Project implemented during the 2024–2025 academic year
Sinendé is a rural municipality located in the Borgou Department in northern Benin, a West African country with an estimated population of more than 13 million people. Benin is officially a secular and democratic nation whose economy relies heavily on subsistence agriculture. Although the country has made progress in human development over recent decades, significant disparities remain between the urban south and the rural north, particularly regarding access to education, healthcare, and basic infrastructure.
The northern region, where Sinendé is located, faces considerable socioeconomic challenges. Communities are predominantly Muslim, with polygamous family structures and a social fabric largely centered on agricultural work. Children’s access to education is affected by factors such as child labor, seasonal migration, inadequate infrastructure, and limited teacher training. While the national literacy rate has improved in recent years (63.1% according to the World Bank, 2022), illiteracy remains high in rural northern areas,
illiteracy remains high in rural northern areas, especially among women and girls. (2). In the absence of accessible, high-quality educational institutions, many rural families choose to send their children to boarding schools such as the Saint François Coll School Complex, where they can benefit from a safer and more stable learning environment. However, growing demand has exceeded the school’s current capacity, resulting in overcrowded classrooms and conditions that are not conducive to effective learning.
Within this context, the construction of new classrooms has become an urgent necessity to guarantee the right of rural children to a dignified, safe, and quality education, while continuing to advance the educational and humanizing mission of the Dominican Sisters of the Annunciation in the region.
The project
The project consists of the construction of a three-classroom ground-floor block (R+1) with sanitary facilities, located within the Saint François Coll School Complex. This first phase is part of a broader development plan that envisions a two-story building designed to accommodate growing educational demand without compromising the quality of teaching and student support.
The new classroom block will free up secondary school classrooms that are currently being used by primary school students, thereby improving the overall organization and functioning of the school. This expansion will benefit both students and teachers by creating a more structured, secure, and pedagogically effective learning environment.
Objective
- Provide quality education while accommodating the highest possible number of students under appropriate learning conditions.
- Improve educational support by reducing the number of students per classroom.
- Meet the enrollment demands of new families arriving in the area.
- Enhance academic performance and the school environment through spacious and well-equipped classrooms.
- Strengthen the educational and evangelizing mission of the Dominican Sisters of the Annunciation in Sinendé.
Beneficiaries:
- 356 primary school students.
- 11 teachers, particularly those working in primary education.
- Approximately 300 families who entrust the education of their children to the school.
- The wider community of users of the Saint François Coll School Complex.
Total project budget: €74,052.00