West and Central Africa - Regional Study on Education System Resilience in the Sahel [EN/FR]
Executive Summary
About
In 2024, UNICEF conducted a regional study in Burkina Faso, Chad, Mali, Mauritania, and Niger to analyze the main risks affecting the education sector and evaluate the capacity of national systems to respond. The study was co-funded by Education Cannot Wait (ECW) through the Multi-Year Resilience Program for the Sahel (2020–2024) and by the German Federal Ministry for Economic Cooperation
and Development (BMZ) under the Building Resilience in the Sahel Program and the Sahel Resilience Partnership (SRP, 2023– 2027). The analysis was based on the analytical framework for education system resilience developed by the Global Partnership for Education (GPE).
The study highlights the combined impact of security and climate crises that are undermining education in Mali, Burkina Faso, Niger, Chad, and Mauritania. Massive school closures, population displacements, and widening inequalities are severely compromising children’s right to education. Building on a robust analytical framework, the study presents the resilience strategies implemented by States and their partners and calls for increased investment to modernize early warning and crisis management systems, expand flexible and alternative learning opportunities, strengthen infrastructure, and reinforce social cohesion as a pillar for peace, helping to foster stability across the region.
