This year, we launched our new Education+ program to support countries in Africa and the Middle East within our footprint. Access to education begins with providing basic equipment from primary school onward. Unfortunately, there are still significant inequalities in this area.
Through the "Back to School" initiative, the Orange Foundation is committed to improving educational resources by providing 35,000 back-to-school kits in 16 African countries*. Each child will receive a pack containing essential school supplies, such as a backpack, notebooks, pens, pencils, a ruler, an eraser, and a sharpener.
It's important to note that Back to School's local roots also apply to kit production and distribution. "The elements of the pack are provided by the teams of each beneficiary country and are not exported by the Orange Group Foundation."
School kits delivered in Egypt
Providing this equipment helps reduce inequalities among students and promotes school attendance, which is crucial given that, in sub-Saharan Africa, nearly one in five children are not in school, primarily due to economic reasons or lack of resources (UNESCO, 2023).
Back to School alleviates this insurmountable financial burden, particularly helping orphans, displaced children, children from single-parent families, and young girls, who are at an even greater risk of dropping out of school.
Bintou's story is particularly striking. She is a 12-year-old girl from Mali who lost her father in the war and says she relies on this assistance to "do better at school and make her family proud."
Her story resonates with the words of Belhassen Sghaier, the Digital Mediator for the Orange Foundation in Tunisia, who we interviewed about the program. He said, "These donations give children a sense of support and value, rekindling their motivation and pride in belonging to the school community. When a child returns to class with a smile, it encourages their classmates, boosts parents' confidence, and helps revitalize the entire school dynamic within their community."
Back to School is only possible thanks to the involvement of all those who make it happen on the ground: local authorities, volunteers, families, teachers, and partners. We would like to congratulate and thank them all here!
School kits delivered in Liberia
*List of countries involved in 2025: Botswana, Burkina Faso, Cameroon, Côte d'Ivoire, Egypt, Guinea, Guinea Bissau, Liberia, Madagascar, Mali, Morocco, Central African Republic, Democratic Republic of Congo, Senegal, Sierra Leone, and Tunisia.