Speech

The signing of two Assistance Agreements between the United States of America and the Republic of Djibouti regarding health and education

Address by Cheryl Anderson, Mission Director of USAID/East Africa

Djibouti  | Thursday, September 25, 2008

It is an immense pleasure for me to sign two Assistance Agreements with the Government of Djibouti for a global amount of three million American dollars. USAID has worked in Djibouti for the last five years, and the signing of these Agreements reflects the existing good relationships between the Djibouti Government and United States of America.

To date, we are proud to have contributed to the remarkable results achieved by the Government of Djibouti in vital sectors such as health, education, food security, democracy and good governance. We would like to quote some examples of successful performance in these various sectors:

1. In Health, all the health clinics were rehabilitated and equipped and are being used by the most vulnerable communities. We enormously contributed to the strengthening of the National Health Information System at the central and decentralized levels.
2. From 2005 to 2007, our joint efforts made it possible to increase the number of beneficiaries of HIV/AIDS prevention services from 200 to 24.849. Other progresses were made in the fight against Tuberculosis through the national tuberculosis program.
3. As for education, we succeeded together, with the technical and financial partners to improve access to primary schools; by increasing the number of schoolchildren from 41.181 in 2004 to 58.000 in 2007 which represents 67% of the school-aged children. On quality, we will continue to support with this new agreement the competency based approach program. In partnership with the Minister of education, we trained the teachers, provided books and developed guides, built and equipped five teaching resource centers which will continue to play the role of training hubs for decentralized training. We will also continue to develop the employment opportunities for out of school youth.
4. Within the framework of the Famine Early Warning System (FEWSNET), we installed successfully the Flash Flood Early Warning System to monitor river Ambouli floods. This system will save human lives at times of floods. FEWSNET is also the only institution that monitors regularly the food security situation in the country. Lastly, the food security strategy, finalized with other partners and that is in the process of  approval by the Government, will enable us to make significant advances in the resolution of this key question of highest concern to your government.
5. The program of democracy and good governance brought a significant support to the government during the last legislative elections through the donation of computer equipment and strengthening of civil society organizations regarding the development of educational programs for voters and the participation of women in the electoral process. The program will also provide support to the two institutions which are the Court of Account and Budgetary Discipline and the General Inspection of State.

These Agreements are aligned with the objectives of the National Initiative on Social development (INDS) and will allow, in the long term the Djiboutian Government to succeed in its endeavor to remove the poor and the disadvantaged regions from poverty, exclusion and underdevelopment.

The Health Agreement will contribute to:

• Support the Ministry of Health, to reinforce the activities of eradication of the Polio through the social mobilization and the epidemiologic surveillance.
• Strengthen   the National Tuberculosis Program and reduce the transmission of the disease.

The Education Agreement will continue to support the Minister of education on:

•   Decentralized Training of the Teachers
•   Improvement of the Education Systems
•  Increased Opportunities for Out of School Youth

I am convinced that the close cooperation with the government will lead to a smooth implementation of these programs and I take this opportunity to introduce the new USAID Representative, Stephanie Funk who will ensure a good continuation of our programs in Djibouti.

 THANK YOU.