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At a Glance
Funder:
Millennium Challenge CorporationProject Time Frame:
2006-2015Topic Areas:
EducationService Areas:
Impact EvaluationData Collection
Technical Assistance and Capacity Building
Publications
Impact Evaluation Design and Implementation Services for the Burkinabé Response to Improve Girls' Chances to Succeed in School: Bright I and II
From 2005 to 2008, the government of Burkina Faso partnered with the Millennium Challenge Corporation to implement a Threshold Country Program to increase girls’ educational attainment in Burkina Faso. The program was called the Burkinabé Response to Improve Girl’s Chances to Succeed (BRIGHT 1). It was implemented in 132 rural villages throughout the 10 provinces of the country in which girls’ school enrollment rates were lowest. The program involved constructing primary schools with three classrooms (grades 1 to 3) and implementing a set of complementary interventions. These included separate latrines for boys and girls, canteens, take-home rations and textbooks, and other components such as a mobilization campaign, literacy training, and capacity building among local partners. An impact evaluation of BRIGHT 1 by Mathematica between 2006 and 2008 revealed positive impacts on both enrollment and test scores of children in the targeted areas. Although the program focused on girls, improvements in outcomes were observed for both boys and girls.
BRIGHT 2 is providing funding to include three additional classrooms (grades 4 through 6) in the same 132 villages. All intervention components will continue to be provided to the 132 program villages. Since BRIGHT 2 will continue in the same villages, Mathematica will assess the impacts of the program on key outcomes using the same regression discontinuity design that was employed to evaluate BRIGHT 1. Additionally, cost analyses will be conducted to help answer questions about program sustainability and produce comparisons to similar educational interventions. As with BRIGHT 1, Mathematica will oversee the data collection efforts that will inform this evaluation—including household and school surveys.
Publications
"The Effects of 'Girl-Friendly' Schools: Evidence from the BRIGHT School Construction Program in Burkina Faso" Working Paper (May 2012)
"Impact Evaluation of Burkina Faso's BRIGHT Program" (June 2009)