46 Non-Governmental Organisations NGOs) in the country have recieved grants totaling $352, 696 from the United States.
The grant is to fund small community-based development projects as part of the efforts to improve the conditions of people within towns and villages.
The grant award was presented to represntatives of the NGOs by Charge d’ Affairs of the US Mission in Nigeria, Maria Brewer.
Brewer, in her remarks during the US Ambassador’s Small Grants Signing ceremony in Abuja yesterday, said that the grants represent the US Mission’s continued commitment to investing in Nigeria’s people, which complements the wonderful and creative work which the NGOs do in their communities.
“For two decades, the US Mission in Nigeria, through our small grants program, has partnered with local non-governmental organizations throughout the country to fund small community-based development projects that include significant local contribution in land, labor, capital and expertise,” she said.
The US Ambassador Small Grants Program, Brewer said receives support from Special Self-Help Program through the Department of State and from the US president Emergency Plan for Aids Relief (PEPFAR).
she explained that “through these programs, we try to respond to requests for small, community-based development projects to improve the living conditions of the people.”
These projects she insisted will assist Nigerian children to access educational facilities and acquire new skills. This includes the construction of classrooms and classroom furniture, purchase of library books and installation of sporting facilities.
Other projects will construct community pharmacy; provide clean water health facilities and agriculture facilities.
The PEPFAR Small grants focuses on community- initiative for welfare of Children living with or affected by the HIV/AIDS.
One of the grantees, Mohammed Bolori of the Future Prowess Islamic Foundation, an NGO based in Maiduguri, Borno state, which provides education for orphans and vulnerable children, lauded the US efforts stressing that it will strengthen their resolve to improve the lives of orphans in the state.
“We have more children out of school than any state of the country plus the insurgence. Many parents were killed and a lot of children have become orphans and they cannot go to school. That motivated us to provide free education.
He added that the school is providing both the Islamic and western education in order to fight illiteracy and misconception, which he blamed for the radicalization of the people of the state.
Representative of the Tabitha Cumi Foundation in Abuja, Mrs Tayo Erinle, said that about 1500 women and children will benefit from her NGO which is to complete the construction of health clinic and equipping it to support maternal and child health and prevention of mother-to child transmission of HIV. She added that the NGO will collaborate with the Bwari Area Council to sustain the project.
Sources: News Feed
