Commission funds children's center

BANDUNG: Ambassador Klauspeter Schmallenbach, the head of the Representation of the European Commission, officiated on Thursday the opening of a clinic for the treatment of disabled children and launched a project to help develop small-enterprises in the West Java capital of Bandung.

The European Commission provided a grant of almost E500,000 (some Rp 4,566,500,000) to build the Center for the Development of Child Potential, which will provide outpatient services for disabled children.

The center, operated by the Surya Kanti Foundation in cooperation with Kindermissionwerk from Germany, will have the capacity to provide therapy for at least 100 disabled children daily.

At present, 5,000 children require the services of the outpatient clinic, one-third of them from low-income families.

The European Commission also provided a grant of E500,000 for a project to help develop small-enterprises as an instrument to strengthen self-help capabilities and long-term development prospects in West Java.

The project is being implemented by Friedrich Naumann Stiftung from Germany in cooperation with the Association of the Improvement of Small-Enterprises, an Indonesian non-governmental organization which has extensive experience in the field of small and micro-scale development.

The project aims to improve the competitiveness and capabilities of small-enterprises. At least 450 small and micro- scale entrepreneurs and 600 self-employed people will benefit directly from the project, while the project will indirectly benefit about 6,500 workers and 29,000 family members. About 65 percent of the intended beneficiaries are women.