As part of the Non-Refundable Financial Assistance in Partnerships with Japanese NGOs, Japan's Ambassador to Haiti Mitsuaki Mizumo signed a grant contract last week with Ms. Miho Hayashi, the representative of Japan. Japanese NGO Peace Winds Japan, for an amount of US$657,730 to implement the "Strengthening the Community Resilience Capacity for Natural Disasters in the Southern Department of Haiti" project.

Being an insular, volcanic country located in an earthquake zone, Japan intends in this project to share the maximum of its experiences and skills acquired through the Japanese NGO Peace Winds Japan, which has a rich experience in the implementation risk management projects both in Japan and in other foreign countries.

This project aims to strengthen the disaster risk management capacity at the municipal level in the South Department, through technical training on construction methods for buildings resistant to major natural hazards as well as raising awareness of the department's populations on the preparation and the adequate reactions during a natural disaster.

It should be noted that all projects carried out with Japanese funding necessarily follow a process of outcome evaluation, monitoring and auditing in order to ensure the transparency of project management.

IH/ iciHaiti