The British Under-Secretary of State for International Development, Stephen O’Brien, announced in Maputo on Thursday that British aid to Mozambique will rise to 85 million pounds (137 million dollars) a year as from 2013.This is an increase of 10.4 per cent on the 2010 figure of 77 million pounds. The figure for 2011 and 2012 is 82 million pounds.According to a press release from the British Department for International Development (DFID), O’Brien, who visited Mozambique from Tuesday to Thursday, reiterated British support for the Mozambican government’s poverty reduction strategy, but also “stressed the importance of demonstrating results, particularly at a time when the UK is increasing its budget in Mozambique”.O’Brien, in his meetings with government officials, “reiterated the UK government’s interest in seeing progress on governance, including transparency, accountability and tackling corruption, and a rapid improvement in the environment for doing business”.Mozambique is one of the winners in the British government’s review of its foreign aid strategy. The current coalition between the Conservative and Liberal Democratic Parties, has, just like the previous Labour government, reiterated a commitment to raising the amount Britain spends on overseas development aid to 0.7 per cent of Gross Domestic Project, the target figure for industrialized countries set by the United Nations.But the government has cut funding altogether to certain countries (including China. Serbia, Kosovo, Bosnia, Vietnam, Angola and Niger), while increasing it significantly to others. In addition to Mozambique, other countries to receive significant aid increases include Ethiopia, Democratic Republic of Congo, Nigeria, Pakistan and Bangladesh.According to the DFID release, “there has been a re-orientation of programmes to countries most in need of assistance, and where results in addressing poverty can be achieved”. But it added “results matter, and this is what we will be looking to hear about in the years ahead”.O’Brien also announced that the British government is allocating a further 2.7 million pounds (4.3 million dollars) this year to the Mozambican Education Ministry.The payment, according to DFID, will go into the Education Sector Common Fund (FASE), and will support the Education Ministry’s annual plan “that includes the recruitment and salaries of an additional 1,200 secondary and vocational training teachers in 2011”.Due to its budgetary constraints, the government was only able to recruit additional teachers for primary education this year. The Education Ministry thus agreed with the donors who support FASE that the FASE money could be used to finance the hiring of 1,200 secondary teachers for their first year. From 2012, the Mozambican government will take responsibility for paying the wages of these teachers. The release said that the additional aid “will enable the Ministry to implement its annual plan that aims to reduce high pupil-teacher ratios and bring about improvements in quality”.To date, British contributions to FASE have been 4.5 million pounds a year, but this year the figure rises to 7.2 million pounds. The total FASE annual budget, from 13 donors and funding agencies, is 128 million US dollars.O’Brien also met with Mozambican Health Minister Alexandre Manguele, and promised an extra two million pounds for the PROSAUDE donor common fund for health. This money is in response for the government’s request for funding to distribute a further 2.2 million mosquito nets. The long lasting insecticide treated bed nets have already been purchased with funds from the Global Fund to Fight HIV/AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria, and are in the country. The logistical challenge facing the Health Ministry is to distribute them throughout the country, to protect young children from malaria.There are no conditions attached to the British funding, but the release points out “the success of this unconditional funding will inevitably be judged on whether the Ministry of Health is able to meet its commitment to deliver these 2.2 million bed nets to those who need then by the end of 2011”.The release noted that the Ministry has launched a universal bed net coverage campaign, which aims to ensure that every household containing children under the age of five has at least two long lasting insecticide treated bed nets. A further specific grant was 6.5 million pounds for the Beira Agricultural Programme over the next three years, aimed at increasing agricultural production and creating new jobs in the Beira Corridor.
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