USAID to Renovate 38 Schools, Helps Establish Local Factory

The U.S. Embassy hosted on Thursday a round table meeting with the United States Agency for International Development (USAID) Deputy Assistant Administrator for the Middle East Hady Amr.

Of Lebanese origin, Amr briefly explained about the projects which the U.S. is currently funding to further promote agricultural and educational growth.

Earlier, Amr visited a plastic box molding factory in Kobbet Shomra, Akkaron, supported by USAID’s Municipal Capacity Building and Service Delivery (TAMKIN) program as part of efforts to increase incomes and jobs in rural areas, according to a press release from the U.S. Embassy.

“Based on agricultural storage and marketing needs in the area, Borj Al-Arab and Kobbet Shomra municipalities partnered to establish and manage the plastic box factory”, the Embassy statement said, adding that “USAID is now training persons from both villages to become the technical trainers for the factory.”

Amr also visited Al Jadida School for Girls in Tripoli, one of 38 public schools that the Ministry of Education selected to be renovated first under the Developing Rehabilitation Assistance to Schools And Teacher Improvement (D-RASATI) project.

D-RASATI is the largest basic education program in Lebanon with a budget of $75 million funded by USAID. Under the leadership of the Ministry of Education, D-RASATI aims to improve student achievement in all public schools in Lebanon.

It develops children’s learning environments by repairing and equipping schools; enhances the skills of Lebanon’s public school teachers through in-service training; engages Lebanese students in extra-curricular activities; and stimulates increased parental and community involvement in their children’s schools.

Hady Amr has served as Deputy Assistant Administrator for the Middle East at USAID since October 2010. He is a policy analyst and author known for his work in the area of U.S. relations with the Arab world and on the Arab-Israeli conflict, Lebanon, Jordan, and the economic and social development of the Arab World.

From 2006 to 2010, he served as a fellow at the Brookings Institution's Saban Center for Middle East Policy and is the founding director of the Brookings Doha Center in Qatar. In 2010, he also served as Senior Advisor in the Office of Policy at the Department of Homeland Security.