Purpose of Initiative
Over thirty-six percent of school-aged children in Africa do not attend primary school and 46 million African children have never set foot in a classroom. To address this challenge, President Bush launched the Africa Education Initiative (AEI), in June 2002, as a multi-year effort to increase access to quality basic (K-12) education opportunities in Africa. Through the United States Agency for International Development?s (USAID) support for this program, the United States government is also contributing to the Millennium Development Goal of ensuring every child has access to a quality basic education by 2015. Over its life, eighty million African children will benefit from AEI.

The Africa Education Initiative (AEI) complements USAID?s longer-term education system reform efforts by targeting resources to address the urgent challenges of too many children out of school, low quality of learning, inadequate number of trained teachers and insufficient learning materials ? all exacerbated by the impacts of HIV/AIDS.

Partners
The following list is an illustrative sample of partners working in 40 countries.

Governments: USAID works closely with host country ministries of education and higher education institutions in the U.S. and Africa, local and international NGOs and the private sector to implement the AEI. In order to meet the Initiative's goals, USAID encourages new partnerships including with partners from foundations, faith-based groups, and other education stakeholders. AEI activities are in over 40 countries in Sub-Saharan Africa. Partners include:

Foundations: Aga Khan Foundation, Synergos Institute, Nelson Mandela Foundation

Academia:

Textbooks: University of Texas at San Antonio (partnered with South Africa) , Chicago State University (Ghana), South Carolina State University (Zanzibar, Tanzania), Alabama A&M (Ethiopia), Mississippi Consortium for International Development comprised of Tugaloo College, Jackson State University, Mississippi State University, Alcorn State University (Zambia) and Elizabeth City State University (Senegal)---NOTE: Minority Serving Institutions partnering with African Institutions in 6 countries to originally produce or adapt, print and distribute textbooks and other learning materials.

 Boston University, Medgar Evers College, Morehouse College

Private Sector : Pan-AmSat (US Satellite Company), Johnson and Johnson Company

Civil Society:

•  AGSP Prime Contractors: Winrock International, Academy for Educational Development, and World Education Inc.
•  International Foundation for Education and Self Help, ALFALIT, Global Deaf Connection, Maasai Education Discovery (indigenous NGO)
  International Organizations : Association for the Development of Education in Africa (Africa Regional); Forum for African Women Educationalists (Pan African Organization), United Nations Association
  

Partnership Targets
The partnership works on six specific targets as well as the cross-cutting goal of strengthening parent and community support in children?s education and HIV/AIDS awareness and mitigation:

• Training for 920,000 teachers and administrators;
• 550,000 scholarships provided under the Ambassadors? Girls? Scholarship Program (AGSP)
• Development, procurement and distribution of 15 million textbooks and related learning and teaching materials;
• Improved access to learning for marginalized communities, out-of-school youth, orphans, and other vulnerable children;
• Job skills training; and,
• Rehabilitation of schools, particularly in countries recovering from conflict.

Progress Towards Targets
To date, nearly 23 million children have benefited from AEI interventions, which include:

• Provision of over 180,000 scholarships to girls to support their access to and retention in school. The majority of recipients have also benefited from mentoring and life skills activities developed and provided by local organizations.

• Improved training for nearly 400,000 teachers to upgrade skills in 17 African countries. These interventions have provided support to improve teachers? content mastery and classroom instructional practices, as well as providing support to create enabling environments for teachers such as the establishment of Teacher Resource Centers, strengthening Teacher Training Institutes, and mobilizing the community to provide support and accountability for teachers.
• Distribution of over 2.8 million textbooks and other learning materials have been provided to countries throughout Africa.
• Interventions to involve parents in the education of children include capacity-building for communities in the establishment and management of schools, including early childhood centers, and the creation of parent-teacher associations.
• Joint efforts with other programs to increase the capacity of African education systems to mange the impacts of HIV/AIDS on teachers and students. Many of the scholarship, teacher training and textbook programs include HIV/AIDS prevention and life skills curricula. In several of the AEI country scholarship programs, children orphaned by HIV/AIDS, are target beneficiaries.

Next Steps
Beginning in Fiscal year 2007, AEI will support new components to enhance the initiative?s current activities, including: the inclusion of boys in the scholarship programin special circumstances, such as where constraints or social bias against boys? education is known to be a serious issue;outreach to marginalized populations, such as orphans and vulnerable children, out-of-school youth, Muslims and other religious or ethnic minorities; job skills training; rehabilitation of schools primarily in areas recovering from conflict; and the use of technologies as a new cross-cutting theme.

Resources
AEI was initially launched in June 2002 by President Bush as a five year, $200 million initiative (FY02 ? FY06). In June 2005, President Bush announced an additional $400 million to continue AEI and expand its activities though Fiscal Year 2010. The President?s announcement triples the USG?s overall investment to $600 million

USG Primary Points of Contact
United States Agency for International Development: Dr. Sarah Moten
(Phone 202/712-5220; E-mail: smoten@usaid.gov)

Websites
http://www.usaid.gov/about_usaid/presidential_initiative/afreducation.html

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