Allocation: US$7 million
Years: 2021-2022
Grant agent: AFD
Key documents:
The US$7 million COVID-19 grant supports:
In late March 2020, the UNICEF office in Burkina Faso received a GPE grant of US$70,000 to support the Ministry of Education in planning its response to the coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic.
Following a diagnostic work carried out in 2016, the government of Burkina Faso decided to review its education sector plan (Programme sectoriel de l’education et de la formation - PSEF) and has developed a new one for the period of 2017-2030.
The new education sector plan aims to (i) ensure a harmonious, equitable, and inclusive early childhood development, (ii) ensure a universal completion of primary cycle and establish equitable and quality basic education for all, (iii) deal with lack of trainers in technical and vocational high schools, (iv) extend technical and vocational training and education and adjust it to the needs of the economy, (v) adjust higher education to the needs of the economy, (vi) foster governance in the management of the sector for an efficient conversion of resources into results.
The country envisions a democratic, performing, and inclusive education system, which is also open to the world and develops the required competences and expertise that meet the needs of the socioeconomic development of Burkina Faso.
To achieve this vision, the PSEF is built around three strategic programs, which seek to:
In December 2017, the GPE Board approved a grant to Burkina Faso of US$33.8 million to be channeled through a pooled fund in support of the implementation of the country’s education sector plan.
The grant was to be implemented from 2018 to 2022 with some funds dedicated to capacity development. However, the deteriorating security situation in the Sahel region in 2018 and resultant closure of schools made it impossible to achieve some of the original indicators.
In August 2018, the country was awarded US$21.2 million in additional funding for the costed restructuring of the previous grant. This additional allocation brings GPE current funding to US$55 million.
The additional funding is conditional on the transfer of funds linked to the variable part of the first grant and the country therefore revised some of its indicators.
The variable part of the additional financing focuses on reducing geographical disparities, strengthening system efficiency through better domestic financing resource allocation, and ensuring improved in-services teacher training and pedagogical support in the early grades to improve learning outcomes.
These indicators are directly aligned with the objectives of the national sector plan. The country has committed to achieving the following results:
The grant runs through 2023 with French Development Agency (AFD) serving as grant agent, while UNICEF serves as the coordinating agency.
All amounts are in US dollars.
| Grant type | Years | Allocations | Utilization | Grant agent | |
| Accelerated funding | 2020-2022 | 11,000,000 | 10,712,603 | UNICEF | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| COVID-19 | 2021-2022 | 7,000,000 | 6,758,793 | AFD | |
| Program implementation | 2018-2023 | 55,000,000 | 47,743,736 | AFD | |
| 2013-2017 | 78,200,000 | 78,200,000 | AFD | Completion report | |
| 2009-2012 | 102,000,000 | 102,000,000 | WB | Completion report | |
| Sector plan development | 2016-2017 | 208,041 | 208,041 | UNICEF | |
| System capacity | 2022 | 95,360 | 0 | UNICEF | |
| Program development | 2012-2013 | 44,885 | 44,885 | AFD | |
| Total | 253,548,286 | 245,668,058 |
As part of its investment in civil society advocacy and social accountability efforts, GPE’s Education Out Loud fund is supporting:
GPE had provided the coalition nationale pour l’éducation pour tous du Burkina Faso with a grant from the CSEF to support its engagement in education sector policy dialogue and citizens’ voice in education quality, equity, and financing and sector reform.