Handover of the six houses for female headed families in Jablanica

Sarajevo, 29 November 2004 -UNHCR Representative in BiH, Mr. Udo Janz attended today the official handover ceremony of the six newly built houses to former collective centre residents in Jablanica municipality. These houses were handed over to six female headed households by representatives of UNHCR, Swiss Humanitarian Aid (SHA) and the Mayor of Jablanica.

"This project is a result of the continuous excellent cooperation that UNHCR, together with our partner organization Swiss Humanitarian Aid (SHA), has had with the municipal authorities in Jablanica" said Mr. Udo Janz.

The six female headed households were formerly residents of the collective centre Gornja Kolonija and a complementary sustainability project will follow after the beneficiaries are settled in their new houses.

The project with a total budget of BAM 190,000 was funded by the Council of Europe Development Bank (CEB) and implemented by UNHCR's implementing partner Swiss Humanitarian Aid (SHA), while Jablanica Municipality donated the land plots.

The earmarked funding of this project was a result of a Memorandum of Understanding between UNHCR and the Council of Europe Development Bank (CEB). These funds were provided by the CEB as grant aid to UNHCR in order to find durable solutions for female headed households accommodated in collective centres.

"UNHCR takes this opportunity to congratulate the BiH Council of Ministers on the approval last week of an 8 million EURO loan from the Council of Europe Development Bank (CEB) which will contribute to resolve the problems of collective centre residents in BiH. The loan has been obtained through the support of the Governments of Sweden and the United Kingdom. UNHCR will closely work with the BiH Ministries and the CEB in the implementation of the loan over the next two years" said Mr. Janz.