Ambassador FUKUSHIMA Isao et Dominique Ndagijimana exchange signed documents
Mr. FUKUSHIMA Isao, Ambassador of Japan to Rwanda, and Mr. NDAGIJIMANA Dominique, Co-Founder of Friends of Handicap in Rwanda, signed a grant contract for the Project for the Extension of Kayonza Deaf Blind School.
Under the framework of Japan’s Grant Assistance for Grassroots Human Security Project (GGP/KUSANONE), the Government of Japan will provide eighty-eight thousand eight-hundred and forty-eight US dollars (USD 88,849) to build a special school for children with visual and/or hearing impairments consisting of two (2) dormitory rooms, four (4) classrooms, fourteen (14) shower with toilet rooms, six (6) toilet rooms, and one (1) reading space.
Additionally, the rooms will be equipped with bed frames and mattresses for one-hundred and twenty (120) students, desks and chairs for one-hundred (100) students and five (5) teachers, five (5) whiteboards, and five (5) shelves. As Friends of Handicap in Rwanda is already running a special school on the same site, the school will accommodate approximately one-hundred and twenty (120) children in total and will enable them to receive long-term education according to their stage of learning.
During the ceremony, Ambassador FUKUSHIMA highlighted the importance of equal access to education regardless of disabilities which is a crucial factor of Human Security. Human Security is a guiding principle of Japan’s development assistance and it focuses on protecting the lives, freedom, and quality of life of individuals, aiming for a society where all people can live with dignity.
Under the GGP program, the Government of Japan provides grants to local and international NGOs, educational institutions, health institutions and local authorities for their development projects at the grassroots level. The Program has 35 years of history across the world in the fields of water, agriculture, health, sanitation as well as education. Japan will continue its efforts to support and work with the population at the grassroots level in collaboration with the Government of Rwanda as well as NGOs. (End)