USAID Administrator Rajiv Shah Visits EDC Projects in Sudan

Shah is interviewed by SRS (top), and takes part in a radio lesson (bottom)

Rajiv Shah, administrator for the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID), last week toured EDC’s new radio station in Juba, southern Sudan. EDC Chief of Party Jon Newstrom briefed Shah about the Sudan Radio Service (SRS) and its reach, plans for sustainability, and the fact that SRS is the first station to broadcast weather information, with the data posted online, as a resource for agriculture. SRS journalist Hellen Samuel conducted an interview with Shah, who answered calls from listeners.

During the visit, Shah also met with 20 children and their teacher from the P2 class at the Rainbow School, who gathered in the station’s classroom to demonstrate two segments of a lesson from EDC’s Southern Sudan Interactive Radio Instruction (SSIRI) program. The first segment was about making polite requests such as, “May I have your pen?” The second segment was about subtraction using bundles of ten. After the lesson, Shah talked with the teacher and students, asking if they had any questions. One child put up her hand and asked, “May I have your pen, please?”