Assistance for Information Communication in Vulnerable Communities in Afghanistan and Nine Countries in Africa

March 20, 2003

  1. On March 20 (Thursday), the Government of Japan and the United Nations (UN) decided to extend a total of 2,087,109.90-US dollar assistance through the Trust Fund for Human Security to the project "Integrated Regional Information networks (IRIN) Outreach Radio Project" to be implemented in Afghanistan and nine countries in Africa by the United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA).

  2. IRIN provides timely, accurate and impartial information from the field to enhance the capacity of the international community to respond better to emergencies via electronic mail. However, for the communities of refugees and internally displaced persons (IDPs) where there is no access to the internet or e-mail services, the radio remains the primary means of delivering information. The objective of this project is to enhance the capacities of these displaced and refugee communities to voice their problems and manage their own solutions to problems, to enhance human security by promoting human rights and humanitarian principles, and to support the development of impartial, independent media in Afghanistan, Angola, Burundi, Democratic Republic of the Congo, Guinea, Liberia, Somalia, Sudan, Sierra Leone and Uganda. Activities include promoting humanitarian principles and human rights through training and advocacy, enhancing the capacity of national radio journalists to deliver relevant, timely and impartial information, and supporting non governmental organizations (NGOs) engaged in grass-roots development to help them get their messages across.

  3. This project is expected to enhance the capacity of communities to address their own problems more appropriately through delivering high quality radio programs including information from IRIN.
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