ALGIERS MEPI UPDATE

UNCLAS SECTION 01 OF 03 ALGIERS 001763 SIPDIS SIPDIS TUNIS FOR KWOLCOTT, PMULREAN DEPT FOR NEA/PI - KGROSS, CBOURGEOIS, OKIRBY, LSCHULZ E.O. 12958: N/A TAGS: PREL PGOV KDEM KPAO AG SUBJECT: ALGIERS MEPI UPDATE REF: A. ALGIERS 1560 ¶B. ALGIERS 0794 ¶C. ALGIERS 0966 ¶1. SUMMARY: Progress continued slowly but steadily in MEPI programs and initiatives in Algeria during the period of July 1 through October 31. MEPI programs remain a key element of our effort to fulfill the political, economic and education reform goals in our Mission Strategic Plan. During this period, we further developed our local partners in Algerian government ministries, though the pool of qualified local implementers stayed comparatively small and static. Effective civil society partners in Algeria remain in scarce supply, with individuals often wearing more than one hat and surfacing in more than one MEPI program. In general, progress on political and economic reform remains slow; we closed out one project on voter education early because the implementer was nervous about getting approvals from the GoA and was itself disorganized. By contrast, engagement in education and business training has borne greater fruit more quickly. We continue to push for openings for greater reform, and MEPI is the best means we have to work towards this end. END SUMMARY. JOURNALISM DEVELOPMENT GROUP (JDG) -------------- ¶2. Into the second year of the project and after breaking with its partner New York University, JDG ran into problems, including protracted budget negotiations and difficulties obtaining visas. These factors contributed to the departure of JDG's two international consultants, a delay in beginning work with new media outlets, and requests for reimbursements that raised questions about the future of the program. The Deputy Director of the MEPI Tunis office visited in October to investigate the financial and programming status of the project and to develop a work plan with the JDG director. JDG completed his work with the Arabic-language daily Echourouk el Youmi in mid-October but will continue to provide advice and guidance as needed. The program is now back on track with two new international consultants hired, and work beginning with the French-language daily Le Jeune Independent on November 25 after the arrival of the first international consultant. Work will begin with the Arabic-language daily El Youm in late November or early December, with the arrival of the second consultant. The JDG program has been among the most effective of our MEPI programs in the last two years; both of the Arabic dailies it worked with in 2006 substantially revamped their publications and improved their quality and sales. FINANCIAL SERVICES VOLUNTEER CORPS (FSVC) -------------- ¶3. On July 9-11, FSVC hosted a seminar on risk management and commercial lending in cooperation with the Algerian Central Bank. The seminar served to improve commercial bank capacity to provide credit and other financial services, particularly to small and medium enterprises. During the seminar, FSVC also identified three banks that reacted positively to the training and made a clear request for further technical support. A follow-on seminar aimed at those banks was scheduled for December 4. This program meshes well with upcoming Mission work involving the U.S. Treasury Department and the Algerian Central Bank in the realm of banking supervision and future program work involving small and medium enterprise business lending. PARTNERSHIP SCHOOLS PROGRAM (PSP) -------------- ¶4. From September 8-12, PSP carried out English as a Foreign Language (EFL) training for trainers in Setif. The first three days of the training were devoted to working with education ministry inspectors based in Setif and Blida. The PSP activity was geared towards producing a draft Teacher Competency Framework, a document with the potential to change ministry of education policy on evaluating and improving teacher performance. PSP made significant progress on a working first draft of the document, which will now be reviewed and edited by a larger audience within the ministry. Additional work on the framework document will be completed using the online "Blackboard" website which the ministry's School for International Training has established for inspectors. ALGIERS 00001763 002 OF 003 ¶5. PSP also held a workshop for 17 high school education inspectors designated "Master Trainers" by the ministry. The workshop was aimed at exposing the group to the PSP program and its successes to date, gaining a better understanding of their professional duties and responsibilities, and assessing their understanding of competency-based teaching and evaluation. It also introduced the group to the Teacher Competency Framework and the Algerian English Teaching Framework, which serve as the basis for curriculum revisions being contemplated by the ministry. PSP has been a good success thus far, and from October 18-31, an assessment team from Management Systems International (MSI) visited to assess the program and review its three primary components of EFL, e-math and school linkages. The evaluators told us that the PSP had affected over 5,000 Algerian students and over 100 teachers directly. We expect official feedback from the assessment visit shortly. Looking longer term, the PSP programs all are basically pilot projects and we are working to get the Algerian Education Ministry to provide more financing to extend the pilots to more parts of Algeria. COMMERCIAL LAW DEVELOPMENT PROGRAM (CLDP) -------------- ¶6. CLDP also engages with the Algerian judiciary and legal system as part of our larger effort to promote an independent and professional judiciary. On October 20-22, CLDP led a seminar in cooperation with the Ministry of Justice (MOJ) on building judicial capacity in commercial law. With the help of the Expert Accountants Association, CLDP developed Algeria-specific pedagogical materials and case studies for the seminar and workshop, which were taught by a visiting American judge