Africa Education Initiative

Recognizing that the education of African children is vital to Africa’s future economic growth and lasting democracy, USAID’s Africa Education Initiative (AEI) is designed to improve educational opportunities for Africa’s children so that they may lead happier, healthier lives, and become more productive members of society.

Currently, there are many challenges facing education in Africa: lack of funds, teachers, classrooms, learning materials, and transparency. More specifically:

• African primary school enrollment and literacy rates are among the lowest in the world;
• 42 million school children in sub-Saharan Africa are not enrolled in school. Of those that do have access to school, the schooling they receive is often of such poor quality that they are not able to acquire even the most basic skills of reading and writing;
• In 1999, more than 860,000 children in sub-Saharan Africa lost teachers to AIDS. In fact, it is predicted that by 2005, 15 to 20 percent of teachers in sub-Saharan Africa will have died from AIDS.

Building on USAID Basic Education programs and the Education for Development and Democracy Initiative, the AEI is a $200 million multi-year initiative that focuses on increasing access to quality basic educational opportunities in Africa through three main programs:

• Ambassador’s Girls Scholarship Program – In Africa, girls account for 60 percent of the approximately 42 million children who are not enrolled in school. The AEI will work to bridge this gender gap by providing 250,000 scholarships for African girls at the primary and secondary levels so that they can grow up to assume greater participation in the educational, political, and economic sectors of their countries. Financial support may include tuition, books, uniforms, and other essential expenses needed to ensure girls’ access to education opportunities. Scholarship recipients will also benefit from mentoring activities that promote self-development and provide positive female role models.
• Teacher Training – Competent teachers are critical to effectively delivering quality education. The AEI will train more than 160,000 new teachers and provide in-service training for 260,000 existing teachers in order to improve teacher-to-pupil ratios and enhance education quality. Training activities will emphasize innovative and interactive teaching practices and improved learning outcomes. In addition, many training programs will support training in “life skills” HIV/AIDS prevention curriculum.
• Textbooks and Other Learning Tools – Because textbooks and other learning materials are scarce, outdated, or nonexistent in many African schools, the AEI will provide 4.5 million textbooks and other learning tools for African children through a partnership with Historically Black Colleges and Universities (HBCUs) in the United States. The HBCU consortium will work collaboratively with USAID Missions and African education institutions to develop, publish, and distribute high-quality, low-cost learning materials while developing strengthened, sustainable partnerships between African schools and American institutions. Initially, South Africa, Senegal, Ethiopia, Mali, Guinea, and Benin have been identified to participate in this partnership with Hampton University, Elizabeth City State University, Alabama A&M University, Albany State University, Dillard University, and St. Augustine’s College. As the Initiative expands, new HBCU and African partnerships will be established.

Cross-Cutting Themes
Support will be provided across each of these objectives to:

• Strengthen focus on HIV/AIDS mitigation and prevention – HIV/AIDS undermines the capacity of educational institutions to deliver quality education, as it drains the material and human resources of the system as well as makes it far more difficult for students to attend school regularly. Indeed, the goal of quality education cannot be met until the challenges posed by the AIDS pandemic on education are addressed. Thus, the AEI will increase the capacity of African education ministries to strengthen their focus on prevention and mitigation to help reduce and compensate for the loss of skilled teachers to HIV/AIDS.
• Increase and strengthen parent and community involvement in children’s education – Poor rural students, particularly girls, can be brought into the education system through the active involvement of parents and communities in the delivery of quality education. The AEI encourages parent and community participation through such activities as sponsoring reading programs, building parent associations, and inquiring about school finances, which in turn, will help schools and school systems become more transparent and responsive to the needs of civil society.

To implement the initiative, USAID will work closely with host country ministries of education and higher education institutions, local and international NGOs, and the private sector. The Initiative will also strengthen and extend vital development partnerships between the United States and Africa by beneficially engaging African leaders and educators, the international development community, and U.S. interest groups.

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