Benin, solidarity on the road with WeWard
Starting Dec. 27, every step counts: thanks to the WeWard App you can close the gap on school dropout for 300 children in Benin with Mani Tese.
A virtuous partnership between Mani Tese and WeWard aims to promote healthy lifestyles and combat educational poverty in Benin, where Mani Tese has been present since 1979. In the department of Atacorà, in particular, Mani Tese has developed projects over the years in the area of agriculture, to promote access to sources of drinking water and support for education, with a particular focus on the rights of girls and women.
The partnership with WeWard
WeWard has developed a free App that motivates its users to have a healthy lifestyle and to engage in daily physical activity by walking: the App’s pedometer translates into points (the “Wards”) the distances covered by the user, who can thus obtain various rewards and benefits. To all this, as of last December 27, a solidarity motivation was also added: the App user, in fact, can choose to convert his Wards into a donation in favor of Mani Tese’s project “Let’s give 300 children the means to access education in Benin.” One step after another, it will now be possible to contribute to their education while developing more awareness in Atacora communities about the right to education.
Benin’s educational context
In a country ranked 166th out of 191 on the Human Development Index, guaranteeing the right to education-though enshrined in Benin’s Constitution-inevitably takes a back seat for families who face daily challenges to their livelihoods and survival. In rural areas such as Atacora department, moreover, educational provision is particularly lacking: in 2023, only 65 percent of schoolchildren completed primary education, and more than one in three children under the age of 15 did not attend school at all. Poor awareness of children’s rights by families and communities, in addition to the inadequacy of the child protection system, can only perpetuate this situation over time. Mani Tese’s program aims precisely to address these factors, through greater family involvement, to encourage greater participation in school activities for girls and boys.
Countering school dropout in the department of Atacora
Mani Tese’s project “Let’s Give 300 Children the Means to Access Education in Benin” will directly benefit 300 children between the ages of 10 and 13 in 20 schools in the Atacorà department, who will receive school kits with everything they need to boost their right to education, including even a flashlight to facilitate evening study sessions. Having identified the close correlation between poverty and school dropout rates, the project will also support the families of the 300 children by providing them with roosters and chickens: raising poultry, in fact, requires only minimal infrastructure to ensure food and a stable and secure source of income. Finally, the project will also purchase a motorcycle and cover the cost of fuel for one year, so that educators can reach even the most remote communities and hold awareness meetings there with families about the importance of education for their children, so that their continued participation in school activities is encouraged and supported.