Overseas Aid supported over 70 funding applications in 2018
MORE than 70 applications for funding were supported by the Guernsey Overseas Aid and Development Commission last year, amounting to a total of £2.43m. being given in aid.
The commission’s annual report was published yesterday and it said it had received requests amounting to more than £8m. last year, which was 14% down on 2017.
Similarly, the number of applications received last year was lower than the previous one – 241 compared to 277.
But the amount of money awarded was broadly the same, with the average award over the year being £33,292.
The average amount requested was about £34,400, which was not much different from the average of about £34,800 in 2017.
There was also just under £200,000 spent on disaster and emergency aid, with the largest amount – £105,000 – going to the Disasters Emergency Committee’s Indonesian earthquake and tsunami appeal.
Just over £45,000 was given to Humanitarian Aid Relief Trust in Nigeria and £40,000 to Tearfund Yemen in response to the worsening humanitarian crises in both countries.
The commission’s grant aid budget for 2018 was £2,960,000.
Among the projects supported via donations to different aid groups were a new girls’ latrine block and hygiene facilities at Nchokera School near Blantyre in Africa (Joshua Community Care); a well, solar pump and storage tank for irrigation project at Domwe village, Lake Malawi, and irrigation well at Mbapi village on the shore of the lake (Scottish Catholic International Aid Fund).
After outlining some of the changes that occurred during 2018, including two newcomers being appointed to the commission, president Deputy Emilie McSwiggan said that the core of its work had remained the same: ‘The heartbeat of 2018 has been – as it always is – our steady, dedicated focus on meeting the basic needs of the world’s poorest communities, through our grant-funding and emergency relief programmes.’
