Otto Group and the Cotton made in Africa Initiative promote adult literacy in Burkina Faso

18.04.2011

Education is the key to sustainable development. This is why the Otto Group is making a financial contribution to a social project established by the Cotton made in Africa Initiative to promote adult literacy.

This Public-Private Partnership project receives major support from the Otto Group and offers some 5,000 adults in the Central-South region the opportunity to learn to read and write in evening school. “Improving the literacy rate is one of the key factors in establishing a sustainable development process”, is how Andreas Streubig, Otto Group Director of Environmental and Social Policy, explains the company’s engagement.

The project was established in the autumn of 2009 within the framework of the Cotton made in Africa Initiative, together with the fashion company Apart, the German Society for Investment and Development (DEG) and German Agro Action. The illiteracy rate of around 71% has an extraordinarily high impact on the economic development of Burkina Faso and also poses very specific challenges for the smallholder farmers who participate in the Cotton made in Africa initiative: many cannot enjoy the potential benefits of the educational courses on offer because they cannot make notes or even read the course materials. Here, the literacy project helps people to help themselves.

Cotton made in Africa is not only committed to the sustainable cultivation of African cotton but also sees itself as an intermediary for a number of Public-Private Partnership projects. These PPP projects are characterised by companies and public organisations bundling their resources in order to strengthen social infrastructures in Benin, Burkina Faso, Côte d’Ivoire, Zambia and Malawi through social projects.

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