Ministry dishes out grants

ONGWEDIVA – The Ministry of Gender Equality and Child Welfare granted N$75 717 to 12 income-generating projects situated in various constituencies of the Oshana Region at Ongwediva on Friday.

Oshana Regional Councillor for Ongwediva Constituency, Thikameni Ekandjo, handed over the grants to the representatives of the beneficiary projects on behalf of the government in the presence of the Gender Ministry officials. The beneficiary projects are situated in the constituencies of Ompundja, Uuvudhiya, Okaku, Ondangwa, Ongwediva, Oshakati East and Okatana.The projects are involved in bread making, production of mahangu, beans and sorghum, fruit and vegetable gardening, school uniform tailoring, aquaculture, a hair salon and caring for people with disabilities.Project managements applied for financial assistance of up to N$50 000, but the ministry was only able to offer the highest grant of just up to N$9 000.The projects that received N$9 000 grants were a vegetable garden in Uuvudhiya Constituency, the aquaculture project in Ongwediva Constituency and a hair salon of two girls living with disabilities in the Oshakati East.The second and the third highest grant of N$8 960,55 and N$5 765,50 went to people with disabilities of the Pondo Multi-purpose Community Organisation (Ongwediva) and Daleen School Uniform (Ondangwa), respectively.Handing over the cheques to the representatives of the projects, Ekandjo encouraged persons tasked with the managing of projects to use the grants for the benefit of all members towards the fight against poverty in the community and not for personal gain.Ekandjo at the same time expressed disappointment to learn that bags of cement that were donated to certain projects within the Oshana Region before were left to expire after project members failed to use the cement on time.NampaThe beneficiary projects are situated in the constituencies of Ompundja, Uuvudhiya, Okaku, Ondangwa, Ongwediva, Oshakati East and Okatana.The projects are involved in bread making, production of mahangu, beans and sorghum, fruit and vegetable gardening, school uniform tailoring, aquaculture, a hair salon and caring for people with disabilities.Project managements applied for financial assistance of up to N$50 000, but the ministry was only able to offer the highest grant of just up to N$9 000.The projects that received N$9 000 grants were a vegetable garden in Uuvudhiya Constituency, the aquaculture project in Ongwediva Constituency and a hair salon of two girls living with disabilities in the Oshakati East.The second and the third highest grant of N$8 960,55 and N$5 765,50 went to people with disabilities of the Pondo Multi-purpose Community Organisation (Ongwediva) and Daleen School Uniform (Ondangwa), respectively.Handing over the cheques to the representatives of the projects, Ekandjo encouraged persons tasked with the managing of projects to use the grants for the benefit of all members towards the fight against poverty in the community and not for personal gain.Ekandjo at the same time expressed disappointment to learn that bags of cement that were donated to certain projects within the Oshana Region before were left to expire after project members failed to use the cement on time.Nampa