Burkina Faso: Improving Education for Girls

Improving girls’ education is a priority in many developing countries. The government of Burkina Faso is implementing the Girl’s Education Threshold Country Program to address this challenge. Mathematica is working with the Millennium Challenge Corporation, the government of Burkina Faso, and other key stakeholders to design and implement a rigorous and timely evaluation.

Using a regression discontinuity design, the evaluation is answering three main questions: (1) What is the impact of new girl-friendly schools, combined with some add-on interventions, on school enrollment and girls' attendance? (2) Do these primary impacts vary by key subgroups defined by baseline family, child, and community characteristics? (3) What additional impacts do the interventions have on food consumption, household livelihood, child care activities by young girls, teacher behaviors, mothers’ educational activities, parent attitudes, and resource allocation within the household? Do they vary by key subgroups?

Survey questionnaires were developed for households and schools in rural villages that have benefited from the program and those that have not. Mathematica subcontracted with the University of Ouagadougou in Burkina Faso to conduct in-person interviews with 30 household heads and up to 3 school officials in each village. In spring 2007, a pilot study in 10 villages evaluated household and school questionnaires and data collection procedures. The results were used to design final versions of the questionnaires and to refine the data collection procedures. A full survey of households and schools in 293 participant and comparison villages was conducted in early 2008. A final report evaluating the impact of the schools and related interventions is slated for December 2008.

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