From 2005 through 2012, the Millennium Challenge Corporation funded the Burkinabé Response to Improve Girls’ Chances to Succeed (BRIGHT) program to improve education outcomes for children—particularly girls—in Burkina Faso. Mathematica Policy Research evaluated the impacts of this program 10 years after it started. The findings show promise for interventions such as BRIGHT to make positive long-term impacts on girls as they grow into adults. Key findings include the following:
- BRIGHT boosted the rates of primary school completion and enrollment in school while decreasing employment and marriage rates for young women. For girls and women ages 13 to 22, rates of primary school completion increased by 13.5 percentage points, enrollment increased by 10.3 percentage points, and youth employment and marriage rates declined by 5.5 and 6.3 percentage points, respectively.
- BRIGHT raised enrollment rates and test scores for both girls and boys, with larger impacts on girls. Girls’ enrollment increased 5.4 percentage points more than boys’ did, and girls’ test scores increased by .08 standard deviations more.