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Special Reports - Education
Case Study 2
TaiwanICDF Scholarship Program in Burkina Faso
This situation is particularly
common in the more than 600 mines
and quarries found throughout Burkina
Faso where working parents are often
forced to leave preschool children
unattended in dangerous conditions,
which results in numerous accidents.
Meanwhile, harsh working conditions
faced by school-aged children and
adolescents employed at these sites
can cause serious physical disabilities
on top of the losses of educational
opportunities suffered by all.
The project’s main approach
is to provide scholarships using
funds provided by the TaiwanICDF.
Terres des Hommes is responsible
for implementing the project within
Burkina Faso, with the TaiwanICDF,
the Taiwanese embassy in Burkina
Faso and UNICEF providing oversight.
The program assists children working
at nine mines and quarries in three
provinces. It directly funds basic primary education for
some beneficiaries and provides remedial and literacy
education to children who are not in school. The program
gives children the chance to escape the fate of working at
such sites for their entire lives.
Assisting in the Improvement of Educational
Facilities, Focusing on Pastoral Care and Literacy
To provide children with a better educational
environment, funding has also been allocated to improve
basic educational facilities at six schools situated in
the vicinity of mines and quarries. The project will also
fund the protection and education of selected groups of
preschool children aged 3-6 and adolescents aged 10-14.
The four main activities conducted as part of the
project and their outcomes to date are described below.
• Assisting and Supporting Primary Education:
A total
of 1,502 children have received TaiwanICDF scholarship
grants supporting the purchase of textbooks, stationery
and learning materials; 75 out-of-school children who
were begging or involved in some form of child labor or
To echo and put into practice one of the MDGs,
“Achieve universal primary education,” we have promoted
the TaiwanICDF Scholarship Program in Burkina Faso
since 2011. The project is being implemented in
cooperation with Terre des Hommes, a Swiss NGO, under
the framework of a number of local UNICEF cooperation
projects. Combined with the funding offered by the
TaiwanICDF, this approach will provide primary education
opportunities to local children throughout Burkina Faso
between October 2011 and September 2013. The
initiative is currently progressing smoothly under the
supervision of the TaiwanICDF, the Taiwanese embassy in
Burkina Faso and the country’s Ministry of Social Action
and National Solidarity and Ministry of Labor and Social
Security.
Scholarship-based Donations Helping Poor
Children to Receive a Basic Education
Of the more than 1.6 million Burkinabé children and
adolescents aged 5-17 who are engaged in some kind of
work or economic activity, approximately two-thirds are
involved in an exploitative form of child labor.
A social worker discusses social issues with young people as part of regular sessions held at this project-
funded “Hope Point” in Bobo-Dioulasso, Burkina Faso.
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