In Muramvya, central Burundi, a boy named Bonheur almost lost far more than a year of schooling. His return to the classroom is just one of many opportunities made possible by Cordaid’s education project in the area.
Burundi’s education system faces considerable challenges. According to a 2024 UNESCO brief, 96 per cent of ten-year-olds cannot read and understand age-appropriate texts. This represents one of the highest rates of learning poverty worldwide.
Fewer than half of boys complete primary school, and only about a third of all children finish lower secondary education. The issue is not merely about access: as the brief notes mention, schooling does not ensure learning, and poor learning outcomes themselves lead children to drop out.
Watch this video documentary about the performance-based financing programme for education in Burundi:
A Child at Risk
When we met Bonheur (French for “happiness”) at the Kivogero School in Muramvya, he was radiant. Sitting among his classmates in the fourth year, he followed the lessons with enthusiasm and curiosity, making it hard to believe that just months earlier, he had nearly walked out of school altogether.
When Bonheur began skipping school, his worried teacher, Fidès, informed the headmaster. Together, they tried to discover the reason for the boy’s absence.
Bonheur and his mother, Agathe Ininahazwe, were living with Bonheur’s grandmother. This setup allowed Agathe to continue her studies. For a time, despite the hardships, life found its rhythm. When Agathe got married, she moved away, leaving Bonheur in his grandmother’s care. ‘Since then, Bonheur has begun to show signs of weariness,’ Agathe says.
The boy who had once sat attentively in class began to drift. Instead of studying, Bonheur started spending his days tending his uncle’s flock of goats, far from the classroom.
A Safety Net for Children in Vulnerable Positions
Bonheur’s return to school was enabled by a project managed by Cordaid, in partnership with Burundi’s Ministry of National Education and Scientific Research and its local partner, ADIS, which promotes improvements in the quality of basic education through a performance-based financing approach.
Central to the project is monitoring children at risk of dropping out and training teachers and principals to recognise early warning signs.
It was in this context that Fidès acted. ‘If we don’t closely follow up on children at risk of dropping out, many children, like Bonheur, would no longer be in school,’ she says.
Watch this video about Bonheur’s story:
Back to School
Today, Bonheur is back among his classmates, dressed in his khaki uniform, and by all appearances, himself again. The project that supported him has also brought positive changes to the neighbouring schools. Throughout Muramvya, 125 schools have experienced improvements in access, teaching quality, and governance.
Through performance-based financing, schools receive subsidies that they reinvest directly into their infrastructure. Latrines are constructed, drinking water connections installed, and electricity supplied. The conditions for learning are gradually improved.