VZCZCXRO6290
RR RUEHMA RUEHPA
DE RUEHBP #0122/01 0610806
ZNR UUUUU ZZH
R 020806Z MAR 09
FM AMEMBASSY BAMAKO
TO RUEHC/SECSTATE WASHDC 0073
INFO RUEHZK/ECOWAS COLLECTIVE
RUEHAS/AMEMBASSY ALGIERS 0580
RUEHAN/AMEMBASSY ANTANANARIVO 0004
RUEHWD/AMEMBASSY WINDHOEK 0008
RHMFISS/HQ USAFRICOM STUTTGART GE

UNCLAS SECTION 01 OF 02 BAMAKO 000122 
 
SIPDIS 
SENSITIVE 
 
DEPT FOR USAID 
 
E.O. 12958: N/A 
TAGS: EAID PINS ASEC KPAO ML
SUBJECT: MALI: EXTENDING THE AMBASSADOR'S GIRLS SCHOLARSHIP PROGRAM 
 
Refs:  (A) Antananarivo 00125; (B) Windhoek 391 
 
1.(SBU) Summary: We strongly support Embassy Antananarivo and 
Embassy Windhoek's recommendations to extend the Ambassador's Girls 
Scholarship Program (AGSP) beyond FY2009 (reftels).  In addition to 
the vitally important benefits that the AGSP program provides to 
scholarship beneficiaries and to Mali's education system, it also 
forms one of the cornerstones of our strategy to meet essential USG 
peace and security goals.  Although AGSP technically does not fall 
under the Trans Sahel Counter Terrorism Partnership (TSCTP), all of 
the 34,464 scholarships awarded since AGSP's start in Mali in 2004 
have gone to children in Mali's three northern regions of Timbuktu, 
Gao, and Kidal.  These three regions are the site of continued 
Tuareg rebel movements, rampant drugs and arms trafficking, and 
activities by Al Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb (AQIM), which 
continues to use northern Mali as a safe haven.  Helping families in 
these regions to keep their children in school is one of the best 
ways to combat instability, insecurity and extremism in northern 
Mali.  For this reason, we believe that the AGSP program should not 
only be continued but greatly expanded for Mali.  End Summary. 
 
 
----------------------- 
AGSP in Mali: The Facts 
----------------------- 
 
2.(U) AGSP started in Mali during the 2004/2005 school year. 
Specific objectives of the program include increasing girls' access, 
attendance, and retention in target primary schools, as well as 
improving students' academic achievement.  The program is currently 
implemented in 109 public, community, and Islamic schools (known 
locally as medersas - basically the Muslim equivalent of parochial 
schools) in Mali's three northern regions of Timbuktu, Gao, and 
Kidal.  The program targets students in grade 4-6 in Timbuktu and 
Gao and grades 1-6 in Kidal.  It provides scholarship packages that 
include school supplies, books, lanterns and cloth to make uniforms. 
 Other complementary AGSP activities include working with local 
Mothers' Associations and women role models to provide mentoring and 
other forms of support to scholarship recipients.  These women work 
to sensitize their communities regarding the importance of sending 
girls to school, school health and HIV/AIDS. 
 
3.(U) General Assemblies within every target school choose resource 
people--primarily women--to serve as AGSP mentors.  These mentors 
work closely with school directors, teachers, and Mothers' 
Associations to monitor and supervise study groups at home and raise 
awareness about the importance of supporting girls' education.  They 
also coordinate visits to women role models and help communities 
organize regional girls' education days to discuss education, gender 
equity, health, HIV/AIDS, and hygiene. There are over 200 mentors 
working with the AGSP program in Mali. 
 
4.(U) AGSP is implemented in Mali by World Education together with 
three Malian NGOs: Aide a l'Enfant du Desert et du Sahel (AEDS) in 
Kidal; Sahel Etude Action pour le Developpement (SEAD) in Gao; and 
the Association Malienne pour la Survie au Sahel (AMSS) in 
Tombouctou.  These organizations manage the identification of 
beneficiaries, the awarding and tracking of AGSP scholarships, 
mentoring activities, and reporting.  The program works in 
partnership with Mothers' Associations, Ministry of Education 
officials, religious leaders, and other representatives from the 
development community. It also partners with the State Department 
and Peace Corps.  For the past three years, Peace Corps has assigned 
a Volunteer to work with AGSP. 
 
