Batonga Foundation is empowering Africa’s most vulnerable girls with education, leadership, and economic tools to transform their futures.
In 2006, Grammy-winning Beninese artist and activist Angélique Kidjo founded the Batonga Foundation aims to support the most vulnerable girls and young women in sub-Saharan Africa. Drawing from her own experience growing up in Benin—where girls were told education wasn’t for them—Kidjo founded Batonga with a mission to equip adolescent girls and young women with the tools, knowledge, and opportunities to shape their own futures and lead change in their communities.
About the Batonga Foundation
Batonga’s approach focuses on adolescent girls aged 14 to 18 and young women aged 18 to 30, particularly those in rural, hard-to-reach areas who are excluded from traditional development programs. The foundation offers scholarships for secondary, vocational, and university education, along with remedial classes, mentoring, and transportation support. These efforts are strengthened through safe spaces and leadership clubs in over 239 communities across 83 locations in Benin and Senegal, where girls build self-confidence, learn life skills, and plan their futures.
Beyond academics, Batonga tackles critical barriers that prevent girls from attending school. The foundation builds latrines, wells, and handwashing stations in schools to improve hygiene and health. In-kind gifts like shoes are distributed to ease the burden of long walks to school, while food supplies help alleviate economic pressures on families. Over 200,000 students in impoverished communities have received shoes through Batonga programmes.
For young women, Batonga emphasises economic empowerment. It runs certified vocational training centres and provides access to business coaching, mentorship, and income-generating support. More than 120 business coaches currently guide women in developing professional strategies that lead to financial independence. Recent records reveal that through its Women’s Economic Empowerment programmes, Batonga has helped over 4,100 young women acquire practical skills, start businesses, and participate confidently in local economies.
What makes Batonga unique?
What sets Batonga apart is its community-based approach. The foundation actively involves parents, families, and local leaders to challenge harmful gender norms and shift attitudes towards girls’ rights and roles. It promotes positive masculinity by engaging boys and men and ensures girls are supported not only in classrooms but also within their communities. During the COVID-19 pandemic, Batonga responded swiftly by broadcasting lessons on the radio to deliver life skills, financial literacy, and health education remotely.
Batonga’s reach has expanded considerably since its founding. Initially focused on Benin, it now operates in at least five African countries, including Senegal and Ethiopia. As of recent reports, the organisation has delivered over 5,000 academic years of education, improved sanitation for more than 8,700 students in Benin, and directly supported over 6,000 adolescent girls and nearly 7,000 young women through ongoing programmes.
At its heart, the Batonga Foundation aims to prevent early marriage, reduce school dropouts, and support sustainable development by equipping girls with the means to complete their education and contribute significantly to their societies.
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