PRESS RELEASES
Signing ceremony for Ambassador's Fund Program
Address by Ambassador Jeffrey Feltman
14 September 2004
OFFICIAL TEXT
Remarks by U.S. Ambassador Jeffrey Feltman at the signing
ceremony for Ambassador's Fund Program at the U.S. Embassy in Awkar
- as prepared for delivery.
September 14, 2004
(Begin text)
Thank you for your presence with us today. As we are all aware,
Palestinian refugees live in an unenviable situation, including
in all twelve refugee camps in Lebanon where they suffer from serious
problems: overcrowding, poor housing conditions, unemployment, misery,
limited access to public health, educational facilities and social
services.
The Ambassador's Fund Program for refugees is a relatively new
initiative in the region. It started in Africa in 2000 and following
its success there, we were happy to see it expanded to the Middle
East refugee-hosting posts, including Lebanon, two years ago. Its
objective is to provide ambassadors with the means to quickly respond
to critical gaps in refugee assistance and protection that can be
filled locally for under $20,000 and are not already addressed by
UNHCR, UNRWA, other UN agencies or NGOs.
For this year's Ambassador's Fund, we received several valuable
project proposals but our final choice fell on these three projects,
as they were the closest ones to the Ambassador's Fund criteria,
objectives and targets.
These three projects, although modest in scale, are designed to
have significant impact in the capacity of NGOs working with Palestinian
refugees in the areas of education and set the ground for further
expansion of such efforts in the future.
One project is an $8,780 grant for the Joint Christian Committee
(JCC) to refurbish the Sabra-Chatila Center in Sabra-Chatila refugee
camp. More specifically, it will purchase new equipment for the
hairdressing program, and instructional devices, games and computer
equipment for the kindergartens and children's activities in the
Center. Therefore, this project will benefit women, youth and children
in the Sabra-Chatila Center, which serves a highly populated area
with a high poverty rate, and will allow them to enjoy a pleasant
space.
Another project is a $5,954 grant for the Palestinian Scout Association
to purchase computer equipment for al-Beddawi center in al-Beddawi
refugee camp. It will introduce computers to the camp with the aim
of benefiting around 300 children and young adults between 5-25
years' old who come to the center on a regular basis.
The third project is a $5,256 grant for Inaash to purchase computer
equipment and other equipment for its library in Bourj el-Barajneh
kindergarten and youth center in Bourj el-Barajneh camp. The beneficiaries
will be 100-120 elementary and secondary school children aged between
6-17 years and 80-100 kindergarten children, as well as community
members.
We applaud your efforts and look forward to continuing to work
together to assist Palestinian refugees in Lebanon.
(end text)
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