Japan provides $ 500,000 grant aid for empowered women, peaceful communities

Friday, 8 March 2019 00:00 - - {{hitsCtrl.values.hits}}

The Government of Japan has decided to provide a grant aid worth $ 500,000 (approximately Rs. 87 million) for the project of ‘Empowered Women, Peaceful Communities: Promoting Peace and Preventing Intolerance in Sri Lanka,’ implemented by the United Nations Entity for Gender Equality and the Empowerment of Women (UN Women).

The grant aid will be utilised to conduct technical assistance to the Ministry of Women and Child Affairs and other key ministries to make out a full draft of the National Action Plan in the field of Women, Peace and Security (WPS) and to support pilot projects to promote women’s economic empowerment with particular attention to vulnerable groups such as female headed households.

This aid is part of Japan’s assistance to Sri Lanka under the G7 Women, Peace and Security (WPS) Partnerships Initiative that was agreed at the G7 Foreign Ministers’ Meeting in April 2018.

This initiative aims at accelerating positive change on gender equality, empowerment of women and girls and respect for their human rights that are vital to achieving and sustaining peace, and Sri Lanka is the partner country of Japan to advance the WPS agenda under this initiative. Japan is keen to further support the efforts of the Government of Sri Lanka in this regard in cooperation with other G7 members.