KIGALI, November 3, 2009—The Government of Rwanda and the World Bank, acting as administrator of the Education for all Fast Track Initiative Catalytic Fund, on October 22 signed a US$35 million Education for all Fast Track Initiative (FTI) catalytic fund grant agreement.
The objective of the grant is to support the government's policy reforms on teacher development and management, textbooks, and girls' education with the overall aim of improving the quality of basic education.
The Hon. James Musoni, Minister of Finance and Economic Planning for Rwanda, and Ms. Mimi Ladipo, World Bank Country Manager for Rwanda, signed the agreement on behalf of their respective institutions.
The signing came at the end of a three-day joint review meeting of the education sector which brought together about one hundred education specialists, development partners and government officials.
"[There is] no better occasion and venue than this for signing such an important agreement," said Charles Muligande, Minister of Education. "It is a big boost to the education sector and we are going to use the funds to build classrooms…train teachers, improve the education content to ensure qualitative education for our children."
About the Grant:
The Education for All - Fast Track Initiative (FTI) is a global partnership between developing countries and donors to accelerate progress towards the goal of universal completion of quality primary education by 2015. Partners include more than 30 bilateral and multilateral donor agencies and all low-income countries which demonstrate serious commitment to achieving universal primary education are eligible for technical and financial support from the FTI.
The Education for all Fast Track Initiative Development Policy Grant operation will support policy reforms based on six prior actions including:
- Adoption of a Teacher Development and Management Policy which foresees the establishment of an entity to oversee the professionalization of teacher services;
- Adoption of a cost-calculated strategic plan for the establishment of a coordinated in-service teacher education structure;
- Establishment of a framework and procedures for the implementation of decentralized procurement and school-level selection of textbooks, as set out in the Textbook Policy;
- Issuance of invitation to publishers to submit proposals for textbooks, teacher guides and supplementary materials for evaluation and inclusion in the approved list of learning and teaching materials;
- Adoption of a Girls' Education Policy, including an improved collection and analysis of gender-disaggregated data; and (vi) Adoption of a cost-calculated strategic plan for the implementation of the Girls' Education Policy.
"This adds value and commitment to the entire sector," Musoni. "This contribution is very important because it targets those key areas of basic education."
"Education is the backbone," Musoni added. "If we don't have education right, then even other sectors are at risk."
With this grant, the total amount of EFA-FTI grants to Rwanda amounts to US$105 million since 2007. Rwanda's application to EFA FTI Catalytic Fund was approved during the Catalytic Fund's Spring Meeting. Considered among best practice countries in application quality and EFA FTI disbursement rate, Rwanda was the only country worldwide able to submit an application at that time.
"The World Bank is proud to be the supervising entity of this multi donor trust fund… and we look forward to continue working with our partners, particularly DFID, UNICEF and the ministries of Education and of Finance in helping Rwanda achieve its objective of universal nine-year basic education," Ladipo told participants.