from New York. CLDP led visits to several small and medium enterprises (SME) by 17 Algerian judges who are experts in commercial law. The main idea was to encourage discussions between judges and SME owners over how better to resolve commercial conflicts in Algeria. The visits also served to lay the groundwork for an intensive case study seminar to be held December 1-3. This CLDP program has been ground-breaking in terms of developing our relationship with the Ministry of Justice; these contacts will help secure a deeper ABA program here (see below). CLDP also met with the MFA in October to formally propose a commercial attaches program, the capstone of which will be consultations/training for Algerian commercial officers in the U.S. AMERICAN BAR ASSOCIATION (ABA) -------------- ¶7. ABA's Legal and Judicial Development Program culminated a year-long project with a July regional workshop on judicial ethics in cooperation with the Algerian Judges' Syndicate. As a direct result of the project, Algeria adopted a charter of judicial ethics. ABA also succeeded in putting together a meeting of judges from Algeria, Tunisia and Morocco, during which participants proposed the initiative of creating a Maghreb-wide judges association. The event marked a notable increase in the ability and willingness of the judges' syndicates to assume greater institutional effectiveness and independence. In September, ABA's Morocco-based implementer met with officials from the MOJ to develop a 2008 work plan targeting the Judicial Training School, the National Judges Syndicate, and, for the first time, bar associations outside Algiers, including Oran and Constantine. The Justice Ministry requested a formal memorandum of understanding with ABA to cover those elements of the work plan that involve government institutions. Negotiations on the draft MOU are expected in December, and this MOU should enable ABA to stand up its own office in Algeria which will make it far more effective and influential. NATIONAL CONFERENCE OF STATE LEGISLATURES (NCSL) -------------- --- ¶8. NCSL's program manager visited Algeria in October, meeting with four Algerian parliamentarians from different political parties to introduce them to NCSL's program and discuss the technical and training needs of the Algerian parliament. NCSL also met with the parliamentary speaker and the director of the Legislative Study Training Institute (IFEL) to explore other possible channels of engagement. Since those meetings, our contacts in parliament have been cautious about NCSL, stressing the importance of engaging both the Senate and the lower house of parliament (APN). They have also highlighted the importance to them of ALGIERS 00001763 003 OF 003 responding to the needs they express, and engaging the entire spectrum of political parties. For our part, we remain uncertain about the will of the new parliamentary leadership to promote an expanded, more substantive role for the national legislature in the political process. Under the no-cost extension to the NCSL work plan granted last summer, the next NCSL workshops in Algiers (on bill drafting) are expected to take place in January and February 2008. MIDDLE EAST ENTREPRENEURS TRAINING (MEET) -------------- ¶9. Recruitment for three MEET programs in 2008 went very smoothly, and the Mission's engaging private Algerian business associations provided a broader pool of candidates. Cooperation with the Beyster Institute and their local implementing partner was very efficient, and a pool of several hundred initial applications came from all over the country. We were able to select nine outstanding people for nomination on November 11. The interviews were the result of a selection process that began in July. The candidates come from all over Algeria, fulfilling our goal of spreading out MEPI programs beyond Algiers. For all of the nine candidates selected, the experience marked their first interaction with MEPI and the U.S. Embassy. The three two-week MEET training sessions will be held in 2008 in Casablanca, Alexandria and Amman. This year's MEET process was also noteworthy as it introduced us to a new and effective local implementer. FOUNDATION FOR THE PROMOTION OF HEALTH AND RESEARCH DEVELOPMENT (FOREM) -------------- -------------- ¶10. A political pillar project implemented through FOREM was intended to strengthen democratic practices and electoral systems by conducting training sessions for local officials and voter education for the public. The program did not meet expectations, as FOREM was unable to reach out to all 48 wilayas (provinces) or engage a sufficient number of Algerians. (One reason it moved slowly was its worry about hostile GoA reaction to its voter education efforts.) MEPI Tunis, with our concurrence, decided to close out the program early. In September, we repossessed four vehicles that were originally purchased for the project. We are now working with MEPI Tunis and Washington to see if a suitable replacement project can be identified and funded with remaining project funds. CENTER FOR INFORMATION AND DOCUMENTATION OF WOMEN'S AND CHILDREN'S RIGHTS (CIDDEF) -------------- -------------- -------------- ¶11. This small grant provided support to CIDDEF's campaign to sensitize citizens to political party positions on women's issues, such as domestic violence, women's health and employment, in advance of the May 2007 legislative elections. It covered the four wilayas of Algiers, Oran, Ghardaia and Annaba. CIDDEF solicited the views of different parties using a custom-designed questionnaire and coordinated eight radio broadcasts featuring political party members discussing women's issues. CIDDEF also held a press conference to highlight the outcomes of its program. Finally, CIDDEF produced and distributed posters and flyers to educate citizens about party positions, with the goal of stimulating voter interest and participation in the elections. The program achieved its goals and CIDDEF proved itself to be an effective local implementer that may be suitable for future cooperation. FORD