Grassroots Human Security Grant Aid for Afghanistan

October 25, 2004

1. The Government of Japan has decided to extend grant assistance for grassroots human security projects of 1,801,362 US dollars (198,149,820 yen) in total to Afghanistan for the purpose of contributing to the implementation of the "Project for Greater Sarobi Rehabilitation Program in Kabul Province" and the "Project for Sayed Abad Development Program in Wardak Province." The grant contracts were signed on Sunday, October 24 at the Embassy of Japan in Afghanistan between Ambassador of Japan to Afghanistan Norihiro Okuda and the recipient organizations.
2. After experiencing over two decades of civil war, the peace process and reconstruction of Afghanistan based on the Bonn Agreement of December 2001 have been advancing. Former refugees and internally displaced persons are still returning home both from within and outside Afghanistan, many of whom are residents of the project sites to which the Government of Japan will be providing this aid. However, since these regions were battlefields during the civil war, all the irrigation, education, water supply and other facilities essential to agriculture, the main industry of the region, are seriously damaged, as are the infrastructures necessary for daily living. Although the Government of Afghanistan is fully aware of the need for reconstruction and development of its districts, it has not been able to allocate sufficient funds to the budget for this purpose due to tight financial conditions.
3. At the same time, there is an increasing need to enhance the steady implementation of assistance ranging from humanitarian assistance that will support the lives of the region's residents in the immediate future to "community building" and "nation building" as the humanitarian and reconstruction assistance by Japan and the international community is being advanced. Such assistance is also important from the perspective of "consolidation of peace" and "human security" which is actively promoted by Japan in Afghanistan. The two projects to which Japan will provide aid this time reflect the concept of human security which Japan is promoting. They aim to consolidate peace in Afghanistan while striving for the recovery of the communities and to establish peace in the region through capacity building of its people. These projects are expected to promote the return of refugees and internally displaced persons as well as resettlement of the returnees, develop the educational environment and basic infrastructures, advance economic independence of the residents through agricultural assistance and vocational training, and create employment and income earning opportunities.
4. This grant aid is to be implemented as part of the humanitarian and reconstruction assistance which the Government of Japan announced at the International Conference on Afghanistan which was held in March 2004.

(Note)

1. "The Project for Greater Sarobi Rehabilitation Program in Kabul Province"
   This project will construct classrooms, water supply facilities and roads in the Sarobi District located in the mountainous region of Kabul Province as well as restore the irrigation facilities and implement vocational training. The amount of grant aid to be provided is 907,747 US dollars (99,852,170 yen), and the recipient organization is the Independent Humanitarian Service Association, an NGO in Afghanistan.
2. "The Project for Sayad Abad Development Program in Wardak Province"
   This project will construct shelter homes for returnees, classrooms, roads, drainage system and water supply facilities in the Sayd Abad District located in the plains of Wardak Province as well as restore and construct irrigation facilities and implement vocational training. The amount of grant aid to be provided is 893,615 US dollars (98,297,650 yen), and the recipient organization is the local office of the ZOA Refugee Care, an international NGO.