Japan aid supports community projects

THE Japanese government has provided $187,700 to two provinces for the installation of a small pipe water supply system and for constructing a school building under the framework of the Grant Assistance for Grassroots Human Security Projects (KUSANONE).

The water supply project on Koh Peam Reang in Prey Veng province has been granted a budget of $96,800.

The school building project for Khyoung Lower Secondary School in Preah Vihear province’s Chey Saen district has been granted a budget of $91,000.

At the signing ceremony, Japanese ambassador to Cambodia Mikami Masahiro said that for the first project, a water supply system will be constructed and approximately 9.6km of pipes for a water distribution network will be installed at Koh Peam Reang in Prey Veng.

He said most of the people living on the island have difficulty accessing safe drinking water and face health risks due to the lack of a clean water supply there.

“We expect that about 1,300 people will have access to clean and affordable water through this project. I sincerely hope that this project will lead to better sanitation and an improvement in the standard of living there,” Mikami added.

In the second project, a fully-furnished five-room school building with four toilets, a hand washing station and a water tank will be built at Khyoung Lower Secondary School.

Mikami said the building will benefit 210 students and nine teachers by improving the quality of their education and their learning environment.

According to the press release from the Japanese embassy, the Japanese government has provided over $63 million in grants primarily to local governments and non-governmental organisations in Cambodia to implement 640 KUSANONE projects throughout the country.

Separately on January 13, the Japanese embassy also provided $182,000 to the People’s Hope Japan (PHJ) through another grant assistance programme intended to be used for strengthening community healthcare in Kampong Cham province.

With this project, the embassy said the PHJ aims to reduce the underfive mortality rate and to promote children’s health through networking between health workers and health volunteers in communities.

The project also includes training nutritionists to advise the Village Health Support Group. They will do things like demonstrate to the community how to prepare nutritious meals with local ingredients.

The budget comes via the Grant Assistance for Japanese NGO programme which started in Cambodia in 2002 to support activities by Japanese NGOs to help Cambodia’s reconstruction and development efforts at the grassroots level.

Since 2002, the Japanese government has provided over $41 million in grants via this programme to 131 projects undertaken by Japanese NGOs in Cambodia – mainly in the fields of primary education, health, agriculture and demining.