Habitat for Humanity Cambodia ・Grant from World Bank:
Last week HFH Cambodia received news of approval for its World Bank submission for a program in Battambang Province. This grant of $450,000 is part of the Japan Social Development Fund (JSDF) within the World Bank and was formally approved by the Government of Japan in January.
The design of this program began more than 12 months ago through collaboration with UNESCAP (United Nations Economic and Social Commission for Asia and the Pacific). This Bangkok based UN agency has become an excellent partner of HFH through its expertise in various development sectors.
This JSDF grant is focused on providing landless, poor urban communities with access to land tenure and livelihoods support through a collaborative, NGO-local government approach.
The HFH portion of the program includes three key components:
1.) In partnership with the Royal Government of Cambodia, HFH will train local government officials and community leaders regarding land tenure opportunities through Cambodia's Social Land Concession (SLC) program for distributing state land to the poor;
2.) Pilot the SLC program for an identified community in Battambang which will result in housing for 400 families using HFH methodologies ・applied to the Cambodian urban environment;
3.) HFH will facilitate the coordination/collaboration with numerous other local NGOs in carrying out the program.