Commission funds children's center

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.