On the outskirts of Bangui, the school Marie-Therèse stands as a small community school encircled by a handmade fence. It has one building with four classrooms that accommodate its 170 students across five grades. Although the foundation for a second school building next door has been poured, its construction came to a halt when violent fighting broke out among militarized groups at the height of the civil conflict. Many surrounding homes and the government school showed signs of burned roofs and destruction. The main building of the Marie-Therèse school was protected, however, by community members who defended the school they had built, and it was the parents who helped to re-open it in 2016, once it was safe enough to do so.

The director and initiator of the school, Mrs. Gbaguenie is a woman who welcomes teachers, students, and visitors with a broad smile. Many community members attribute the growth of the school to her enthusiasm, and she has also encouraged many women in the community who have promoted the school. A student’s father describes the leadership that the director, teachers, and mothers in the community have played in creating and sustaining the school:

Women have supported 99% of the school’s creation. Most of the awareness and mobilisation of the community was brought about by Mrs. Hortense, who is just a parent at the school. The place where the school is located used to be a public dumping grounds, so before the school could start it was the women of the district who mobilised to remove all the garbage.

The school now has a management committee, an active parents’ association, and a health program. While the school continues to restore its full operations after re-opening in 2016, it is described as an example of the capacity of women to be leaders of community transformation.