Minister of Education,
Ladies and gentlemen,
It is always with great pleasure that I participate in activities that have a direct and tangible impact on the education and health of our children, the leaders of tomorrow. The McGovern-Dole Program is one of them.
Indeed, this flagship project of the United States Government has demonstrated two essential points:
One, the concrete expression of our support for the priority clearly expressed by President Ghazouani to improve schools in which children will be able to study in decent conditions.
Two, to unequivocally initiate a partnership between the United States and Mauritania to promote educational and health coverage in the regions of intervention of the McGovern-Dole program.
After three years of activities, two of which have been impacted by the COVID-19 pandemic, I am pleased to see that more than twelve million meals have been served to more than seventy thousand students in two hundred and nine schools in Brakna and Gorgol. In addition, the project has built one hundred and thirteen stores for the proper preservation of food and dozens of sanitary stations and hygiene rooms for schoolgirls, which has contributed to the improvement of hygiene in schools. In addition, more than twenty thousand textbooks and teachers’ guides have been developed and distributed in two hundred and nine schools to strengthen children’s learning, especially in reading.
Minister, ladies and gentlemen,
These achievements cannot be sustained without the support of the Ministry of Education, whose leadership I salute here. Indeed, the Mauritanian government has clearly demonstrated its adherence to the new vision of education. It did so through a budget registration of more than $5 million annually for school nutrition programs.
By supporting the school feeding program, you are creating an educational bridge for the child of tomorrow. In this way, you help to ensure that the achievements last beyond the life of this project.
This gesture deserves consideration. It gives the measure of future ambitions for the education and health of children, their mothers, and their communities.
Before concluding, I would like to thank the Ministry of Education and the other ministerial departments with which we collaborate in this area. My gratitude also goes to all our partners among elected municipal officials, the United Nations, and our civil society partners. No achievement would have been possible without them. Finally, I say a big thank you to Counterpart for the enormous work they’ve accomplished in difficult conditions.
Thank you for your attention.
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