The U.S. Government, through the United States Agency for International Development (USAID), became a formal partner in the Mozambique Education Support Fund (Fundo de Apoio ao Sector da Educação, FASE) to further support the Ministry of Education and Human Development (MINEDH) carry out its 10-year Education Sector Strategic Plan.  This comes three months after Minister of Education Carmelita Namashulua and USAID Mission Director Helen Pataki signed a Memorandum of Cooperation on education.

FASE is co-funded by 12 donors: Finland, Canada, Italy, Ireland, Portugal, France, Germany, the EU, the World Bank, UNICEF and the Global Partnership for Education, and now the United States. The Fund focuses on a number of issues jointly identified by the Government of Mozambique and donors, including access to and quality of education, and improving the institutional capacity of Mozambique’s education sector at the central, provincial, district, and school levels, among other priorities. With the United States’ membership in FASE, USAID is contributing $700,000 to the Fund annually.

USAID continues to directly implement programs in bilingual education, girls education, the inclusion of students with disabilities, support and development of teacher training and reducing teacher absenteeism, as well as vocational education and training skills. Those programs are implemented in Nampula and Zambezia and include:

• USAID Improved Learning Outcomes in Primary Education (SABER)
• USAID Advancing Girls Education (AGE)
• USAID Apoiar A Ler
• USAID Community Engagement for Improved Bilingual Education

USAID Mission Director Pataki said, “Being a FASE partner enhances the U.S. government’s ability to collaborate and align priorities with other donors with a single objective: to give children and youth access to a good quality education, particularly girls and children with disabilities.”

Improving the education sector is a critical component of the broader U.S. Government assistance in Mozambique.  In close collaboration with the Government of the Republic of Mozambique, the U.S. Government provides more than $500 million in annual assistance to improve the quality of education and healthcare, promote economic prosperity, and support the overall development of the nation.