The MCA Namibia Education Project seeks to improve the education sector’s effectiveness, efficiency and quality through infrastructure improvements, institutional strengthening, policy reform and targeted technical assistance to ensure sustainable results.

International Education Week 2009 (Nov 16-20) is an occasion to celebrate the benefits of worldwide learning and exchange.  International cooperation prepares citizens in every country to live, work and compete in the global economy. MCC is working with partner  nations to improve their education and training systems so that students learn the skills to get good jobs and boost economic growth in their countries and communities.

Youth development is central to a healthy, skilled and productive workforce. Investing in human capital through education and training is critical for improving productivity and economic growth and for reducing poverty and unemployment. About 36 percent of MCC’s $358 million direct investment in education is focused on youth development through technical and vocational education and training (TVET).

In El Salvador, working through FOMILENIO (which is the government entity accountable for compact implementation), MCC is helping to renovate 20 middle technical schools, revise curricula, train instructors, and  provide scholarships to deserving students, who will get jobs in agronomy, tourism and information technology — all areas crucial to the development of the country’s northern zone.

In Mongolia, MCC’s investment is helping to reform the TVET legal and policy framework so that schools are financially sustainable and can respond effectively to labor market demand. Competency-based curricula are being developed in key sectors like mining and construction. Selected schools are being renovated and equipped with modern technology and teachers trained in its use.

MCA-Namibia will be constructing and equipping regional study resource centers (like the one pictured) in underserved areas in an effort to improve access to documentation, information resources, training materials and programs, and study facilities.

In Namibia, MCC supports community-based resource and study centers to provide basic job skills and information services for unemployed youth and low-skilled adults.  Also, the MCC investment is helping the National Training Authority develop demand-led programs, and a National Training Fund will ensure that the TVET system is financially viable.

In Morocco, TVET focuses on key artisan trades (leather, wood, metal, pottery, and textiles) whose products are in demand in the home, export and tourist markets. About 15 schools will be renovated and equipped with facilities to teach students the skills needed by employers and the market.

International Education Week is a great moment for MCC,  partner countries and agencies to highlight the strategic importance of youth development. The links between education and economic growth, income distribution and poverty reduction are well established.  Income, productivity and growth are closely linked to educational opportunity.  Strengthened TVET programs are particularly valuable for developing countries with large youth populations in need of the skills that lead to decent jobs, which in turn drive growth and reduce poverty.

Former Senator John Sununu, in Ghana as part of a ONE / (RED) delegation, with the Head Mistress of the Bowjiase Junior Secondary School which was renovated as part of the MCC Compact with Ghana.

MCC Resident Country Director in Ghana Jim Bednar with ONE President and CEO David Lane, at Ghana’s Bowjiase Junior Secondary School. Delegates from ONE and (RED) visited farmers, students, parents and teachers during a recent trip to learn how U.S. Government programs are making a positive difference in the lives of millions of Africans.

MCC, together with friends from the ONE Campaign and (RED), witnessed the reality of what can happen when people come together to fight poverty.  At the Bawjiase Junior Secondary School, hundreds of students, teachers and parents welcomed us to view the renovated classrooms where education has an improved, better home in this community.  The words of the Head Mistress were a moving tribute to what positive things the peoples of the United States and Ghana are accomplishing together.

The decision of the ONE and (RED) delegations to visit MCC programs was a visible signal of the commitment of diverse groups to foster innovative approaches to reduce poverty in Africa and around the globe.  They asked the men, women and children they met about their hopes for their future and the biggest obstacles to economic growth in their homes and communities.  One thing that was clear from the conversations I witnessed was that integrated approaches – programs that tackle the problem of poverty from all angles, including infrastructure, education, agricultural training, trade, and policy – are the best way to ensure lasting, tangible results.  We at MCC are grateful for the commitment of groups like ONE and (RED), who want to see poverty reduction programs in action and experience first-hand the challenges and the exciting headway we are making with partners like Ghana.

From the N1 Highway that MCC is helping rehabilitate to the farmer training programs to the renovated classrooms in Bawjiase, it was inspiring to see the U.S. Government’s $547 million compact with Ghana helping to fortify our strong relationship as friends while ensuring that the next generation of Ghanaians can take advantage of the potential and promise of their future.

Namibia is celebrating its 18th year of independence and, as coincidence would have it, MCC today signed its 18th compact with Namibia, a $304.5 million partnership for education, ecotourism, and agriculture.

This morning, I met with Namibian President Hifikepunye Pohamba to congratulate him and his government on the compact.  The government is intent upon development of its poorest areas, as Namibia has the second highest disparity of household income in the world.  The compact has three main projects.

