Grant Operations
|
|
The OPEC Fund grant program provides support to a wide range of development schemes and activities that, for one reason or another, would not normally be financed through its lending window. Fund grants are extended in the form of technical assistance for worthwhile social causes and small-scale enterprises, as sponsorship for research and studies and, when occasion demands, as humanitarian aid or emergency relief.
In 2001, 37 grants worth a total of $5.207 million were approved by the Fund. Of these, 18 were extended for technical assistance, 11 supported research and similar activities, and eight helped finance emergency aid operations.
In the sphere of technical assistance, resources amounting to $3.036 million were allocated to a diversity of important causes. Support went to the Fundación Dolores Bedoya de Molina in Guatemala to boost social productivity and literacy among the rural poor, to an initiative coordinated by the Global Mechanism of the United Nations Convention to Combat Desertification that seeks to arrest and reverse desertification in the dry areas of West Asia, to the charity Development Aid from People to People to help finance the running of a children's town for vulnerable youngsters in Zambia, and to the UAE-based International Center for Biosaline Agriculture to help establish training facilities and programs. Funds were also allocated to a number of health-related schemes, including a project to raise the quality of medical services in remote rural communities in Yemen, a river blindness eradication campaign in Africa, an initiative to strengthen maternal health care in Peru, an emergency health project in the Sudan, and a top-level, African summit on HIV/AIDS. Four grants were approved for Palestine-based projects in 2001: financing was extended to help complete the Amal Center for the Rehabilitation of the Handicapped, and to sponsor emergency health care facilities run by three NGOs. Assistance was also approved to reinforce activities at five CGIAR-sponsored agricultural research centers, namely, CIMMYT, CIP, ICARDA, ICRISAT and ILRI.
The
Fund's Research Grant Account sponsored research activities to the sum
of $671,000 in 2001 and supported operations carried out by organizations
such as the International Ocean Institute, the Third World Academy of
Sciences, the Trans-Saharan Road Liaison Committee, the African
Institute for Economic Planning and Development, the African Technology Policy Studies
Network, and the South Center. The Account also helped finance the
Eleventh
Conference on Biotechnology and Genetic Engineering for Development, a
G-24 workshop on Financing for Development, and a high-level ministerial
meeting held to address degradation of natural resources in the dryland
areas of West Asia and North Africa. Other grants were approved to support
the establishment of community libraries and resource centers in rural
areas of Ghana, and to co-finance an initiative of the Harvard Medical
School to combat chronic arsenic poisoning in Bangladesh.
In the sphere of emergency assistance, eight grants totaling $1.5 million were approved in 2001. Following devastating natural disasters, humanitarian aid was extended to El Salvador ($200,000), India ($200,000), Algeria ($400,000) and the Caribbean Region (Cuba and Honduras $100,000 each). Additionally, Mongolia received $100,000 to purchase vital relief items for nomadic families affected by harsh winter weather, $200,000 went to provide basic supplies for Afghan refugees in Pakistan, and $200,000 was approved to help provide specialized medical treatment in Austrian hospitals to severely injured Palestinians.
Grants provide funding for agricultural research that improves food security
and nutrition by introducing new plant varieties and cultivation methods.
|
Grants approved in 2001 |
|
|
(in thousands of dollars) |
|
|
|
|
|
I. Technical Assistance: |
Commitments |
|
CGIAR - support for five international agricultural research institutes: |
|
|
- CIMMYT |
100.0 |
|
- CIP |
100.0 |
|
- ICARDA |
100.0 |
|
- ICRISAT |
100.0 |
|
- ILRI |
70.0 |
|
Development Aid from People to People, Zambia |
150.0 |
|
Foundation Bedoya de Molina: Productive Activities and Literacy Program in Guatemala |
116.0 |
|
Global Mechanism of the United Nations Convention to Combat Desertification |
|
|
(GM-UNCCD): Integrated Natural Resource Management in West Asia |
350.0 |
|
International Center for Biosaline Agriculture |
200.0 |
|
International Cooperation for Development: Primary Health Care Services in Yemen |
200.0 |
|
Organization of African Unity: African Summit on HIV/AIDS, tuberculosis and |
|
|
other related infectious diseases |
200.0 |
|
Palestine: Fundación del Valle - Completion of the Amal Center for the Rehabilitation |
|
|
of the Handicapped in Nablus |
200.0 |
|
Palestine: Strengthening the Health Sector by providing financial assistance to: |
|
|
- Palestinian Red Crescent Society |
90.0 |
|
- Patient's Friends Society |
140.0 |
|
- Zakat Fund Committee |
120.0 |
|
UNICEF: Basic Health and Nutrition Emergency Project in the Sudan |
200.0 |
|
UNICEF: Strengthening Basic Health Services in Peru |
200.0 |
|
WHO: African Program for Onchocerciasis Control (Phase II) |
400.0 |
|
Subtotal |
3,036.0 |
|
|
|
|
II. Research and Similar Intellectual Activities |
|
|
African Institute for Economic Development and Planning: Agricultural Policy Analysis |
|
|
in Africa |
70.0 |
|
African Technology Policy Studies Network: Research project on strengthening |
|
|
Information and Communication Technology Policy in Africa |
50.0 |
|
Community-Based Libraries and Information Technology: Establishment of Community |
|
|
Libraries/Resource Centers in Ghana |
50.0 |
|
GM-UNCCD: West Asia and North Africa ministerial meeting |
40.0 |
|
Harvard University: Research program on the arsenic catastrophe in Bangladesh |
49.0 |
|
Intergovernmental Group of 24: Replenishment Grant to support workshop on Financing |
|
|
for Development |
100.0 |
|
International Ocean Institute |
52.0 |
|
Islamic Academy of Sciences: 11th Conference on Biotechnology and Genetic |
|
|
Engineering for Development in the Islamic World |
35.0 |
|
South Center: Acquisition of computer equipment |
100.0 |
|
Third World Academy of Sciences: Associate Membership Scheme at Centers of |
|
|
Excellence in the South |
100.0 |
|
Trans-Saharan Road Liaison Committee: Training seminar |
25.0 |
|
Subtotal |
671.0 |
|
|
|
|
III. Emergency Aid |
|
|
Afghanistan |
200.0 |
|
Algeria |
400.0 |
|
Cuba |
100.0 |
|
El Salvador |
200.0 |
|
Honduras |
100.0 |
|
India |
200.0 |
|
Mongolia |
100.0 |
|
Palestine |
200.0 |
|
Subtotal |
1,500.0 |
|
Total |
5,207.0 |