The Board of Directors of the African Development Fund (ADF), the borrowing arm of the African Development Bank (AfDB) Group, has approved a UA 52 million loan, equivalent to US$ 84.25 million, to Uganda to finance the country's Post-Primary Education Expansion and Improvement Project (Education IV).

The Education IV is designed to support the government's secondary education policies and programmes (USE) as well as post-primary education and training (UPPET) for all. It aims at expanding access to post-primary education and improving learning conditions for some 100,000 secondary school students across the country.

The expected outcomes of the project include the equipping and rehabilitating, or building and expanding of 71 secondary schools; training 2,500 secondary school teachers and 600 administrators, 40% of whom will be women; and the purchase of goods and services to improve learning conditions, taking into consideration gender and the fight against HIV/AIDS.

The project is in line with the AfDB's Higher Education, Science and Technology Strategy and it is in sync with Uganda's 2005-2009 Common Assistance Strategy designed by several donors, including the AfDB. The priorities of the strategy include, among others, human development.

The Bank, which has a comparative advantage in secondary education as well as professional, technical and business training, is therefore responding to the needs of a client who attaches value to its long-term and sustainable commitment to education.

With the current project, the Bank will help Uganda's efforts at building its human capital, improve efforts at preparing students for active life, improve the efficiency of the sector and attain some of the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) relating to education, gender, poverty reduction and the fight against HIV/AIDS.

The project will be carried out over a five-year period. The US$ 84.25 million ADF loan will finance the entire foreign currency cost and 90% of the project cost, as well as a government contribution of UA 5.78 million, equivalent to US$9.37 million in local currency, accounting for 10% of total project cost.

CONTACT: Lotfi Madani - Tel: +216 71 10 31 98 - E-mail: l.madani@afdb.org