Haiti gets $50 million IDB grant for education
Published:Thursday | November 24, 2011 | 9:10 AM
PORT-AU-PRINCE, Haiti, CMC - The Inter-American Development Bank (IDB) announced today the approval of a US$50 million grant to support the education reform Haiti launched in 2010, seeking to expand access to free, quality education for all Haitian children.
“The IDB has offered to support the ambitious five-year plan with US$250 million from its own resources and to raise US$250 million more from other donors,” the bank said in a statement “Among other goals, the reform calls for the construction of thousands of schools, training tens of thousands of teachers and free education for millions of children.”
An initial grant for US$50 million was approved last November and the IDB has worked to enlist other international agencies, bilateral donors, philanthropic institutions and companies interested in supporting education in Haiti after last year’s devastating earthquake.
Counting the financial assistance provided by the IDB and its partners, the support now involves about $150 million.
Haiti’s Ministry of Education (MENFP) and its Economic and Social Assistance Fund (FAES) are the executing agencies of the new grant, which will contribute to expanding children’s access to schools, improve the quality of education, expand vocational training opportunities for young people and strengthen the ministry’s execution and regulation capacities.
IDB resources will be used to finance the construction and equipment of 20 public schools in areas where there are no educational services.
They will also support the rehabilitation of 15 schools damaged by the earthquake and the equipment of eight schools built by the United States Southern Command.
To expand access to education, the grant will support a school tuition waiver programme backed by the Haitian government, the World Bank, the Canadian International Development Agency and the Caribbean Development Bank, among other donors.
The IDB said its contribution would enable 35,000 children to attend classes without paying tuition and would cover the cost of school kits and text books for 30,000 students and 2,000 teachers.