Notebooks for school children in Burundi: Improving performance in the education sector

During my recent mission to Bujumbura, Burundi, I witnessed the rapid results initiative team in action.  Earlier this March, a group of government officials participated in a training session on the use of the Rapid Results Approach to promote good governance and anti-corruption.  During this training, a group of officials from the Ministry of Education decided that this method could help them to improve efficiency in their sector.

The Rapid Results Approach was introduced in Burundi by a World Bank Institute team in 200l.  Presently, the method is being used in 11 different sectors, and it has become a change catalyst.  In the education sector the challenge identified was the timely distribution of school materials, which would help reducing opportunities for corruption and decreasing security costs from stocked materials.

It was 8:30 in the morning on September 11, and I was standing in front of the storage facilities of the Ministry of Education when the door was opened.  It was quite impressive to see piles and piles of boxes containing notebooks for school children.  More than a year ago, five million notebooks were donated, to the Government of Burundi by Uganda, whose aim was to benefit children in public schools at national level for the 2007 school year. The notebooks never arrived to the schools that year.  There were kept in the storage facility.

“No funds to cover transportation costs and lack of coordination,” were the reasons why the notebooks were not distributed as planned, according to the Ministry officials.  “Since the donated notebooks were received and stocked, several cases of corruption were reported,” mentioned one of the government officials, while we watched the boxes being moved into the truck, ready for distribution. See video below.

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In kind donations, like notebooks and medicines are often stolen and sold in the local markets.  I ventured to the central market in Bujumbura and was not too surprised when I saw a stand selling the notebooks donated by the government of Uganda.
 
According to the recent diagnostic survey on governance and corruption carried out in 2007, access to basic services remains very limited and corruption prevails.  The rural Burundian struggles to make a living and move out of extreme poverty.  After 13 years of conflict, Burundi lost most of its socioeconomic infrastructure and human capacity.  The 2007 UNDP Human Development Index, places Burundi among the 10 less developed countries in the world.

Although the President of Burundi has made education for all a priority, it still remains inaccessible for a great majority due to supplemental and unofficial costs such as school supplies and bribes.  During my stay in Burundi, I heard a young Burundian in a rural community say: “School is free now, but we neither have enough books, pencils and paper nor enough means to get them.  Books are shared among 15 boys and girls and writing materials are a privilege of a few.”   A recent article published in the local newspaper “ Le Renouveau” on the constraints faced by parents for the school year 2008-2009,  mentions that parents have reported that notebooks are particularly expensive in the local markets. The price of a notebook has doubled from 500 to 1,000 Burundian Francs in less than one year. “The majority of the parents are not able to buy notebooks for their children,” the article reports.

With the use of the rapid results approach, the team from the Ministry of Education managed to deliver the five million books in two weeks time.  In less than 60 days, the team organized the decentralized structures at national level to be part of the distribution chain.  The goal was to reach schools around the country before the start of the school year this September.

At the central level in Bujumbura, barriers were removed and strategic leaders were mobilized to facilitate access to transportation.  With engaged leadership and a motivated team, children in Burundi had a note book this year before the first day of school.