By Ajmal Khan Yousafzai
The Government of Japan has decided to provide grant assistance up to US$149,827 (Equivalent to around 24.3 million PKR) to two development projects for local communities in Pakistan. The projects will be implemented by two organizations: SESWA and Pakistan Red Crescent Society (PRCS).
The both grant contracts signed on March 4, 2021 between H.E. MATSUDA Kuninori, Ambassador of Japan to Pakistan and representatives of the two organizations at the Japanese Ambassador’s residence in Islamabad. The SESWA will receive the grant of US$58,928 (Equivalent to around 9.6 million PKR) to install solar panels in the school run by the organization in District Swabi, Khyber Pakhtunkhwa. Since its establishment in 1990, the organization has been working in the fields of education, health, and infrastructure development. Power outages often happen in Pakistan due to lack of electricity during which students at the school have to learn under a bad illumination level. Through this project, the school will be able to provide more than 1,000 students with better educational environment even during the power outage.
The PRCS will receive the grant of US$90,899 (Equivalent to around 14.7 million PKR) to be utilized for fully equipped five ambulances, transportation from Japan to Pakistan, and training of PRCS staffs in order to improve the operational and outreach capacity of the organization in emergency circumstances. The provided ambulances will be placed at Red Crescent Corona Care Hospital Rawalpindi and help in enhancing the quality of life-saving services.
H.E. MATSUDA Kuninori, while speaking at the signing ceremony, congratulated the organizations for winning the grants from the Japanese government for their respective projects. H.E. MATSUDA Kuninori expressed his hope that these development projects would contribute to meeting basic human needs and improving the living standards in Pakistani societies. He also hoped that the two projects would further strengthen the existing friendly relationship between the people of Japan and Pakistan.
