Ministry of Education, Ministry of Finance and German Development Bank KfW sign financing agreement over EUR 20 million

Publish Date: Dec 04, 2011

In a step to further expand the long-standing partnership between Afghanistan and Germany in support of the Afghan education sector, the Ministry of Education, the Ministry of Finance, the German Embassy and the German Development Bank (KfW Entwicklungsbank) signed today a Financing Agreement over EUR 20 million (approx. USD 26,5 million). The funds which have been committed by the German Government through the Federal Ministry for Economic Cooperation and Development (BMZ) will benefit the national Education Quality Improvement Program (EQUIP) and will be channelled through the Afghanistan Reconstruction Trust Fund (ARTF). This brings the total German contribution to the ARTF to EUR 243 Million to date, EUR 58 million of which have been dedicated to EQUIP. EQUIP aims to improve the access to and quality of education services for Afghan children in primary and secondary schools. Thanks to the construction or rehabilitation of so many schools and the training of teachers, the programme has already benefited a large number of students across Afghanistan.  
Farooq Wardak, Minister of Education highlighted education development as the most important legacy of the world communities’ partnership in Afghanistan: “As a result of this engagement a disabled and dysfunctional education system of 2001, which provided unsystematic and poor quality services to less than a Million male students, was transformed to the inclusive, responsive and progressive system of today, which provides educational services to 8.4 million students, out of which 39 % are girls. Germany is one of the most reliable partners of the education system of Afghanistan and played a key role in this transformation, for which we are heartedly thankful.”
Deputy Minister of the Ministry of Finance Shafiq Qarizada, welcomed the German assistance for improvements in the educational sector and said: “The German Government's assistance especially for the education sector has great and positive impacts on the sustainable development for education in Afghanistan.”
Thomas Zahneisen, Chargé d’Affaires of the German Embassy in Kabul welcomed the constant efforts of the Afghan Government to improve the educational situation for boys and girls. He said: “Much has been achieved, but still a lot has to be done in order to meet Afghanistan's 'education for all' objectives until 2020. Thus, education will remain a priority area of Afghan-German development cooperation.”
Gunnar Wälzholz, KfW’s Country Director in Afghanistan, pointed out that “the on-budget support to EQUIP complements Germany’s long-standing bilateral financial and technical assistance in the education sector, which encompasses both basic education and vocational training.”