India-UN Development Partnership Fund Approves New Projects for Belize, Chad, Liberia and Uruguay

New York, 23 February 2018 – The Board of Directors of the India-UN Development Partnership Fund approved today four projects to receive support from this facility:

• An infrastructure improvement project in Belize, which seeks to enhance educational opportunities and equip at-risk youth with job, leadership and citizenship skills, and also provide a safe space for recreation and fitness activities in the community of San Ignacio;
• A climate-response project in Chad to help restore degraded lands and enhance agricultural production systems, thereby contributing to the improvement of local communities’ livelihoods in the regions of Kanem and Lake Chad;
• An educational project in Liberia, which will build a facility dedicated to computer literacy training and reading skills development for children, as well as livelihood skills training for mothers;
• A governance project in Uruguay to enhance the government’s public services delivery management system through digital processing and monitoring tools.

Together these four projects represent a budget of $1.5 million, and exemplify the Southern-owned and led, demand-driven, people-centered sustainable development projects supported by the Fund.

“We are very grateful to India’s dedication to effective South-South assistance, and unwavering support for a tangible project for challenged youth that reflects a policy decision of the Government of Belize,” said H.E. Ms. Lois Michele Young, Permanent Representative of Belize to the United Nations.

India has a longstanding tradition of South-South cooperation with partner developing countries, especially Least Developing Countries and Small Island Developing States. The Fund, managed by the United Nations Office for South-South Cooperation (UNOSSC), was launched in June 2017 and has quickly developed an impressive portfolio ranging across varied thematic areas: climate resilience, improving maternal health, youth employment, agricultural development, and infrastructure. It is also facilitating reconstruction efforts in hurricanes-affected countries.

“I am confident this project will be highly impactful and transformational for children in Liberia,” commented H.E. Mr. Lewis Garseedah Brown II, Permanent Representative of Liberia to the United Nations in New York.

“Today’s approvals exemplify the India-UN Development Partnership Fund emphasis on improving the lives of peoples across the global South, directly impacting beneficiaries at partnering countries,” affirmed Jorge Chediek, Director, UNOSSC.