KINSHASA -- On Oct. 30, 2014, the US Agency for International Development (USAID) and the UK Department for International Development (UK aid) signed a partnership to support primary education in the provinces of Katanga, Kasaï Occidental, Kasaï Oriental, Equateur, South Kivu and North Kivu, in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC).

This $180 million joint program aims to achieve the following results: Improving reading and writing for 1.5 million children in local language and in French; helping access to primary schooling for 450,000 out-of-school children; increasing retention of children in schools by 30 percent; strengthening capacities of the parents committees, school management committees and school communities; and strengthening capacities of the Ministry for Primary, Secondary and Vocational Education.

“The program supports the DRC Interim Education Plan and we are committed to work closely with the Ministry of Education to achieve objectives including the reduction of out-of-school children; improve the quality of learning; and strengthen the capacity and transparency of the primary education sector,” said Dr. Diana Putman, USAID/DRC Mission Director.

“For the first time, the two leading major bilateral donors in the DRC have developed and will implement a joint development program. This is a concrete outcome our efforts to foster coordination among donors in the DRC,” said Dr. Christopher Pycroft, Head of DFID DRC.