Japanese Aid pgm needs applicants

A Japanese-funded grassroots development initiative targeting education and healthcare for the mother and child is being held back by the falling number of applications from beneficiaries.

An official at the Embassy of Japan in Harare told The Zimbabwean that in the current financial year ending in March, the JapanGrant Assistance for Grassroots Human Projects had funded six initiatives worth $600,000. Masashi Ida, who is in charge of the programmes, is disappointed that the embassy has been unable to do more. There a cap of $100,000 per project.

“We want to increase the number of projects we fund but the applications we receive each year have been decreasing for one reason or the other. On our part we don’t propose projects but we accept applications and assess the content of the proposal after visiting the site,” Ida said in a recent interview.

The projects funded this year include a waiting shelter for expecting mothers in Mt Darwin, classroom blocks for a secondary school in Tsholotsho and a Primary School in Bubi, a sewage facility in Binga, a gymnasium at Hillside Teachers College and an eye clinic in Norton.

There is a crippling shortage of similar facilities in countless schools and health centres throughout the country, making the decreasing number of applications all the more astonishing.

Ida added that the embassy accepts applications from NGOs, members of society and even parliamentarians.

“It all depends on the project content. We are not working with politicians but the grassroots. If a member of parliament comes up with a project proposal for grassroots development we will consider it.

We accept applications throughout the year,” he said.

Post published in: Education

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