ISLAMABAD:Government of Japan and Japan International Cooperation Agency (JICA) signed an Exchange of Note and a Grant Agreement with United Nations Human Settlements Programme, UN-Habitat for the Improvement of Disaster Resilient School Infrastructure in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, Pakistan with a grant funding of Japanese Yen 471,000,000.
Signing ceremony was held at Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Tokyo, Japan on between Atsushi Koresawa, Regional Representative for Asia and the Pacific of UN-Habitat and HE. Mr. Kuninori Matsuda, the Ambassador of Japan. The Grant Agreement was signed by Mr. Koresawa and Mr. Takema Sakemoto Director General, South Asia Department of Japan International Cooperation Agency (JICA), according to a report released on Friday.
The Project is to promote resilience of educational infrastructure through construction and rehabilitation of disaster resilient schools and provision of disaster resilience training to contribute to the implementation of the Sendai Framework aiming to reduce lives lost, number of people affected, and economic damage from natural disasters and ultimately contribute to human security.
The project will undertake retrofitting and repairing of 150 schools and construction of 15 new school buildings, improvement in sanitation and hygiene facilities in schools and capacity building of relevant institutions in earthquake affected areas of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa. The project is scheduled to commence in October 2020 and complete in September 2023. The Project will be implemented by UN Habitat, Pakistan office in collaboration with Elementary and Secondary Education Department, Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (KP), JICA office of Pakistan and other stakeholders. The target areas of KP include Chitral, Upper Dir, Lower Dir, Buner, Swat, Peshawar and Malakand.