
On May 21, the U.S. ambassador to Mauritania, his Excellency Larry André in conjunction with Mr. Diallo Harouna, senior advisor to the Minister of Education, presided over the launching ceremony of the eighth edition of the English Access Micro-Scholarship Program at the Nouakchott English Center (NEC).
The Access program will provide 120 Mauritanian students, aged 13-18 years old from secondary schools in Nouakchott and Rosso, with two school years’ worth of English courses. These courses are in parallel with their regular studies to help them further improve their level in the English language, and will be held at NEC and at “Sahara English Center”,.
The U.S. Embassy in Mauritania will cover the courses fees, school supplies, transportation and other educational activities for these students. The total costs are estimated to be $120,000 (about 38 million UM).

Launched in 2007, the English Access Microscholarship Program has already helped 820 students from high schools and colleges of Nouakchott and Rosso to improve their English. This program concretely demonstrates the commitment of our embassy to education as the principal means to enhance economic development and mutual understanding among people.
We are also happy to announce that the best students in each class will receive a scholarship as part of a language and leadership program for young Africans, enabling them to take a three week language course combined with leadership training at a prestigious American university. To date, 46 students of the “Access Program” have already benefited from this scholarship since 2010.
Nouakchott on May 21st 2015