Japan finances community projects in Yemen with US$1.5 million

SANA’A, April 03 (Saba)- Japan has provided a total of 18 local public entities and non-government organizations (NGOs) in Yemen with an aggregate amount of US$1.5 million to finance small-scale, community-based development projects.

In a press release, the Japanese embassy in Sana’a said on Saturday that these projects were financed during the Japanese fiscal year 2009 (April 1, 2009 to March 31, 2010), under its Grassroots Human Security Grant assistance Program.

‘’These 18 Japanese grants were extended to the NGOs, the local authorities, the health and education offices, hospitals and schools in 11 governorates of Yemen’’, the embassy mentioned.

‘’The grants were used to support projects such as constructing, expanding and rehabilitating schools, provide medical equipments and installations, procure ambulances, buses and training equipments to the disabled children associations, improve the water supply systems in the rural areas and so on’’.

The embassy added that the Grass-Roots Scheme was designed to meet the basic human needs in Yemen, such as ‘’primary health care, basic education, water supply, poverty relief and environment, in order to lift the living condition in the grass-roots level’’.

‘’The series of projects resulted in encouraging more students particularly females to go to schools, providing better quality medical services particularly for mothers and children, and supplying drinking water in wider areas’’.

The scheme has an excellent reputation during the last 10 years in Yemen as the grants reached directly to local communities and were disbursed timely in need.

With the beginning of the fiscal year 2010, the Japanese embassy would like to invite local NGOs and public entities in governorates and districts to apply for the grassroots Human Security Grant Assistance Program, by sending to the Embassy a specific form of funding request for approximately US$100,000 per project.

YA