Manila, April 4 2014 — The Government of Japan has announced that it will support UN-Habitat’s response to Typhoon Haiyan in the Philippines with USD 2.5 million for the construction of houses for more than 600 families.
Apart from rebuilding the houses, the main outputs of the project include rehabilitation and reconstruction of damaged small community infrastructure for 8 communities; improvement of economic opportunities through skills development in the communities including training of over 250 carpenters and masons, and training of 2000 families on basic house safety assessment.
The project targets affected families with special needs and sensitivities within underserved communities in the province of Capiz, where typhoon affected families lack the resources to obtain quality construction material and do not have the means to engage skilled carpenters or masons to build their resilience. UN-Habitat will work with the Social Housing Finance Corporation to ensure sustainable project implementation.
In order to strengthen communities and train carpenters on building back safer, UN-Habitat will implement project through its known people’s process, mobilizing the affected communities to take decisions on their recovery and build self-resilience.
UN-Habitat has long been involved in post disaster recovery projects, where the underlining principle has been to place affected people at the center of the implementation process. The “People’s Process” has been strongly supported by the Government of Japan which has become a major contributor to UN-Habitat’s post disaster and post conflict projects in Asia and the Pacific.
UN-Habitat appreciates the support from the People and the Government of Japan for the recovery and rehabilitation efforts in the Haiyan affected areas.
