Turnover Ceremony for “The Project for the Construction of Classrooms for Gambar Elementary School” under the Grant Assistance for Grassroots Human Security Project (GGP)

    On May 29, 2019, First Secretary Manabu Yasukawa of the Embassy of Japan attended the turnover ceremony in the municipality of Kabuntalan, Maguindanao for “The Project for the Construction of Classrooms for Gambar Elementary School.”
 
    The project was approved in 2013 and is part of Japan’s Official Development Assistance (ODA) through the Grant Assistance for Grassroots Human Security Projects (GGP).
 
    Minister Mohagher Iqbal of the Ministry of Basic, Higher and Technical Education (MBHTE), LGU officials, school teachers, parents and students also graced the event.
 
    For the past years, Gambar Elementary School had only two existing severely dilapidated classrooms being used by all of its students. This situation, in addition to the continued increase in the student enrollment, left the school with no choice but to employ a multi-grade teaching strategy. Evidently, students were having classes in congested and unsafe classrooms.
 
     In line with the Japan-Bangsamoro Initiatives for Reconstruction and Development (J-BIRD)*^1, and through the GGP, the Embassy of Japan provided assistance to the Local Government Unit of Kabuntalan with a grant amounting to One Hundred Nineteen Thousand Nine Hundred Seventy Five US Dollars (USD 119,975) or Four Million Six Hundred Seventy Nine Thousand and Twenty Five Pesos (PHP 4,679,025)^*2 to address the shortage of classrooms at Gambar Elementary School. The grant covered the construction of a one (1) storey six (6) classroom school building with the necessary school amenities which will directly benefit over 200 students of the school.
 
     The Government of Japan, as the top ODA donor for the Philippines, launched the Grant Assistance for Grassroots Human Security Projects in the Philippines in 1989 for the purpose of reducing poverty and helping various communities engage in grassroots activities. Japan believes that these projects will not only strengthen the friendship between the peoples of Japan and the Philippines but also contribute in sustaining the strategic partnership between the two countries.
 
 
Note*1: Since 2006, Japan has been intensively implementing the Grant Assistance for Grassroots Human Security Projects and other ODA projects for conflict affected areas in Mindanao, collectively called J-BIRD (Japan-Bangsamoro Initiative for Reconstruction and Development). Their total amount is over 200 million US Dollars. Furthermore, when former President Aquino made a state visit to Japan in June 2015, Japanese Prime Minister Mr. Shinzo Abe expressed at their summit meeting his support for the efforts by the Government of the Philippines to secure enduring peace in Mindanao, and stated that the Government of Japan will promote J-BIRD II in view of the establishment of a new autonomous political entity.
 
Note^*2: Grant Amount: USD 119, 975.00; Dollar Rate: 1 USD = PHP 39 (June 2013)