Overseas aid projects remain island’s ‘window to the world’
A TOTAL of 77 projects were awarded over £2.5m. through the Overseas Aid & Development Commission in 2017 as well as eight different awards for disaster relief.
The figures are shown in the commission’s annual report, which gave updates on some of the causes.
Its president, Emilie Yerby, wrote in the introduction that it remains the island’s ‘window to the world’.
‘Looking back over 2017, it is difficult to put into words the highs and lows of it: the steady progress towards human development in some countries and some communities, and the terrible crises and tragedies that have set others back decades in their pursuit of economic and social wellbeing, good health, political stability and sustainable development.
‘Overseas Aid is, in many ways, Guernsey’s window on the world: our opportunity as an island to make positive changes to the lives of others, in the midst of disasters, degrading poverty and persistent disadvantage,’ she said.
Details in the report show how ‘inclusive development’ works in practice.
‘Carefully-chosen projects, focusing on basic needs, can help to transform a community; the importance of making sure that vulnerable or marginalised groups – women, children, people with disabilities, very poor households, older people – are acknowledged in the way that projects are planned and delivered, so that no one is left behind as a community develops,’ she said.
The commission’s Grant Aid Budget for 2017 was £2,785,000 and its Disaster Emergency Relief budget was £200,000.
The total amount of funding requested was £9,657,641, which represented a nearly 20% increase on 2016, despite only a slight increase in applications.
The average amount of funding requested in 2017 was £34,865, compared with £29,183 in 2016, i.e. nearly a 20% increase in the amount requested for individual projects.
The total grant aid allocation was £2,592,780. The disaster relief budget was £200,000.
