After Hurricane Mitch, the Fund sped emergency grants and fast-track loans to the devastated countries. The loan to Nicaragua was signed by H.E. Ambassador Suyapa I. Padilla Tercero (left) and H.E. Dr. Saleh A. Al-Omair.

Grant Operations

Through its grant window, the OPEC Fund channels much-needed resources into a wide variety of schemes and activities for which loan assistance is usually not an option. These include small-scale development enterprises, deserving social causes and research programs. When appropriate, the Fund also extends grant aid in the form of emergency relief to victims of natural and social disasters.

In 1998, some 32 grants worth a total of $4.475 million were approved by the OPEC Fund. Of these, 16 were extended for technical assistance, five supported research and similar activities, and eleven helped finance emergency aid operations.

In the sphere of technical assistance, resources amounting to $2.71 million were distributed to a diversity of worthwhile causes. Funds were allocated to upgrade facilities at Palestine's Al-Quds and Al-Khalil Universities and to help establish the Jubilee School Center for gifted children in Jordan. Support was also forthcoming for locust and screwworm control programs and to boost polio eradication efforts. Human resources development was targeted through projects designed to improve public health training in Ethiopia, strengthen maritime training institutes in Asia and enhance conference and training facilities at the African Institute for Economic Development and Planning. Social sector activities comprised a water supply and sanitation program in Nicaragua, schemes promoting special assistance to pre-school children in Palestine and Bolivia, and activities organized by the Pan Arab Project for Family Health. Other beneficiaries included an IFAD program to facilitate the rehabilitation of Rwandan refugees, a wind-energy rural electrification project in Morocco, and a SELA scheme to promote technical and economic cooperation between Latin America, the Caribbean and Africa.

Research activities supported by the Fund drew grants totaling $215,000 in 1998. This amount included sums to sponsor the attendance of participants at two conferences: The Global Meeting of Generations and African Women and Economic Development: Investment in Our Future, and to help finance the publication of a congress report on the international convention: Climate Change - Causes and Consequences. The Fund's research account also backed a study in 1998 on the World Trade Organization and the impact of its activities on developing countries.

Emergency assistance, in the total amount of $1.55 million, went to Bolivia ($100,000) and twice to Afghanistan ($150,000 and $200,000) following powerful earthquakes; to Papua New Guinea ($100,000) whose northwest coast was struck by tidal waves; and to Bangladesh ($200,000) which suffered the worst floods on record. The Sudan received $200,000 for the purchase of medical supplies for drought victims; Zanzibar was awarded $50,000 for emergency drainage works; and $100,000 was extended to CARE International for the provision of winter relief supplies for Kosovar refugees. Substantial aid was also extended to Central American countries in the wake of the devastating Hurricane Mitch: Honduras received $200,000, Nicaragua $150,000 and Guatemala $100,000.

Grants approved in 1998
(in thousands of US dollars)
I. Technical Assistance:			Commitments
1.		AOAD - Eradication of Old World Screwworm in the Middle East	300.0
2.		Early Childhood Education and Care for Palestinian Children	100.0
3.		Equipping the Faculty of Medicine, Al-Quds University, Palestine	400.0
4.		Establishment of a computer center at Al-Khalil University, Palestine	200.0
5.		Establishment of the Jubilee School Center for Excellence in Education in Jordan	320.0
6.		FAO - Locust Control Campaign in Madagascar	150.0
7.		IFAD - Rwanda Returnees Rehabilitation Program	150.0
8.		Pan Arab Project for Family Health (PAPFAM)	150.0
9.		Polio Immunization in African Countries Affected by Conflict	150.0
10.		Public Health Training in Ethiopia	200.0
11.		SELA - Technical and Economic Cooperation between Latin America, the Caribbean and Africa	150.0
12.		Social development through assistance to pre-school children in Bolivia	150.0
13.		UNDP Energy Account: Pilot Project for Rural Electrification in Morocco through Wind Energy*	20.0
14.		UNICEF - Water Supply and Environmental Sanitation Program in Nigaragua	100.0
15.		Upgrading maritime training institutes and training in Asia	100.0
16.		Upgrading the training facilities of the African Institute for Economic Development and Planning	70.0
Subtotal			2,710.0
II. Research and Similar Activities:
1.		European Academy of Environmental Affairs	15.0
2.		International Development Conference (IDC)	50.0
3.		Study: The World Trade Organization and the Developing Countries	100.0
4.		United Nations Economic Commission for Africa	50.0
Subtotal			215.0
III. Emergency Aid:
1.		Afghanistan	350.0
2.		Bangladesh	200.0
3.		Bolivia	100.0
4.		CARE International	100.0
5.		Guatemala	100.0
6.		Honduras	200.0
7.		Nicaragua	150.0
8.		Papua New Guinea	100.0
9.		Sudan, The	200.0
10.		Tanzania (Zanzibar)	50.0
Subtotal			1,550.0
Total			4,475.0

* The grant was drawn from the $6 million allocated by the OPEC Fund in 1980 to the UNDP Energy Account.