Dakar, January 29, 2014 – The World Bank Group and the Japanese International Cooperation Agency (JICA) have agreed to strengthen their support to Senegal, in particular in the education sector. This commitment was made by Mr. Kato Ryuichi, JICA’s Resident Representative in Senegal, and Ms. Vera Songwe, World Bank Country Director for Senegal, during the signing of a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) between the two institutions on Thursday, January 29 at the World Bank office in Dakar. The MOU aims at improving the performance of the School Management Committee (SMC) in Senegal’s educational institutions.
Mr. Ryuichi noted that, under the JICA-funded Education Environment Improvement Project – Phase II ((PAES2), a school-based management system, which gives local communities a voice in school management and seeks to guarantee improved performance, was piloted and evaluated in the Fatick and Kaffrine regions between 2010 and 2012. “As this SMC model was deemed to be effective, the World Bank will support Senegal’s efforts to extend it to all public schools under the Quality Improvement and Equity of Basic Education Project (PAQEEB), which is being funded by the World Bank to the tune of US$22.8 million,” Ms. Songwe said.
The World Bank Country Director highlighted the partnership between Senegal, Japan, and the World Bank for the implementation of the Program for Quality, Equity, and Transparency Improvements in Education and Training (PAQUET-EF).
Ms. Songwe and Mr. Ryuichi underscored the similarity in the objectives of their respective institutions in the education sector, which seek to significantly improve learning of sciences, mathematics, and technology in primary schools (JICA) and lower secondary schools (World Bank). In this connection, the JICA representative also indicated that further support will be provided by his country before the end of this year, while the World Bank has begun implementation of two projects for basic education (US$22.8 million) and technical and vocational training (US$35 million).
