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Canada puts $37 million into literacy, education aid programs

Source
CBC News

The federal government unveiled 11 new international development projects  to tackle illiteracy and education issues.

International Cooperation Minister Bev Oda outlined $37 million in funding for projects in 13 developing countries, including eight on education, one on health and two to fight child trafficking and sex tourism.

Two projects in Afghanistan get a third of the cash, with $2.3 million going to Save the Children to help transition out-of-school children back into their age-appropriate grade levels, and $10 million to the World University Service of Canada to set up a national system for accrediting teachers.

The World Braille Foundation is getting $400,000 over two years to set up resource centres for blind and visually impaired girls and boys in Burkina Faso, Mali, Liberia and Lesotho.

Malawi and Ethiopia are both getting literacy funding, including support for student teachers, while Costa Rica and Jordan are getting a combined $750,000 over two years to do training for law enforcement and tourism industry workers on child sex tourism.

The biggest individual contribution is to Save the Children, with $15 million over five years to help with health and education in Bolivia, Peru, Nicaragua, Burkina Faso and Kenya.

The projects all start this year. The funding was previously announced, but hadn't been attached to projects.