Distinguished Guests,
Ladies and Gentlemen,

          Endemen Walachehu.

It is a most pleasant duty for me to sign grant contracts for grassroots human security projects (GGPs) with prominent project partners.  This is the sixth signing ceremony for this Japanese fiscal year, and today three grant contracts for GGPs were signed.  Two of them are education projects and one is for a water supply.

First of all, I would like to express my sincere congratulations to our project partners, three organizations from three regions.  They are all important and reliable partners for us in implementing grassroots projects in various parts of Ethiopia.

Now, I would like to introduce each project briefly.  The first project is for the expansion of the Wonka Primary School in Gozamin Woreda, Amhara Region with funding of about USD 107,000.  Our project partner is the Gozamin Woreda Education Office, represented here today by Ato Menweyelet Fasile, Head of the Education Office.  This education project aims to improve the learning environment for students by constructing two blocks with eight classrooms and having them fully furnished.

The Wonka Primary School is located 8 km away from Debre Markos, the major town in the Gozamin Woreda.  The school was founded in 1960 and is therefore old.  It currently has 1,089 students from grade one to eight.  They use 24 classrooms in six blocks.  However, the clay plaster has peeled off the walls, some windows are broken, and rain and wind easily come inside and often disturb the class throughout the year.  The school furniture is also worn out.  Such deterioration of buildings has caused health problems among students.  This is the reason why the Embassy of Japan decided to recommend this project to Tokyo for approval.

With this project, the educational environment will improve, and young students from the 1st to the 3rd grade will be able to study without worrying about health problems.

The second project is for the construction of a new primary school in Meti town, Godere Woreda, Gambella Region with funding of about USD 111,000.  Our project partner is the Gambella Orthodox Church Diocese, represented here today by Abba Teklehimanot, Archbishop of the Church. This project also aims to improve the educational environment by constructing two blocks with eight classrooms and a block of ten latrines.  School furniture such as combined desks and chairs and blackboards will be provided as well.

In Meti town, there was no school for a long time as conflicts broke out among different ethnic groups from time to time.  Hence, some children had no access to school, and others were forced to go to school far away with the result of high drop-out rates.  To cope with this situation, a full-cycle primary school was constructed in 2010 in the center of Meti town.  However, the school currently accommodates more than 4,000 students beyond its capacity.  The quality of education has been sacrificed due to the overcrowded classrooms.  More seriously, approximately 1,700 school-aged children in Meti town still do not have access to primary education.  These are the reasons why the Embassy of Japan decided to recommend this project to Tokyo for approval.

I sincerely hope that the project will contribute to the peace and security in the project area as a result of children from different ethnicities learning together in the same classroom.

The third project is to establish an irrigation system in the Kayane Kebele, Gode Woreda, Somali Region with funding of about USD 111,000.  Our project partner is the Association Develop Horn, represented here today by Ato Muhumed Ali Omar, Chairman of the Association.  This project aims at raising the productivity of the farming land in the Kayane Kebele by introducing an irrigation system.  This will improve food security and nutrition for the residents.

Gode is the second largest town in the Somali Region where more than 90% of the abundant arable land is unused.  The water resource of the Shebele River, one of the biggest rivers in the Gode Woreda, is not utilized.  As a result, the water supply is not sufficient, and no irrigation system is installed.  Despite the potential, the agricultural productivity in the project area remains the lowest in Ethiopia. The residents are affected by drought, which frequently hits the region.  They have to depend on food aid every year.  People in the agricultural cooperative in the Kayane Kebele make their living by livestock husbandry, which does not guarantee stable incomes. These are the reasons why the Embassy of Japan decided to recommend this project to Tokyo for approval.

The irrigation system will consist of water pumps, water tanks, sluice gates, a canal, and a culvert.  A total of about 1,440 agricultural cooperative members in the Kayane Kebele will benefit from this project.  On top of that, the production of crops with higher market values will enable them to obtain steady incomes, which will help improve their quality of life.

Ladies and Gentlemen,

It is gratifying for us that these projects will be managed by such respected partners in the coming months.  All of them will be significantly conducive to the empowerment of vulnerable and marginalized people in need and contribute to the economic and social development in rural areas.

Before I conclude, I would like to remind our project partners that these projects awarded this time should be implemented in a timely manner, with my staff in charge well informed of the progress and a change in plan, if any.  It is also critically important that the benefits of the project should be enjoyed by people in the respective local communities as this is one of the most significant characteristics of GGPs.

Amesegenalehu.