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Nigeria, others to benefit from Japan’s $5.2m support for UNIDO projects

By Femi Adekoya
11 April 2018   |   4:10 am
Nigeria and seven other countries are expected to benefit from $5.2 million contribution from the Government of Japan to support projects implemented by the United Nations Industrial Development Organization...

UNIDO Headquarters

Nigeria and seven other countries are expected to benefit from $5.2 million contribution from the Government of Japan to support projects implemented by the United Nations Industrial Development Organization (UNIDO) in the selected countries.Specifically, other beneficiaries include Ethiopia, Iraq, Jordan, Lebanon, Liberia, Somalia and the Syrian Arab Republic.

According to UNIDO, by supporting the self-help capacities for reconstruction of livelihoods of communities, whilst focusing on individual people and the respect for their identities, the projects will benefit women, youth, refugees and internally-displaced persons, who suffer from inequality, marginalization and exclusion.

In Nigeria, building on a previous project funded by the Government of Japan, the project aims to further improve senior secondary school education to enable students to start and manage micro and small businesses.

After the successful implementation of the project, training on trade and entrepreneurship will be included in the curriculum of all senior secondary schools in Nigeria.

The Permanent Representative of Japan to the International Organizations in Vienna, Ambassador Mitsuru Kitano, affirmed that the projects will “help individuals to live under healthy conditions, consolidate their livelihoods and with all of this gain optimism for their future.”He also expressed appreciation for “UNIDO’s role as a platform for partnership bringing together recipient countries, donor countries and the private sector.”

The project in Ethiopia will seek to improve water supply, public health and general environmental quality by introducing an innovative environmentally-friendly water sanitation system.

It also supports the Rural WASH Programme of the Government of Ethiopia, which includes the construction of 55,865 new water points and water supply schemes, and the rehabilitation of 20,010 existing schemes in rural areas by 2020.In Iraq, the project will introduce soft skills training coupled with technical training in the industrial, trade and agricultural secondary schools.

The project will increase the employability of the upcoming generation within the host community, refugees and internally-displaced persons.In Jordan, the project aims to improve social stabilization by enhancing economic resilience, through the employment of Jordanians from the host communities, and Syrian refugees, in the textile industry in Irbid and Mafraq.

This is achieved by designing and implementing a comprehensive training programme, which facilitates skills development for income generating activities in the region.

The project in Lebanon aims to create economic opportunities and jobs in the carpentry and construction sector, particularly among host and refugee communities in the northern areas of the country. Building upon previous interventions, the technical assistance focuses on delivering market-based wood and construction skills training based on the design of new training modules.

A project in Liberia, implemented in Bassa County, facilitates cooperation between the private sector and transnational corporations in the wood sector by targeting the high unemployment rates, especially among youth. Technical and vocational trainings are developed in collaboration with transnational corporations to increase the entrepreneurial skills of the local community.

A project will also be implemented in Somalia’s most recently established State, Hirshabelle. Civil war and clan-based conflict have had a profound and adverse impact on the productive capacity of all sectors of the economy. With the goal of contributing to community recovery, stability, economic growth, and preventing conflict, the project shifts the focus from humanitarian-based to sustainable development assistance by delivering technical and vocational skills training to address the nexus between youth unemployment and engagement in violent extremism.

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