Finns pledge N$6.5 million to local projects

The Embassy of Finland yesterday signed three funding agreements with local not-for-profit organisations, amounting to approximately 492 000 euros (N$6.5 million). In the first instance, the Finnish Embassy’s Chargè d’Affaires Anne Saloranta announced a N$3.7 million grant to the Legal Assistance Centre (LAC), stretching over a two-year period. The funds, she said, would go to support the LAC’s running projects addressing gender and children’s rights, marginalised groups, those living with HIV and Aids, indigenous groups and the rights of rural residents. The embassy also pledged its support to the Omba Arts Trust for the next two years. The Trust will receive N$1.8 million for training artists and craftspeople. The KAYEC Trust was granted N$1.1 million for a one-year project called ‘Solar Energy and Business Mentoring as Means to Generate Income for Out-of-School Youth'. The project aims to improve access to sustainable energy and create career paths in the renewable energy industry for vulnerable young people. Having actively supported Namibian organisations for the past 11 years, the funding agreements signed this week stemmed from the Finnish Embassy’s Fund for Local Cooperation. “Finland’s development policy has a strong foundation on a human-rights-based approach, a broad notion of human rights, covering the rule of law, democracy, good governance and the fight against corruption,” Saloranta said at the signing ceremony yesterday. “The aim is to ensure that human rights, in particular the rights of the most vulnerable, are respected, protected and implemented in all areas of development cooperation.” WINDHOEK STAFF REPORTER