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 seventh signing ceremony for this Japanese fiscal year, and today three grant contracts for GGPs were signed.  They are for education, a water supply and health services.

First of all, I would like to express my sincere congratulations to our project partners from SNNPRS, Dire Dawa and Benishangul Gumuz Regional State.  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 Liqa School and the Sore Homba Primary School in the Wolaitta Zone, SNNPRS with funding of about USD 111,000.  Our project partner is the Wolaitta Development Association, represented here today by Ato Altaye Ayele, General Manager of the Association.  This education project aims to improve the educational environment of those two schools by constructing one school block with four classrooms and one dry pit latrine for each and having them fully furnished.

The Liqa School was established by the Wolaitta Development Association in Soddo town, Wolaitta Zone in 2007, funded by Japan’s grant-in-aid scheme for GGPs in JFY2005.  Then, the school was expanded to provide secondary education.  Half of the students are orphans, who enjoy free education together with students from poor families.  However, now the existing school facilities are not sufficient to meet the strong demand for secondary education in the Wolaitta Zone.

The Sore Homba Primary School was established in Sore Homba village, Boloso Sore Woreda in 2003 as the first primary school in the village.  Around 2,000 students study in 11 classrooms, and the number of students per class is over 90.  The overcrowded classrooms are causing a negative effect on the quality of education there.  These are the reasons why the Embassy of Japan decided to recommend this project to Tokyo for approval.

Through this project, about 160 students from poor families will be able to have secondary education at the Liqa School, and the number of students in each classroom at the Sore Homba Primary School will be reduced to 67.

The second project is to establish a water supply system in Dire Dawa with funding of about USD 110,000.  Our Project partner is the Local Development Agency, represented here today by Ato Shakir Ahmed Ali, Head of the Agency.  This project aims at improving access to potable water for residents by constructing a water reservoir and public water points in five urban and rural kebeles.

In Dire Dawa, a new social problem has come up recently, namely insufficient supply of water and poor water quality.  In the urban kebeles, the water supply is not sufficient due to a population increase and high population density.  On top of that, the residents with lower incomes cannot afford to pay the high water charges at private water points.  In the rural kebeles, people have difficulty in having safe and clean water due to the lack of infrastructure.  Poor water quality causes water-borne diseases among residents.  These are the reasons why the Embassy of Japan decided to recommend this project to Tokyo for approval.

This project will enable approximately 24,000 residents to enjoy better access to clean and safe water at lower charges.  It will alleviate the burden of fetching water especially for women and children.  As a result, they will be able to devote more time to income generating activities and education, which will in turn contribute to the economy of Dire Dawa.

The third project is to construct health posts in the Metekel Zone, Benishangul Gumuz Regional State with funding of about USD 111,000.  Our project partner is the Mothers and Children Multi-sectoral Development Organization, represented here today by Ato Eshetu Mengistu, Director General of the Organization.  This project aims to provide residents with essential medical services by constructing a health post with three rooms and a block of four latrines in each of the three woredas, namely Bullen, Dibate and Wonbera.  Furniture such as desks and chairs for patients will be provided for each health post as well.

In the Metekel Zone, people and animals have suffered from various types of diseases for a long time, caused by an unsanitary environment and a lack of safe drinking water.  In particular, a high incidence of malaria is one of the major social problems, leading to an economic stagnation in the region.  More seriously, there is no health post in the project areas, and the residents are forced to walk for more than four hours to reach the nearest health care facilities.  As a result, the lack of access to medical services hinders pregnant women from receiving proper prenatal medical examinations.  Hence, the mortality rate of pregnant women and new-born babies in the Metekel Zone is far higher than that of other communities.  These are the reasons why the Embassy of Japan decided to recommend this project to Tokyo for approval.

Through this project, around 7,380 residents in the project areas are expected to benefit.  I sincerely hope that the project would contribute to the economic and social development of the Zone through improved health conditions there.

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 of Ethiopia.

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 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.