Supporting "Girl's Development and Education" Project in the Democratic Republic of Congo

September 30, 2005

On September 30 (Friday), the Government of Japan and the United Nations (UN) decided to extend assistance of a total of 1,063,823.81 US dollars (approximately 114.89 million yen) through the Trust Fund for Human Security for the project "Girl's Development and Education" Project to be implemented by the United Nations Children's Fund (UNICEF) in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC).
The purpose of the project is to improve school access of children with special emphasis on girls in the provinces of Katanga, Eastern and Western Kasai, the provinces worst hit by the civil war in the DRC. The project includes the four activities as follows:
- Supporting approximately 150,000 children aged 0-8 years through community nurseries and pre-schools;
- Carrying out orientations for approximately 2,000 parents' committee members on early childhood development practices and sensitizing them on the importance of girls' education;
- Sustaining attendance and achievement levels for approximately 200,000 girls in formal and non-formal education structures;
- Training approximately 4,000 targeted teaching staff and educators to upgrade their skills through relevant curricula.
This project is expected to increase the enrolment rate of girls in primary schools as well as to meet the educational needs in war-affected regions in the DRC.

(Note)

The Trust Fund for Human Security was established in the United Nations Secretariat in March 1999 by the initiative of the Government of Japan, with total contributions of approximately 29 billion yen (approximately US$ 256 million) up to the present. The Trust Fund has assisted more than 130 UN agencies' projects and programmes that address various threats to human life, livelihood and dignity, from the perspective of human security.

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