The education project will focus on school textbooks, primary and secondary school infrastructure improvements, vocational training, and a sustainable system of scholarships for post-secondary school students. We estimate that about a million students will benefit over the years from this project.

The ecotourism project, largely in the poor northern part of the country, will focus on communal conservancies, protecting Namibia’s astonishingly beautiful natural resources, including wildlife for future generations.  In addition, this project will attract more tourists to Namibia and improve the jewel of the country’s tourism industry, Etosha National Park.

The agriculture project is focused on livestock, as a substantial number of households graze cattle on communal lands in northern Namibia.  The project will provide veterinary centers and training for farmers in rangeland management, improved livestock productivity, and land access.  A small part of the project is focused on helping poor families harvest high-value indigenous natural products like devil’s claw, marula oil, Kalahari melon seed, hoodia, and ximenia.

The signing ceremony was held at the office of the Prime Minister, with the Right Honorable Prime Minister Nahas Angula presiding over the event.  A number of ministers, including the Director General of the National Planning Commission (NPC), board members of the NPC, and a U.S. trade mission organized by the Corporate Council on Africa were among the dignitaries who attended the event.  Tonight, our Namibian counterparts will host us at a celebration to mark the compact’s signing at the base of the Auas Mountains, featuring a local choir and traditional dancers.

Niger is one of the poorest countries in the world, with a per capita income of $260 a person, and a troublesome ranking of just three from the bottom in the UN’s Human Development Index (174 out of 177). I’ve just returned from a trip to the country where I represented MCC during the signing of a $23 million threshold agreement. The bulk of the threshold program—$18 million or so—is to help Niger improve its low rate of girls’ primary school completion. Niger is in the bottom 5 percentile of low income countries and has a bright red score on MCC’s index for this category. Red, in terms of MCC’s “scorecards” of performance, is not good.

The threshold program has been put together with a notion of helping up to 200 schools become more “girl-friendly.” It’s one drop in an enormous bucket of educational needs, but the Minister of Education, Monsieur Samba Mamadou, shared with me his excitement about the threshold program. The morning after the signing ceremony, he joined me, the US Ambassador to Niger Bernadette Allen, local USAID representative Mark Wentling, and USAID regional Mission Director Henderson Patrick, who flew up from Accra for the occasion. We set off in a dusty caravan of vehicles for the province of Tillaberi to visit some of these schools and talk to our local partners about their needs and challenges.

We bounced for dozens of kilometers along a mix of paved and sandy roads—a reminder of the overwhelming needs of so many countries where we work. The driver of our car had to flip on the wipers constantly to blow away the dust on the windshield. I asked the Minister of Education about Niger’s education needs during the trip. “Everything” was the short answer to the question, with the most critical component being trained teachers, followed by school buildings, notebooks for students (“cahiers”), textbooks, blackboards, desks—you name it. We talked at length about the discrepancy between boys’ and girls’ enrollment rates. He cited the reasons as cultural, social, and economic. Many parents need help in hauling water for the families’ use during the day. Other daughters are married when they’re 13 or 14. The minister made it clear that he, like so many others, understands full well the importance of having girls remain in schools and wants to help make it a reality.

After we drove several dozen more kilometers on the western side of the Niger River, we arrived at the first school. The school buildings are one story tall, built of tan bricks. There was no electricity that I could see, but there were dozens and dozens of people, adults, teachers, local officials and three Peace Corps volunteers at this first site. The school rooms I saw were simple, sometimes with a blackboard, but always packed with kids. In one school room, they’re wearing paper hats with “Niger-MCC-USA” written around the bands. They sang and clapped as we ducked to enter the school room and wish them well. On the black board, in one corner, someone had written the number of garcons and jeunne filles that were in attendance that day. That particular day, in that classroom, the girls outnumbered the boys. This was great news. The governor assured me that the word was getting out to the local officials, tribal leaders and families about the importance of encouraging their daughters to come to school. The need for new classrooms to accommodate the students was evidenced by a lean-to, with a primitive stick roof, that serves as a classroom for 30 or more children, who appeared to be about five or six years-old. There were no chairs and no desks. The head of the school talked to us about the need for latrines, and for places to feed the children. A “cafeteria” would probably be too grand a name for what will likely be a new room for this purpose, possibly with a stove and water. I asked some Peace Corps volunteers, who are working in schools further away from this one, what they needed. “Everything” again was the simple answer. MCC’s Niger Threshold Program certainly isn’t everything, but it is at least a start.