Assistance by the United Nations Trust Fund for Human Security to the project “Support child friendly environment through community participation in the Democratic Republic of the Congo”

November 28, 2007

On the 28th of November (Wednesday), the Government of Japan and the United Nations (UN) decided to extend assistance totalling 1,245,357.08 US dollars (approximately 144.46 million yen), through the Trust Fund for Human Security to a project entitled “Support child friendly environment through community participation in the DRC” that will be implemented by the United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF) and the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO) in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC).
Prolonged conflict and political instability increased the number of internally displaced persons in Kinshasa and Bas-Congo provinces of the DRC, which causes serious problem, including increase of infant and child mortality rate and the number of HIV positive people, high under-nourishment, difficulty in accessibility to potable water and hygienic toilets. This project aims to build a child-friendly environment, especially in education, health and water and sanitation, through empowerment of people and communities in Kinshasa and Bas-Congo provinces. Under this project the following activities will be implemented:

Improvement of opportunity for education of children through activities, including donation of teaching and learning material, training on management of caregivers and parents’ committee;
Increase access to safe water and sanitation through activities, including establishment and training of management of hygiene committee, provision of hygiene education material, training teachers on hygiene education;
Improvement of food security and economic status through training of teachers’ and parents’ committee on agricultural technique establishment, provision of basic agriculture equipments;
Improvement of knowledge and awareness on reduction of child mortality through activities, including education through Radio, TV and dramas and plays, developing and distributing of visual educational materials, training of key persons such as community health workers, parents’ and teachers’ committee on the aspect of nutrition.

The Government of Japan is, together with this project, implementing the project focusing on the construction / rehabilitation component in the DRC through UNICEF by the Community Empowerment Grant. Collaboration of these two projects is expected to implement more effective assistance and improve the living condition of 103 thousand people in the two provinces of the DRC.

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