Access to quality early-childhood development (ECD) services is a challenge in the rural community of Meguet. The government has made efforts for years, but the need is greater than the available support. Children Believe is working closely with the municipality and the community to improve access to and quality of integrated ECD services in the area for children up to the age of eight. We’re also working with adults to build stronger, safer and more efficient ECD and primary education systems and services that are given equal importance and investment.

At the end of the project, we hope to reach more than 4,500 children, nearly 1,700 parents, more than 60 teachers and more than 240 internally displaced children while also setting up and strengthening seven community-based child-protection groups.

In Burkina Faso, state stats show women are having more than six children each, and more than 60 percent of the population is in their early 20s. So, Children Believe partnered with Educo, Terre des Hommes and Association Burkinabè pour le Bien Être Familial in the Center North, North and Sahel Regions to help address the growth of vulnerable populations. The goals are to promote family planning by training adolescent girls and boys about their sexual and reproductive health and strengthening birth-registration systems, among other issues.