$100 million boost for MDG’s in Africa
Partnership between Islamic Development Bank and the Earth Institute to support eight African nations on sustainable development and poverty alleviation
The Islamic Development Bank (IsDB) has announced that more than $100 million in financing is being made available to help eight African nations combat extreme poverty, improve public health and achieve more sustainable development.
A partnership was formed in 2011 between the IsDB and the Earth Institute (Columbia University) to work with African nations to support their efforts to to target the Millenium Development Goals (MDG's) and the financial support will be central to developing key projects.
Host governments will partner with the IsDB, the Earth Institute and Millennium Promise to carry out the projects and the Earth Institute will provide technical, operational and scientific guidance to the nations involved in the new initiative.
The $104 million will finance the new Sustainable Villages Program (SVP) in Chad, Mozambique, and Sudan to the tune of $40 million; the scale-ups of the Millennium Villages Project in Mali, Senegal and Uganda at $29 million; and the implementation of the Drylands Initiative in Djibouti, Somalia and Uganda which will receive $35 million in funding.
The $104 million will be provided in the form of Islamic finance (long-term repayments at zero interest rates) to the recipient countries, except in the case of a grant provided to Somalia. All of these countries are members of the bank.
The Islamic Development Bank’s Sustainable Villages Project builds on the experience gained over the past seven years in the Millennium Villages Project (MVP), as well as the bank’s long-standing and extensive work throughout Africa in fighting poverty. Both the MVP and SVP include an integrated package of science-based services and technologies to help rural African communities to improve public health, agriculture, education and standard of living.
The aims are to accelerate deployment and implementation of innovative technologies and ensure that lessons learned in the Millennium Villages inform the design of the new programs, and that the systems in health, education and agriculture are up to national and international standards.
In support of the request of the bank’s member countries, the IsDB is also providing financing to Mali, Senegal and Uganda to scale-up the existing Millennium Village work with the help of the Millennium Villages Project.
In addition, the Islamic Development Bank will be financing dryland nations including Djibouti, Somalia and Uganda, all facing tremendous sustainable development challenges, to implement interventions aimed at achieving the Millennium Development Goals and increasing resilience to droughts and other climate shocks. The Millennium Villages project will provide both advice and technical development expertise to the nations.
