15 percentage point increase in the proportion of students who achieved a passing score on a test of good health/

hygiene practices

Teachers in qualitative interviews reported that students are cleaner

and wash their hands while present at school. This was corroborated by other

community stakeholders

1,733 food preparers at target schools achieved a passing score on food prep

and storage assessment

13,219trainedbeneficiariesinchildhealth and nutrition as a result of USDA

assistance

Large gains in the proportion of students who had heard of vitamin Aandiron.Significantimprovementin students’ ability to cite foods that

containthosenutrientsortheirbenefits

Qualitative analysis shows that the distribution of micronutrients waseffectiveatimprovingnutrition

outcomes, attendance, and attentiveness

60 preschools (bissongos) received improved food preparation and storage

equipment

181,535 students received deworming pills

185,814 students received vitamin A treatment

182,272 students received iron treatments

• Distribution of deworming pills, vitamins and minerals

• Distribution of school supplies and materials

IMPROVED KNOWLEDGE OF HEALTH AND HYGIENE

PRACTICES

IMPROVED KNOWLEDGE OF NUTRITION

8 percentage point increase in the proportion of students who achieved a passing score on a

test of food nutrition and dietary practices

INCREASED ACCESS TO PREVENTATIVE HEALTH

INTERVENTIONS

INCREASED ACCESS TO REQUISITE FOOD PREP

AND STORAGE TOOLS AND EQUIPMENT

INCREASED KNOWLEDGE OF SAFE FOOD PREPARATION AND STORAGE PRACTICES

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LESSONS LEARNED & SUCCESS STORIES

Overall, project stakeholders believe that BBII met local needs and led to improved literacy, hygiene, and nutrition. According to stakeholders, these improvements are primarily a result of introducing new evidence-based literacy techniques to teachers; training administrators to observe and coach teachers; supporting school canteens; distributing micro-nutrients to students; and teaching handwashing at school. Reading clubs, access to libraries, mentoring, and teacher training in health and nutrition also contributed to the project’s success.

Additionally,BBIIinfluencedtheattitudesandbehaviorsof parents and community members. Project stakeholders reported that parents and communities have more positive views toward educating children, especially girls. Handwashing is also believed to have increased in homes, markets, mosques, and restaurants in communities with BBII schools.

To have greater impact, BBII should consider further institutionalizing evidence-based literacy instruction at schools, in order to increase teachers’ use of these practices. In addition, targeting resources toward school infrastructure; increasing the number of libraries or mobile libraries available to students; and further educating parents about the importance of education and management of SILCs may increase the impact of the intervention.

PhotoCredit: Catholic Relief Services

PhotoCredit: Catholic Relief Services

PhotoCredit: Catholic Relief Services PhotoCredit: Catholic Relief Services