US grants 75mn to NGOs, CIGs

Written by By Benedict J. Ndinwa, Standard Tribune Reporter

Friday, 25 December 2009 13:42

YAOUNDe—The US embassy in Yaounde has offered around CFA 75

Million to several NGOs and Common Initiative Groups to fund poverty alleviation and human rights defense projects around the country.

The awards were made here last week within the framework of two schemes: Special-Self Help program (SSH) and the embassy’s Democracy and Human Rights Fund (DHRF).

Ambassador Janet Garvey chaired the ceremony at the US emembassy.

This year’s SSH awards are planned to fund 12 projects in seven Cameroonian regions. The grants will support water supply, sanitation, and social assistance projects. The 2009 SSH awards total US Dollars 95000(about 44, 270,000)

Beneficiaries of this year’s SSF grants include GIC Zoumounta for the building of two classrooms in the Adamawa, Association Health Helps for the completion of two class rooms in the Littoral, EBAVIDER to construct a bridge in the South West among many others.

DHRF grants were awarded to Cameroon Youths and Students Forum for Peace (CAMYOSFOP), La Bonne Conscience and the Association for the Promotion of Women and Children (APWAC). Each of these organizations work in the area of promoting human rights and improving civil society in Cameroon. The 2009 DRHF awards total US Dollars 65,234(about30, 399,044).

Since 1983, U.S. ambassadors to Cameroon have funded small community projects in the 10 regions using the SSH program. So far, the grants have helped build schools, footbridges, and wells among many other small-scale community development projects.

Under the SSH program, local communities apply for support for a specific project tailored to improve their living conditions. Members of the community agree to provide labour, materials, or some other contribution to the project, ensuring a high level of community investment and participation.

The DHRF provides assistance through grants to indigenous organizations that implement short-term, highly-targeted activities designed to achieve measurable results in the realms of human rights democratic institutions.

On behalf of all the recipients, the Chair of ‘La Bonne Conscience’, Garga Ahaman Adji, thanked Garvey and her government for their support to the improvement of living standards of Cameroonians through relentless efforts in the fight against human rights.

The grants award coincided with celebrations to mark world day of the fight against human rights which held this year under the theme ’Embrace Diversity, End Discrimination’.