When classes in Sintchandje’s public school failed to start on time, parents began to worry. The teachers assigned to the village in Guinea-Bissau’s Bafatá region often lived far away, and daily travel made it hard to arrive before lessons began. “We saw our children losing hours of learning,” recalled Aliu Sambel Baldé, a father and member of the Community Management Committee (CMC). “We needed to find a solution ourselves.”
Aliu leads the CMC’s education sub-commission, established through Tostan’s Community Empowerment Program (CEP). During one of the group’s weekly meetings, he raised a simple but transformative idea: build a house so teachers could live within the community.
The proposal caught everyone’s attention. The community chief offered a piece of land, women volunteered to fetch water, and men began collecting materials. Families contributed what they could — some brought sand or stones, others gave a few coins. Within weeks, the first bricks were laid for a residence that would allow teachers to live closer to their students.
“The training we received from Tostan helped us realize that education isn’t only the government’s responsibility,” said Cadidjato Embaló, CMC coordinator. “It belongs to all of us.”
Today, the new residence stands beside the school. Teachers arrive on time, children’s attendance has improved, and parents meet regularly to discuss their children’s progress. What began as Aliu’s idea has become a community movement for better education.
Across the Xitole sector, this mindset is growing. Since the implementation of the CEP, 40 CMCs have carried out 765 education-related initiatives. Together, they have identified over 4,400 children who were out of school and helped more than half of them return. Twenty-seven community schools have been repaired, and 51 new activities launched to support learning — from organizing school exams to recognizing the best students.
For Aliu, the greatest reward is seeing children walk confidently to school each morning. “Before, people waited for others to act,” he said. “Now we know that when we work together, our children’s future begins here.”