5.(U) The main focus of the AGSP program in Mali is on girls. 
However, in September 2007 we began providing scholarships to a 
limited number of boys.  During the 2008-2009 school year AGSP 
provided 7,565 scholarships totaling USD 747,103.  Since the 
program's inception in Mali in 2004, we have provided 34,464 
scholarships at a cost of USD 3.3 million. 
 
--------------------------------- 
AGSP in Northern Mali: The Theory 
--------------------------------- 
 
6.(U) As our colleagues in Madagascar and Namibia have noted, AGSP 
scholars are more likely to enroll and remain in school than 
children who are not part of the ASGP program.  This is particularly 
important for children in northern Mali, where historically there 
has been a strained relationship between northern populations and 
the formal education system.  Mali has yet to develop a sustainable 
solution to the challenges of providing education to nomadic 
populations, and education costs for girls are often the first to be 
cut when families have to tighten their expenses.  Enabling these 
children to remain in school is a particularly constructive way of 
 
BAMAKO 00000122  002 OF 002 
 
 
encouraging northern populations to see the value of state-provided 
social services and reject messages and appeals that try to pull 
them toward illicit trafficking, rebellion, or worse. 
 
¶7. (U) Investing in girls' education is perhaps the most effective 
means to achieve development goals.  It is acknowledged as a key 
component of international accords such as the Millennium 
Development Goals and the Education for All-Fast Track Initiative. 
Research conclusively links investments in girls' education with 
huge returns in economic growth, political participation, health 
(reduced fertility rates, lower infant and child mortality rates, 
lower maternal mortality rates, disease prevention including 
protection against HIV/AIDS), and intergenerational education 
benefits.  A mother who has attended school is more likely to enroll 
and keep her child to school.  In northern Mali as elsewhere, girls' 
education is one of the best investments that the USG could make to 
promote the long-term development of the country. 
 
8.(SBU) In Mali the AGSP also addresses another key USG concern: 
northern Mali's instability and exposure to extremist influences. 
Since 2006, the northern regions of Gao and Kidal have been the site 
of renewed Tuareg unrest and rebel movements.  Drug traffickers, gun 
runners, and Al Qaeda aligned Islamic extremists inhabit all three 
northern regions.  AGSP provides direct and tangible assistance to 
families living in proximity to these security threats.  It is a 
recognizable symbol of the USG's support to northern populations, 
and one of the best ongoing efforts to win the hearts and minds of 
these at-risk populations. 
 
9.(SBU) This is particularly true for AGSP beneficiaries in the 
northern region of Kidal where insecurity has seriously hampered our 
ability to implement development activities.  Although Mali and 
Tuareg rebel groups are working to implement a peace agreement and 
rebel activity has recently subsided, banditry and the continued 
presence of AQIM mean travel to Kidal remains risky.  Our consular 
information sheet strenuously advises all American citizens to avoid 
travel to the region of Kidal as well as large portions of the 
regions of Gao and Timbuktu.  Apart from a handful of USAID 
supported community radio stations in the region of Kidal funded by 
TSCTP, AGSP is the USG's only on-going assistance program in Kidal. 
AGSP works through local NGOs and community-based organizations, 
thus allowing it to function in difficult-to-reach areas like Kidal 
because the program's locally hired staff is well-integrated into 
the community and able to circulate relatively freely. 
 
10.(SBU) Embassy Bamako is concerned that closing the AGSP program 
would drastically reduce the USG's presence in northern Mali and 
Kidal in particular.  A significant draw-down or pull-out of the 
AGSP program runs the risk of being perceived as a withdrawal of USG 
support to Mali's northern populations, populations that are at risk 
of drug traffickers, gun runners, and Al Qaeda aligned Islamic 
extremists, at precisely the moment when an apparent resolution of 
domestic Tuareg rebellion will have raised expectations that donors 
may increase engagement in these regions. 
 
--------------------------- 
Recommendations: Expand AGSP 
--------------------------- 
 
11.(SBU)  Like Embassy Antananarivo nd Embassy Windhoek, we 
strongly recommend the ASP's continuation.  Furthermore, we propose 
that it be expanded in Mali.  AGSP is one of the U.S. Mission's most 
visible and well-received programs in northern Mali.  Given the 
significant development impact of girls' education, the evident 
good-will that the AGSP program engenders, and the public diplomacy 
opportunities it offers, we believe that AGSP should be expanded to 
include more scholars in the regions of Timbuktu, Gao, and Kidal. 
 
12.(SBU)  We also recommend providing greater management authority 
for AGSP to the U.S. Embassy and USAID Mission in Bamako, as we 
believe this could further increase the effectiveness of what is 
already an extremely effective and highly successful program. 
 
Milovanovic