Three new Japanese-funded projects to be opened

On 19 and 20 August the Japanese Embassy in Georgia will hold project openings in Batumi, Poti and Japana village in western Georgia.

In the village of Urekhi a boarding school will be opened. The Project for the Establishment of a Boarding School for Deaf-Mute Children in the Adjara Autonomous Republic formed part of the Grassroots and Human Security Grant Assistance Programme provided by the Government of Japan. The grant agreement for the above-mentioned project was concluded on 12 October 2005 between the Embassy of Japan and the Black Sea Eco-Academy. The opening ceremony of the new school, which will serve approximately 100 western Georgian children annually, will be attended by H.E. Masayoshi Kamohara, Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary of Japan to Georgia, and representatives of the local authority, as will the other two openings. The project has cost 91,919 USD.

Kindergarten No 1 in Poti, will be reopened after being rehabilitated under a Grassroots and Human Security Grant Assistance Programme project. The grant agreement for this project was concluded on 19 November 2008 between the Embassy of Japan and the Self-Governed Poti Pre-School Educational Association. It aims to improve the learning conditions of children at the kindergarten and enable more children to gain preschool education through its rehabilitation. The number of children attending the kindergarten has increased from 100 to 150 thanks to the rehabilitation work, which cost 87,995 USD.

The third opening ceremony will be held at the Farmers Cooperative in Japana village. The grant agreement for the Project for the Improvement of Farmers’ Cooperative in Japana Village in Lanchkhuti District, was concluded on 3 July 2008 between the Embassy of Japan and the Georgian Mountain Federation. The aim of the project is to improve the Japana village Farmers Cooperative by providing agricultural machinery and constructing a park and an animal food production unit. Approximately 110 households in Japana village and 1,033 households in other villages will benefit from this project, which cost 84,926 USD.

Grassroots and Human Security Grant Assistance Programme grants are provided for relatively small-scale projects undertaken by municipalities, medical institutions, academic institutes and NGOs which aim to improve the living standards of Georgian people suffering from hardship. Such projects might be implemented in the field of public health, medicine, elementary and secondary education, social protection and environment, poverty reduction and increase of income. The Programme started in 1998 and so far 84 projects worth 5,641,072 USD have been implemented under it in Georgia. Japan’s total Official Development Assistance to Georgia amounts to 150.4 million USD and funds improvements in a wide range of areas such as economic infrastructure, the agricultural sector, the social sector, the cultural field and human resources development.