An organisation representative signs an MoU. Photo supplied
The Japanese government has agreed to provide $852,189 for two organisations under the framework “The Grant Assistance for Japanese NGO Projects”. The grant is for promoting community health, sanitation and hygiene, and for raising awareness of environment issues in Cambodia.
The contract was signed on March 9 between ambassador of Japan Masahiro Mikami, and representatives from World Vision Japan (WVJ) and Nature Centre Risen (NCR).
The first organisation to receive the grant is WVJ under the integrated Health, Nutrition and WASH (Water, Sanitation and Hygiene) Project in Preah Vihear (Year 2) that has a budget of $760,341.
The second organisation is NCR via the realisation of sustainable life environment around Cambodians through promoting and raising awareness of environment issues (Year 1) that has a budget of $91,848.
The ambassador said that through the project, WVJ will continue to conduct maternal health training for health workers and village health support groups. As well as training on awareness raising about nutrition for maternal support groups, and continue to build a clean water supply system. The project will start creating a “community health nutrition box” in the target area and implement a community cleanup campaign from this year onwards.
“I would like to express my respect for WVJ’s contribution to promote nutrition and hygiene over the years. I also hope that the nutritional and health status of children will improve and that people in the community will be able to access safe water through this project,” Mikami said.
For the project by NCR, it would implement activities to promote and increase fundamental environmental awareness across Cambodia by creating educational materials to improve environmental literacy for Cambodians. The project also provides various tools for research observation of the environment and implementing training for environmental education by Japanese coaches.
“I would like to express my respect for the dedication and contribution of Nature Centre Risen in awareness raising activities to increase fundamental environmental awareness across Cambodia. I also hope that through this project, Cambodians of all ages will understand the importance of caring for the environment, which will improve the living environment in the whole country,” he said.
The ambassador noted that recently Cambodia has been developing rapidly. But there are still challenges that need to be addressed, such as poverty reduction and social development, including the health sector and education to improve the quality of life.
According to the Embassy of Japan, the grant started in Cambodia in 2002 to support the activities of Japanese NGOs to help Cambodia’s reconstruction and development at the grassroots level. Since 2002, the Japanese government has provided more than $45 million for 138 projects, mainly in the field of primary education, health, agriculture and mine clearance activities in Cambodia.
