Education gets a USAID shot in its ‘reading’ arm

The US Agency for International Development (USAID) has launched the National Reading Programme, including two projects on the national level and one focusing in Sindh, which will help train teachers, improve reading skills and numeracy among schoolchildren and mobilise communities to support school management.
USAID Administrator Dr Rajiv Shah inaugurated on Thursday the project at its first school in Sindh – Government Girls Primary/Secondary School, Intelligence Colony, Sultanabad in Karachi.
Sindh Education and Literacy Minister Pir Mazharul Haq, US Ambassador to Pakistan Cameron Munter and US Consul General William Martin among senior officials of US government, Sindh government and students and representatives of the school were present on the occasion.
The USAID will support the school with a reading programme under the Sindh Basic Education Programme, which was started in 2011 and will run until 2016 with a budget of $155 million.
The programme aims to increase enrolment of students and ensure student retention in schools, especially girls; improve literacy and numeracy among nearly 7 million children; provide training to over 90,000 teachers in teaching and assessment; and support the development of 3.2 million new readers – including 700,000 children in Sindh.
Speaking at the inauguration ceremony, the USAID administrator said the programme supplements the country’s education budget.
“A budget that is woefully under-funded,” he said. “But more importantly it establishes the need for accountability in school administration and management.”
“We are both now accountable to citizens who look towards us to be the stewards of these resources. We will work together to ensure that they are used correctly on behalf of the students of Pakistan like those sitting here with us today,” said Shah.
On conclusion of the lively event, schoolchildren sang songs and read story books, inspiring the guests. The Sindh education minister and the USAID administrator unveiled a plaque commemorating the agency’s commitment to promote education and literacy in Pakistan.
Earlier, Shah participated in an event to highlight the work of female micro-entrepreneurs in the areas of dairy farming and embellished fabrics in Sindh.
The purpose of the event was to promote economic development of women micro-entrepreneurs from Karachi and rural Sindh and to showcase the importance that the US government places on women’s economic empowerment.
The USAID has trained more than 70,000 women entrepreneurs in embellished fabrics, dairy and honey farming and extraction from medicinal and aromatic plants while helping to link them to profitable markets nationwide.
The Entrepreneurs Project is implemented by the Mennonite Economic Development Associates (MEDA). It was started in June 2009 and will run through June 2014. The project also provided grants to 41,500 families in response to urgent needs in 2010 and 2011 to provide assistance to conflict-affected internal displaced persons in Malakand and flood-affected families across the country.
The project helps micro-entrepreneurs to develop better products, learn new skills and get connected to better markets through development of lead women entrepreneurs who serve as channel to the markets and service providers.
“South Asian women, especially Pakistani women from rural areas, are part of a rich local tradition of making beautifully embroidered handicrafts,” said Shah. “These products could become a source of income for women artisans and their families.”