MALI: EXTENDING THE AMBASSADOR'S GIRLS SCHOLARSHIP PROGRAM

UNCLAS SECTION 01 OF 02 BAMAKO 000122 SIPDIS SENSITIVE DEPT FOR USAID E.O. 12958: N/A TAGS: EAID PINS ASEC KPAO ML SUBJECT: MALI: EXTENDING THE AMBASSADOR'S GIRLS SCHOLARSHIP PROGRAM Refs: (A) Antananarivo 00125; (B) Windhoek 391 1.(SBU) Summary: We strongly support Embassy Antananarivo and Embassy Windhoek's recommendations to extend the Ambassador's Girls Scholarship Program (AGSP) beyond FY2009 (reftels). In addition to the vitally important benefits that the AGSP program provides to scholarship beneficiaries and to Mali's education system, it also forms one of the cornerstones of our strategy to meet essential USG peace and security goals. Although AGSP technically does not fall under the Trans Sahel Counter Terrorism Partnership (TSCTP),all of the 34,464 scholarships awarded since AGSP's start in Mali in 2004 have gone to children in Mali's three northern regions of Timbuktu, Gao, and Kidal. These three regions are the site of continued Tuareg rebel movements, rampant drugs and arms trafficking, and activities by Al Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb (AQIM),which continues to use northern Mali as a safe haven. Helping families in these regions to keep their children in school is one of the best ways to combat instability, insecurity and extremism in northern Mali. For this reason, we believe that the AGSP program should not only be continued but greatly expanded for Mali. End Summary. -------------- AGSP in Mali: The Facts -------------- 2.(U) AGSP started in Mali during the 2004/2005 school year. Specific objectives of the program include increasing girls' access, attendance, and retention in target primary schools, as well as improving students' academic achievement. The program is currently implemented in 109 public, community, and Islamic schools (known locally as medersas - basically the Muslim equivalent of parochial schools) in Mali's three northern regions of Timbuktu, Gao, and Kidal. The program targets students in grade 4-6 in Timbuktu and Gao and grades 1-6 in Kidal. It provides scholarship packages that include school supplies, books, lanterns and cloth to make uniforms. Other complementary AGSP activities include working with local Mothers' Associations and women role models to provide mentoring and other forms of support to scholarship recipients. These women work to sensitize their communities regarding the importance of sending girls to school, school health and HIV/AIDS. 3.(U) General Assemblies within every target school choose resource people--primarily women--to serve as AGSP mentors. These mentors work closely with school directors, teachers, and Mothers' Associations to monitor and supervise study groups at home and raise awareness about the importance of supporting girls' education. They also coordinate visits to women role models and help communities organize regional girls' education days to discuss education, gender equity, health, HIV/AIDS, and hygiene. There are over 200 mentors working with the AGSP program in Mali. 4.(U) AGSP is implemented in Mali by World Education together with three Malian NGOs: Aide a l'Enfant du Desert et du Sahel (AEDS) in Kidal; Sahel Etude Action pour le Developpement (SEAD) in Gao; and the Association Malienne pour la Survie au Sahel (AMSS) in Tombouctou. These organizations manage the identification of beneficiaries, the awarding and tracking of AGSP scholarships, mentoring activities, and reporting. The program works in partnership with Mothers' Associations, Ministry of Education officials, religious leaders, and other representatives from the development community. It also partners with the State Department and Peace Corps. For the past three years, Peace Corps has assigned a Volunteer to work with AGSP. 5.(U) The main focus of the AGSP program in Mali is on girls. However, in September 2007 we began providing scholarships to a limited number of boys. During the 2008-2009 school year AGSP provided 7,565 scholarships totaling USD 747,103. Since the program's inception in Mali in 2004, we have provided 34,464 scholarships at a cost of USD 3.3 million. -------------- AGSP in Northern Mali: The Theory -------------- 6.(U) As our colleagues in Madagascar and Namibia have noted, AGSP scholars are more likely to enroll and remain in school than children who are not part of the ASGP program. This is particularly important for children in northern Mali, where historically there has been a strained relationship between northern populations and the formal education system. Mali has yet to develop a sustainable solution to the challenges of providing education to nomadic populations, and education costs for girls are often the first to be cut when families have to tighten their expenses. Enabling these children to remain in school is a particularly constructive way of BAMAKO 00000122 002 OF 002 encouraging northern populations to see the value of state-provided social services and reject messages and appeals that try to pull them toward illicit trafficking, rebellion, or worse. ¶7. (U) Investing in girls' education is perhaps the most effective means to achieve development goals. It is acknowledged as a key component of international accords such as the Millennium Development Goals and the Education for All-Fast Track Initiative. Research conclusively links investments in girls' education with huge returns in economic growth, political participation, health (reduced fertility rates, lower infant and child mortality rates, lower maternal mortality rates, disease prevention including protection against HIV/AIDS),and intergenerational education benefits. A mother who has attended school is more likely to enroll and keep her child to school. In northern Mali as elsewhere, girls' education is one of the best investments that the USG could make to promote the long-term development of the country. 8.(SBU) In Mali the AGSP also addresses another key USG concern: northern Mali's instability and exposure to extremist influences. Since 2006, the northern regions of Gao and Kidal have been the site of renewed Tuareg unrest and rebel movements. Drug traffickers, gun runners, and Al Qaeda aligned Islamic extremists inhabit all three northern regions. AGSP provides direct and tangible assistance to families living in proximity to these security threats. It is a recognizable symbol of the USG's support to northern populations, and one of the best ongoing efforts to win the hearts and minds of these at-risk populations. 9.(SBU) This is particularly true for AGSP beneficiaries in the northern region of Kidal where insecurity has seriously hampered our ability to implement development activities. Although Mali and Tuareg rebel groups are working to implement a peace agreement and rebel activity has recently subsided, banditry and the continued presence of AQIM mean travel to Kidal remains risky. Our consular information sheet strenuously advises all American citizens to avoid travel to the region of Kidal as well as large portions of the regions of Gao and Timbuktu. Apart from a handful of USAID supported community radio stations in the region of Kidal funded by TSCTP, AGSP is the USG's only on-going assistance program in Kidal. AGSP works through local NGOs and community-based organizations, thus allowing it to function in difficult-to-reach areas like Kidal because the program's locally hired staff is well-integrated into the community and able to circulate relatively freely. 10.(SBU) Embassy Bamako is concerned that closing the AGSP program would drastically reduce the USG's presence in northern Mali and Kidal in particular. A significant draw-down or pull-out of the AGSP program runs the risk of being perceived as a withdrawal of USG support to Mali's northern populations, populations that are at risk of drug traffickers, gun runners, and Al Qaeda aligned Islamic extremists, at precisely the moment when an apparent resolution of domestic Tuareg rebellion will have raised expectations that donors may increase engagement in these regions. -------------- Recommendations: Expand AGSP -------------- 11.(SBU) Like Embassy Antananarivo nd Embassy Windhoek, we strongly recommend the ASP's continuation. Furthermore, we propose that it be expanded in Mali. AGSP is one of the U.S. Mission's most visible and well-received programs in northern Mali. Given the significant development impact of girls' education, the evident good-will that the AGSP program engenders, and the public diplomacy opportunities it offers, we believe that AGSP should be expanded to include more scholars in the regions of Timbuktu, Gao, and Kidal. 12.(SBU) We also recommend providing greater management authority for AGSP to the U.S. Embassy and USAID Mission in Bamako, as we believe this could further increase the effectiveness of what is already an extremely effective and highly successful program. Milovanovic