FY06 SPECIAL SELF-HELP FUND ALLCATION REQUEST

UNCLAS KINSHASA 000154 SIPDIS SIPDIS PLEASE PASS TO AF/EPS CAROL TRIMBLE. E.O. 12958: N/A TAGS: ECON EAID CG DEM SUBJECT: FY06 SPECIAL SELF-HELP FUND ALLCATION REQUEST REF: A. 05 STATE 1255 ¶B. 5 STATE 1179 ¶C. 05 STATE 1857 ¶1. (U) Embssy Kinshasa requests $82,500 in FY06 Special Self-Help Funds (SSHF) (reftel a). JUSTIFICATION -------------- Embassy Kinshasa's seletion committe has chosen nine projects for FY06 SSHF, each o which will be directly overseen by a mission oficer and the SSHF funding coordinator. Post has an outstanding record of financial management of SHF -- all prior year projects have been successully completed, and our 2005 Interim Obligation tatus Report and Annual Status Report have been submitted (reftels b and c). Civil unrest and subsequent embassy drawdown and evacuation led to dramatic SSHF cuts the past several years, but Embassy Kinshasa is now ready and able to return to pre-1999 funding levels consistent with the size and political importance of the country. BACKGROUND -------------- ¶3. (U) The Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC),a nation as large as the United States east of the Mississippi, is just emerging from decades of dictatorship, war, and humanitarian catastrophe. The DRC will take a major step toward democracy when the Congolese go to the polls this spring for the first free, national elections since 1960. The stability of the entire region, DRC and its nine neighbors, rests on its successful transition from a conflict that has been the deadliest since World War II. The need for American assistance to targeted groups is great, and Embassy Kinshasa has the capacity and will to support the DRC in the face of the most important democratic transition in a generation. PROJECTS -------------- ¶4. (U) The following nine projects are located in three historically underserved provinces (Bandundu, Equateur, and Eastern Kasai),in the troubled and crisis-prone province of Katanga, and in two poorer neighborhoods in the capital, Kinshasa. Two of the nine projects support the Congolese in their fight against HIV/AIDS, one of our post's key Mission Program Plan goals. ¶A. Association des Jeune Volontaires d'Essoy'Afongo (Association of Young Volunteers of Essoy'Afongo),Equateur Province Estimated number of beneficiaries: 635 Description: A village cooperative would like to aid their community by improving agricultural production in the region. �A; The population is extremely poor and lacks money for even basic gardening tools; roads have deteriorated such that the river is the only means of transportation; and the people have resorted to poaching to stay alive. Four villages have come together to encourage agricultural production and decrease poaching. Funds will be used to purchase gardening tools, seed, and canoes. Request: $8,300 ¶B. Center Balou Pour Personnes Avec Handicap Mental (Balou Center for the Mentally Disabled),Katanga Province Estimated number of beneficiaries: 126 Description: The center educates the mentally disabled in various manual skills. Funds will be used to construct a workshop for these boys and girls on center-owned property. Request: $5,000 ¶C. Centre d'Education Fonctionnelle Pour Les Enfants Demunis (Functional Education Center for Underprivileged Children), Katanga Province Estimated number of beneficiaries: 1,200 Description: The Education Center, located in a low-income commune of Lubumbashi, fills many educational needs for the community: schooling for primary and secondary-level students, evening classes for young women, sewing and knitting classes, reading classes for older women, and typing classes for youth. Funds will be used to purchase benches for the school and basic medical equipment for expanded health care capabilities. Request: $10,550 ¶D. Club d'Esperance pour Les Enfants (Hope Club for Children),Katanga Province Estimated number of beneficiaries: 100 Description: This established group wants to aid HIV victims in becoming self-sufficient in the Kasapa community of Lubumbashi. Funds will be used to purchase school supplies, farming implements, and seeds. Request: $5,000 ¶E. Ecole Primaire Hebrone (Hebrone Primary School),Kinshasa Estimated number of beneficiaries: 300 Description: A reputable primary school on the outskirts of Kinshasa has worked for two years making cement bricks to construct a school building in a low-income, high-unemployment community, a necessity now that it has outgrown its current building and is in the process of adding a secondary school section. Funds will be used to construct the building. Request: $11,500 ¶F. Foundation Pour le Developpement de Mokamo (Foundation for the Development of Mokamo),Bandundu Province Estimated number of beneficiaries: 300 Description: This foundation has planted a large palm plantation which they have given to the local population in an effort to fight unemployment. The farmers are responsible for cultivating and harvesting the palm nuts which they sell to the foundation. The trees are in excellent condition and will soon be ready to harvest. Funds will be used to purchase necessary cultivation tools (machetes, shovels, wheelbarrows, hoes, and bicycles),as years of unemployment have made it difficult for farmers to earn enough to acquire tools. Request: $9,800 ¶G. La Vie Pour Tous (Life for All),Kinshasa Estimated number of beneficiaries: 1100 Description: This organization, which has been renting property in a low-income part of the city, has purchased land for an educational center for people affected by HIV. Funds will be used to construct the building. Request: $17,600 ¶H. Lycee Okako Awoto (Okako Awoto High School),Eastern Kasai Province Estimated number of beneficiaries: 500 Description: A group of Catholic sisters would like to repair a girls dorm, which was damaged by the war. The families of many students live far from the school and, without dormitories, the students cannot attend. Funds will repair the walls, roof, doors, and windows of the building. Request: $9,700 ¶I. Universite Methodiste au Katanga (Methodist University of Katanga),Katanga Province Estimated number of beneficiaries: 25 Description: The university needs a computer room for student instruction. They have computers, bricks, and funds to cover construction labor. Funds will be used to purchase materials for the roof, cement, and electrical installation. Request: $5,000 MEECE NNNN