VZCZCXRO2239
PP RUEHBZ RUEHDU RUEHGI RUEHJO RUEHMA RUEHMR RUEHPA RUEHRN RUEHTRO
DE RUEHAN #0692/01 2831330
ZNR UUUUU ZZH
P 091330Z OCT 08
FM AMEMBASSY ANTANANARIVO
TO RUEHC/SECSTATE WASHDC PRIORITY 1691
INFO RUEHZO/AFRICAN UNION COLLECTIVE PRIORITY
RUCNDT/USMISSION USUN NEW YORK 0099

UNCLAS SECTION 01 OF 02 ANTANANARIVO 000692 
 
SENSITIVE 
SIPDIS 
 
ADDIS ABABA FOR USAU 
DEPT FOR AF/FO AND AF/E 
DEPT FOR IO AND EB 
 
E.O. 12958: N/A 
TAGS: EAID ECON EFIN PGOV KDEM PHUM CN
SUBJECT:  UNDP Comoros "Millennium Island" Project 
 
¶1. (U) SUMMARY:  The United Nations Development Program (UNDP) in 
the Comoros has a proposal for the island of Moheli (population 
40,000) to be a UN "Millennium Village."  By significantly 
increasing interventions and coordinating the efforts of all 
partners, the Millennium Village concept seeks to rapidly improve 
progress toward Millennium Development Goals (MDGs).  The objectives 
of the five-year Moheli Millennium Village project are to increase 
people's incomes and food security, improve access to social 
services, and protect ecosystems to provide sustainable economic 
benefits.  END SUMMARY. 
 
Moheli "Millennium Island" 
- - - - - - - - - - - - - - 
 
¶2.  (U)  UNDP Comoros Resident Representative Opia Kumah has 
developed an ambitious proposal to implement the UN Millennium 
Village model on the entire island of Moheli.  By far the smallest 
of the three Comoran islands, Moheli has just 40,000 inhabitants and 
little economic activity.  The island has protected marine area and 
turtle nesting grounds.  Under the Comoros' unique rotating 
presidency system, the next head of state must be from Moheli. 
 
¶3. (U)  The Moheli Millennium Island project will seek to test the 
conclusion of the UN Report to the Secretary General in 2005, 
"impoverished communities can transform themselves by 2015 if they 
are empowered with proven, powerful, practical interventions. By 
investing simultaneously in interventions across a multitude of 
sectors, including health, food production, education, access to 
clean water, and essential infrastructure, impoverished villages are 
able to get a foothold on the bottom rung of the development ladder 
and begin to experience self-sustaining economic growth."  Moheli, 
isolated and undeveloped, offers an ideal opportunity to experiment 
with these strategies. 
 
MDG Performance 
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¶3. (U)  The Comoros has made progress toward some of the Millennium 
Development Goals, but is unlikely to meet most of the objectives by 
2015 without major new initiatives.  The primary school enrollment 
rate increased from 60 percent to 73 percent between 1999 and 2006. 
Similar improvements were recorded in girls' proportion of schooling 
compared to boys and maternal mortality rates.  The HIV/AIDS 
prevalence remains below one percent.  The percentage of Comorans 
living in poverty decreased from 54.7 percent in 1995 to 44.8 
percent in 2004.  In contrast, a 2003 survey found infant mortality 
had risen to 113/1,000 births, eliminating most of the gains 
achieved in this area in the 1990s. 
 
¶4. (U)  The Millennium Village approach aims to speed up progress 
toward achieving MDGs by empowering local leaders and providing 
additional resources.  The Moheli Millennium Island project would 
simultaneously support "community-led" (public and private) 
investments in agriculture, education, health, energy, 
infrastructure, and environmental management.  Under a 
"participative and inclusive process of all stakeholders" the UN 
will lead a process to implement the seven areas of the Comoros' 
Poverty Reduction and Growth Strategy: 
 
-- Create conditions for sustainable economic development including 
public finance reform, infrastructure, and energy; 
 
--  Re-launch the private sector where there is high-growth 
potential, in agriculture, livestock, fishing, and tourism; 
 
--  Reinforce justice and governance by consolidating and improving 
institutions, as well as ensuring access to fair justice for all 
Comorans; 
 
--  Improve health services management and access, with priority on 
maternal/child health and infectious disease prevention; 
 
--  Promote education and vocational training to improve human 
capital in the Comoros; 
 
--  Promote environmental protection and sustainable development, of 
particular importance given the Comoros' fragile island ecosystems; 
 
--  Reinforce security and the war on terrorism. 
 
Cost and Implementation 
- - - - - - - - - - - - 
 
¶5. (U)  According to UN research, on average USD 110 per person per 
year must be invested to achieve the MDGs in Africa.  So the Moheli 
Millennium Island project annual budget is USD 4.4 million for 
40,000 people.  One-third of this total is projected as "national 
 
ANTANANARI 00000692  002 OF 002 
 
 
contribution" by Union and island governments, as well as 
communities.   Unlike the debt-laden governments that are months 
behind on payrolls, most Comoran communities are well-endowed with 
resources from tens of millions of dollars in remittances.  Often 
these resources are pooled by families for common benefit, like 
building roads, schools, or community centers.  The UN proposal 
emphasizes that getting buy-in from Moheli's community leaders and 
empowering them to lead the process are keys to success. 
 
Community Ownership 
- - - - - - - - - - 
 
¶6. (SBU)  Obstacles to success for the Moheli Millennium Island 
include poor governance at the National and Island levels, as well 
as limited donor participation in the Comoros.  During the many 
years of instability when corrupt national and island governments 
failed to provide basic services, Comoran villages have filled the 
void.  Remittances from the diaspora fund public works and services. 
 To avoid corrupt judges, village elders arbitrate disputes 
informally.  While poor and undeveloped, the Comoros has largely 
avoided major humanitarian crisis thanks to community mechanisms and 
leadership.  The UN proposal rightly emphasizes that the "plus up" 
in investment and intervention in Moheli can only have the desired 
impacts with the empowerment of local leaders and community 
ownership.  The UN proposal includes an optimistic prediction that 
following the end of the Millennium Island interventions, the 
national and island budgets will have increased adequately to 
sustain the improvements. 
 
Comment: 
- - - - - 
 
¶7. (SBU)  While important political questions remain, the Comoros is 
currently experiencing one of its longest periods of stability since 
independence in 1975.  The UNDP Comoros office is seizing this 
opportunity with robust health, education and economic growth 
programs all over the country, this Millennium Island concept, and 
work on "social cohesion and reconciliation."  The seven priorities 
in the Poverty Reduction and Growth Strategy align with our Mission 
Strategic Plan for the Comoros. 
 
¶8.  (SBU)  The "closed system" and low starting-point of Moheli 
should offer a good test (if not results) of the Jeffrey Sachs 
Millennium Village experiment.  Post already plans education, 
microfinance, and Civil Affairs activities in Moheli; there is no 
additional cost to coordinating these activities with UNDP's "big 
push."  END COMMENT. 
STROMAYER