Guinea

The low level of education is a major hindrance for development in Guinea – less than one third of the total population and only about 45 % in the 15 to 24 age group can actually read and write. Due to persisting political instability, a difficult economic environment and an administration struggling to implement the education strategy and policies, the country failed to achieve the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) #2 (“Universal primary education”) and #3 (“Gender equality”), set until 2015.

Likewise, progress in the area of poverty reduction was modest at best. Furthermore the outbreak of the Ebola epidemic in 2014 and 2015 adversely affected the entire economy and had a negative impact on the education sector. Schools had to be closed for several months.

Still, there is a large unmet need for educational infrastructure in the primary education sector, and there is a lack of qualified teachers especially in remote and rural areas.

KfW Development Bank – on behalf of the German Federal Government – supports the Guinean government with the implementation of the national education program (Programme Sectoriel de l’Education), particularly with regard to extending the access to primary education and improving the quality of teaching in the project region of Faranah. Currently, KfW Development Bank is financing the construction and equipment of primary schools as well as teacher trainings within the “Primary Education Programme Guinea”, which is implemented by the NGO Plan International in close coordination with the Ministry of Pre-University Education and Alphabetisation (MEPU-A) (Ministère de l’Enseignement Pré-Universitaire et de l’Alphabétisation).

Project information - Primary education

People in Guinea fall ill more often and also die earlier compared to other countries in the region. The average life expectancy is only 56 years. Guinea also has high rates of maternal mortality (724 per 100.000 live births) and a high under-five-mortality (123 per 1.000 live births) even by regional standards. The country has failed to reach the Millennium Development Goals #4 (“Reduce Child Mortality”) and #5 (“Improve maternal health”). The average number of children is 5.1 per woman, only 7 % of Guinean women use modern methods of family planning, and about 11 % of women have already given birth at least once before reaching the age of 15. Although female genital mutilation has been prohibited by law it is still very widespread. Short spacing between pregnancies, young age of mothers at birth and late effects of female genital mutilation are main factors contributing to an increased risk of having complications during pregnancy and birth.

In addition, the Ebola epidemic has even worsened the already insufficient provision of basic health care. The population has lost trust in the public health system.

On behalf of the German Federal Government, KfW Development Bank supports the Guinean government in the area of reproductive and family health. The new financial cooperation programme (project start scheduled for 2017) comprises the rehabilitation and extension of health infrastructure especially in peripheral regions, the introduction of a new performance-based financing (PBF) mechanism for health services related to pregnancies and childbirths as well as communication and awareness-raising measures. The main objective of the program is to increase the usage of high-quality reproductive health services and to thus improve the health status of the population in targeted regions.