VZCZCXRO2316
OO RUEHLH RUEHPW
DE RUEHIL #4962/01 3251145
ZNR UUUUU ZZH
O 211145Z NOV 07
FM AMEMBASSY ISLAMABAD
TO RUEHC/SECSTATE WASHDC IMMEDIATE 3367
INFO RUEHBUL/AMEMBASSY KABUL PRIORITY 7789
RUEHNE/AMEMBASSY NEW DELHI PRIORITY 2285
RUEHKP/AMCONSUL KARACHI PRIORITY 8131
RUEHLH/AMCONSUL LAHORE PRIORITY 4122
RUEHPW/AMCONSUL PESHAWAR PRIORITY 2679
RUEKJCS/SECDEF WASHDC PRIORITY
RUMICEA/USCENTCOM INTEL CEN MACDILL AFB FL PRIORITY
RUEAIIA/CIA WASHDC PRIORITY
RUEHNO/USMISSION USNATO PRIORITY 3291
RHMFISS/CDR USCENTCOM MACDILL AFB FL PRIORITY

UNCLAS SECTION 01 OF 03 ISLAMABAD 004962 
 
SIPDIS 
 
SENSITIVE 
 
SIPDIS 
 
E.O. 12958:  N/A 
TAGS: EAID ECON PGOV PK PINR PREL PTER
SUBJECT: EXPANDED USAID PROGRAM IN PAKISTAN 
 
REF:    ISLAMABAD 04817 
 
¶1.  (SBU)  SUMMARY: This cable is a follow-up to 
reftel. In reftel, Post recommended that the $200 
million cash transfer could be projectized.  We 
believe funds currently used for the cash transfer 
could be more productively used for other USG 
programs that directly benefit the Pakistani people 
and make Pakistan a stronger and more secure ally in 
the war against terror.  This cable outlines the 
skeleton of a three-year, $600 million program that 
could be implemented by USAID with three additional 
US Direct Hires, seven US Personal Services 
Contractors, and 21 additional FSN staff.  The program 
would be carried out through US contractors and 
grantees who would work with provincial and local 
governments as well as Pakistani NGOs and private 
sector organizations.  If funds are allowed in the 
spring of 2008, implementing partners 
could begin operations in early calendar 2009. 
 
¶2.  (SBU)  Most of the program ($340 million) focuses 
on education, which we believe is fundamental to 
moving Pakistan toward democracy, prosperity, and 
stability.  The education component is comprehensive - 
training teachers, building schools, providing 
scholarships Q with the premise that these actions 
will reduce the number of children exposed to 
extremist teachings.  Second, the program devotes $130 
million to improve child and maternal health, thereby 
allowing the US to visibly touch the lives of millions 
of Pakistanis and fill a critical need.  Third, the 
program devotes $130 million for job training for 
unemployed youth, for generating jobs by building 
small infrastructure in communities, and for helping 
farmers get out of poverty. 
 
EDUCATION IS KEY 
 
¶3.  (SBU)  Pakistan is falling far short of its 
obligation to provide high-quality basic education for 
its children.  We propose five focused activities 
which would significantly strengthen education, and 
have the important side effect of making secular 
education more attractive than Madrassa education. 
 
¶4.  (SBU)  First, a major cause of problems in basic 
education in Pakistan is that the teachers themselves 
are poorly trained.  USAID will improve existing 
teacher training programs by strengthening pre-service 
teacher education institutions such as Allama Iqbal 
Open University, Punjab, Peshawar, Gomal, Hazara, 
Balochistan, Sindh, and Hyderabad by training their 
staff, and developing and implementing new curriculum. 
This three-year activity would help 
38,000 teachers meet acceptable international 
standards in both knowledge of subject matter and 
classroom teaching skills.  It would have a 
long-term impact as future generations of PakistanQs 
teachers will continue to receive a far better 
preparation for teaching. ($70 million). 
 
¶5.  (SBU)  Second, USAID will rebuild or renovate up 
to 3,000 schools using a US contractor with local 
subcontractors.  This may include the GOPQs new Dar Ul 
Ilm program (House of Knowledge), which is planning to 
build boarding schools for needy children.  Dar Ul Ilm 
would provide religious instruction as well as secular 
instruction to directly compete with madrassas. ($110 
million). 
 
