MALI: EXTENDING THE AMBASSADOR'S GIRLS SCHOLARSHIP PROGRAM

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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.


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AGSP in Mali: The Facts
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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.

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AGSP in Northern Mali: The Theory
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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

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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.

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Recommendations: Expand AGSP
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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