By APP
Islamabad : The United Kingdom’s Department for International Development (DFID) Friday announced to provide an additional US$2 million to support stronger local government institutions in the earthquake-affected areas.
The funds will be channelled through UNDP’s project Building Enabling Governance and Institutions for Earthquake Response (BEGIN-ER).
A signing ceremony was held at the UNDP office to mark the occasion in the presence of David Taylor, Deputy Head of DFID Pakistan and Alvaro Rodriguez, Resident Representative UNDP.
This latest contribution from the UK is part of DFID’s ongoing support to the earthquake affected areas, having already provided $3.66 million towards this initiative. In total, DFID has given around $112 million for earthquake relief and has committed $140 million for reconstruction over three years.
“The UK has been a front-line supporter of the efforts of the Government of Pakistan since the earthquake struck,” commented David Taylor. “We are proud to be an ongoing partner supporting this critical programme.”
Taylor said, “we believe the people of Pakistan need ownership of the decisions made on their behalf by elected representatives and that this programme will help effect real change in this area.”
Earlier in 2007, DFID’s support enabled the project to upscale its activities from five selected districts to the entire (nine districts) earthquake affected area. Prefabricated office structures, along with necessary equipment and furniture were distributed successfully to recipient government departments in need of office space. This latest funding will allow the project to meet additional demands of the local government and other institutions.
Alvaro Rodriguez, Resident Representative said, DFID’s contribution has made it possible for UNDP to upscale the project in the earthquake affected areas.
“The project has already made an impact on the service delivery in the affected region, as is acknowledged by the government officials and other recipients of the project support,” he added.
“BEGIN-ER is a US$ 10.37 million project, out of which a generous amount has been provided by DFID and we are thankful for their timely support,” he said.
The devastating human and physical loss resulting from the earthquake means that it is vital to build up people’s skills in the affected area alongside the physical restoration of roads and bridges. And it is the local government institutions at the district, tahsil and union council levels who are key players in the reconstruction and rehabilitation process.
The BEGIN-ER project has been operational in the earthquake affected areas since August 2006 and has been providing support to the Governments of NWFP and AJK.
The project aims at providing support to local government institutions to function again quickly and have technical capacities to plan and implement disaster response activities through a transparent, equitable and participatory process. The project has also assisted in building capacity of local government officials, elected representatives and civil society through district level workshops on disaster management and disaster risk reduction.