The government of the Republic of Japan through United Nations agencies has donated over Shs29.6bn to support refugees and the Karamoja sub-region.
Addressing the press at Uganda Media Centre on Tuesday, the Minister for Relief, Disaster Preparedness and Refugees, Hillary Onek said the funds from Japan will help to support; activities for refugees and host communities including Covid-19 effects and challenges, promoting Nutrition in Karamoja, and mitigation of the impact of climate changes, in addition to the empowerment of Women and Girls affected by disasters.
“I am honoured to witness this important event of the support from the Japanese Government to Uganda for refugees and the Karamoja Sub-Region. Uganda is a host to over 1,532,168 million refugees as of 31 March 2023 that are in dire need of humanitarian and development support. Karamaoja Sub-Region is also severely affected by Climate Change, a situation that needs continuous mitigation measures and relief therefore this fund has come in time,” he said.
According to Onek, in the last two years, the Japanese government has always donated money to support a lot of humanitarian activities taking place in Uganda.
“In the last two years, the government of Japan has sunk over USD13million (USD9.8M in 2021 and USD3.3M in 2022) as funding assistance to Uganda, through UN Agencies including UNHCR, WFP, UN Women, UNICEF, UNFPA, IOM, UNDP and IFPRI,” the Minister said, adding, “This year alone, on this particular occasion, we are witnessing an additional USD7.9M (29.6bn Uganda Shillings) from the Government of Japan, still channelled through UN Agencies.”
Meanwhile, the donated funds have been channelled through; USD3M to United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR), USD2.5M to World Food Program (WFP), USD1M to United Nations International Children’s Emergency Fund (UNICEF), USD500,000 to Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO), USD723,500 to United Nation Women (UN Women).
“On behalf of the Government of Uganda, I would like to take this opportunity to thank the Government of Japan through the Ambassador of Japan in Uganda for the generosity exhibited towards supporting the refugee community and support for the Karamajo sub-region this year again. We are grateful for Japan’s cooperation in creating a resilient society, despite being affected by a variety of current global situations and climate change,” Onek said.
Speaking to the press, the Ambassador of Japan to Uganda His Excellency, Fukuzawa Hidemoto said Japan has been contributing continuously to the Government of Uganda to provide humanitarian support and emergency responses in an untimely manner.
“This year through a supplementary budget the government of Japan committed USD13M to support refugees and host communities as well as vulnerable populations in Karamoja Sub-Region with a strong focus on nutrition and food security, Primary Health Care, Gender Equality, including protecting women from sexual gender-based violence and accountability. This commitment runs through over a period of one year from April 2023-March 2024,” he said.
According to Mr Hidemoto, this year’s commitment will enhance the newly launched settlement transformation agenda II which is supported by the Japan Internation Cooperation Agency (JICA) and the Office of the Prime Minister (OPM) to protect vulnerable people. “It is a great opportunity to show how we have been working together over decades.”
“In order to overcome the vulnerability of food and nutrition insecurity, we a government of Japan will work closely with UN Agencies to support sustainable localized food security including livelihood enhancement,” he said.
Meanwhile this year the project will start from Northern areas such as Adjumani, and Karamoja and also in the Southern West areas such as Kisoro.
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