Japanese Ambassador opens new kindergarten

On June 17 a new kindergarten was opened in Ruisi village in Kareli which has been founded as part of the Grassroots and Human Security Grant Assistance Programme of the Government of Japan. The opening ceremony was attended by H.E. Mr. Masayoshi Kamohara, Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary of Japan to Georgia, and representatives of the local authority.

“It is a great pleasure for me to be able to participate in this opening ceremony today on behalf of the Government and people of Japan, and I would also like to express my heartfelt gratitude to all the participants actively involved in the formulation and implementation of this project. It is certain that nothing could have been carried out had it not been for their strenuous efforts to serve the project,” the Ambassador stated, adding that 256 children in Ruisi now had the possibility to gain a proper pre-school education.

“Children are future of a country. I hope that our project will in time encourage the children of Ruisi village to conquer the hardships they are confronted with right now and grow to become sturdy adults in future. I believe that such a generation will bring the real prosperity to the country,” he said.

Ruisi was one of the largest villages in Georgia to see armed conflict last August during the Russian aggression against Georgia. The Japanese Ambassador expressed his hope that the project will contributes to the economic recovery of the village through leaving the children’s families more time to spend on farming as the most of the population in the village is engaged in agriculture.

The Grant Agreement for the above-mentioned project was concluded on 3 July 2008 between the Embassy of Japan and International Union ‘Globus’. The aim of the project is to improve the learning conditions of children enrolled in the kindergarten and to enable more children to gain a preschool education through the rehabilitation of the kindergarten. Approximately 256 pupils and 28 staff will benefit from the project. A grant of 87,911 USD has established this project.

Grassroots and Human Security Grant Assistance Programme support is provided to relatively small-scale projects undertaken by municipalities, medical institutions, academic institutes and NGOs, and aim directly at improving the living standards of Georgian people suffering from hardship. Such projects might be implemented in the fields of public health, medicine, elementary and secondary education, social protection and the environment, poverty reduction and increasing incomes.

The Programme began in 1998. So far 84 projects worth 5,641,072 USD have been implemented under this programme in Georgia. Japan’s official development assistance to Georgia amounts to 150.4 million USD, which is expended in a wide range of areas such as improvements in economic infrastructure and agricultural sector, social sector, cultural and human resources development.

At present the Embassy maintains 15 projects involving assistance to hospitals and medical centres, 12 projects for orphanages or similar welfare institutions and 47 projects for the construction or rehabilitation of schools and kindergartens including the Ruisi project.

The Ambassador concluded his speech by mentioning that the funds for these projects originated from Japanese taxpayers. He said he would be grateful if Georgians occasionally remembered the goodwill of the ordinary people of Japan and tried to make the best use of their projects.