¶6.  (SBU) Third, USAID would build an additional 30 
schools in the area affected by the 2005 earthquake. 
These additional schools are badly needed to replace 
schools that were damaged or destroyed. ($45 million). 
Fourth, we would support the GOPQs early childhood 
education program, providing young children with a 
critical foundation for learning. Our support would 
benefit 175,000 children.  (This would also help 
lessen the appeal of madrassas, which take in children 
as young as three and a half years.) ($50 million). 
 
ISLAMABAD 00004962  002 OF 003 
 
 
Fifth, we would provide more opportunity for leaders 
to develop from the less advantaged parts of society 
by awarding up to 6,500 scholarships for study in 
Pakistan or the US to intellectually talented students 
currently without the financial means to pursue higher 
education. ($65 million). 
 
HEALTH CARE 
 
¶7.  (SBU)  The health of young children and mothers in 
Pakistan is among the worst in the world; for example, 
95 children under five years of age die for every 
1,000 live births compared to 8 in the US.  To address 
this desperate need, a $130 million program will 
extend essential health services to families in 27 of 
the poorest districts in the country where neither 
USAID nor other donors are concentrating.  This would 
have an immediate benefit by decreasing deaths of 
infants, young children, and mothers, and improving 
their overall health.  The program would provide 
life-saving skills to 5,000 midwives and the 
emergency staff of 75 hospitals.  We could 
substantially increase the number of fully immunized 
children by helping the local governments run more 
vaccination campaigns.  This program parallels the 
current USAID-funded Pakistan Initiative for Mothers 
and Newborns.  It would benefit more than two million 
children under the age of five and roughly six 
million married couples. 
 
JOBS 
 
¶8.  (SBU)  There is an enormous unmet need for job 
training in Pakistan.  The GOP has been unable to 
develop training programs which address the needs of 
an increasingly hi tech, services-based economy. 
While PakistanQs private sector has begun to provide 
job training on a small scale, the combination of 
government and private sector programs is clearly 
insufficient.  At the same time, Pakistan needs to 
generate over 2 million new jobs per year because of 
its demographic bulge.  We will support a training 
program that provides job skills specifically aimed at 
areas that businesses say they need, and life skills 
that help youth find and keep jobs.  The program will 
reach approximately 250,000 poor youth from rural and 
urban areas throughout Pakistan.  The program will 
work on the model of an existing program, The 
Education and Employment Alliance, and similar 
programs in other countries.  The Alliance is 
implemented internationally by the International Youth 
Foundation and in Pakistan by the National Rural 
Support Network.  It provides three- to six- month 
training programs for unemployed youth, targeted at 
the skills businesses need. ($75 million). 
 
¶9.  (SBU)  The GOP has underinvested in infrastructure 
for many years.  Approximately 500 small community 
infrastructure projects such as roads, irrigation, 
sanitation, and power can be built.  Such 
infrastructure projects are excellent, highly public 
examples to show that the US cares about the Pakistani 
people.  Since contracting is done by local 
subcontractors, hired and managed by US companies, 
they generate jobs immediately.  Often, the 
infrastructure promotes business development, thus 
opening additional employment opportunities.  Projects 
must meet predetermined criteria for social and 
economic impact; selection maybe done by local mayors 
in consultation with city and/or provincial 
leaders.($25 million). 
 
¶10.  (SBU)  Agriculture employs 40-50% of PakistanQs 
workers, including about 65% of working women and 80% 
of the nationQs poor.  USG programs will increase 
farmers' incomes by enhancing their production 
techniques, improving their linkages to markets, and 
developing the food processing industry.  Studies show 
that increased farm income is a very powerful 
generator of rural jobs.  The new funds will expand 
a successful USAID program to additional districts 
 
ISLAMABAD 00004962  003 OF 003 
 
 
along or near the Afghan border in Balochistan and 
other strategic areas as well as coordinate key 
players in the private sector and provincial 
agricultural ministries. ($30 million). 
 
COMMENT 
 
¶11.  (SBU)  The Mission believes that the programs 
outlined above would address fundamental problems that 
block PakistanQs progress and stability, and would 
significantly strengthen one of our key allies in the 
global war on terror while making very clear our 
commitment to creating better lives for PakistanQs 
people.  With a relatively modest increase in staff, 
USAID can effectively manage new, additional programs 
in education, health care and employment.  The new 
program would redefine our development relationship: 
we would remain close partners with the Government of 
Pakistan, but funding would come directly from USAID 
through contractors and grantees, increasing direct 
benefits to the Pakistani people and accountability 
for US taxpayer money.  End comment. 
 
PATTERSON