Kathmandu: Japan has granted USD 7.7 million
to help Nepal reduce poverty and child malnutrition.
The Japan Fund for Poverty Reduction has granted the
amount for three projects which will be administered by the
Asian Development Bank (ADB).
The ADB has teamed up with the government of Japan and
government of Nepal to help reduce child malnutrition, develop
new livelihood opportunity for the poor and provide greater
access to clean energy for poor rural woman through the grant
assistance, Manila-based bank said in a statement.
"ADB is very much pleased to work with the governments of
Nepal and Japan on these projects which are targeted at
benefiting the most vulnerable and often excluded groups in
Nepalese society, women, children and extremely poor," said
Barry Hitchcock, ADB`s Country Director for Nepal while
launching the projects in Kathmandu yesterday.
The first project - "Reducing Child Malnutrition through
Social Protection" - will help Nepal improve planning and
delivery of its social protection programme aiming to enhance
effectiveness in the delivery of recently released child
grants so as to contribute to the reducing the country`s
stubbornly high levels of child malnutrition, ADB said.
The Support for Target and Sustainable Development
Programme for Highly Marginalised Groups project will provide
assistance to develop livelihood opportunities and improve
income in some of Nepal`s most disadvantaged communities.
The third project Improving Gender Inclusive Access to
Clean and Renewable Energy in Bhutan Nepal and Sri Lanka
Project will promote greater access to clean energy for poor
rural women in South Asia.
In his remarks Japanese Ambassador to Nepal Tatsuo Mizuno
said despite the heart breaking incidents of earthquake and
tsunami in Japan that claimed at least 15,000 lives, Japan
government will continue to provide support to Nepal
government in various areas including poverty alleviation.
Responding to the media reports regarding the
controversial Chinese NGO (APEC Foundation)`s plan to provide
USD 3 billion assistance to develop Lumbini area, the birth
place of Lord Buddha, Mizuno said "development of Lumbini
should be implemented steadily and carefully in close
coordination with all stakeholders including Asian Development
Bank and local people of the area.
"Japan has been fully supporting the development of
Lumbini," the master plan of which was drawn by world famous
Japanese architect Kenzo Tange in 1978, he said.
PTI
