First Lady meets Qatar donors

June 11, 2014/in First Lady, Foreign Policy, Health, News, Press /by PSCU

BY JIBRIL ADAN

NAIROBI, 11 JUNE 2014 (PSCU)-First Lady Margaret Kenyatta today met delegations from the office of the spouse of former Emir of Qatar and the United Nations who briefed her on an education project worth more than Sh1.4 billion targeting Turkana County.

The project will benefit refugees in Kakuma refugee camp as well as the host community and is funded by  Her Highness Sheikha Moza Bint Nasser.

The officials briefed the First Lady on the project which will be launched in November and also sought ways of partnering with her Beyond Zero Campaign initiative to improve maternal health care.

The delegation from Qatar was led by Mr Leonardo Pinheiro while the UN team was led by the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees Representative in Kenya Mr Raouf Mazou.

“Our education project is innovative and we are interested in ways of linking this initiative with maternal health programmes,” said Mr Pinheiro.

The First Lady welcomed the donors and urged them to look for more ways to channel Qatari support to Kenya.

“There are a lot of areas where we can work together and we are ready to offer support to the implementation of your projects,” she said.

The delegation was visiting Kenya following a tour by the First Lady in April of projects initiated by Sheikha Bint Nassir in Qatar.

Mr Pinheiro said Sheikha Bint Nasser has chosen the Kenya project as a pilot programme for 44 similar initiatives she wants to sponsor worldwide.

Besides educational infrastructure, the project involves a number of programmes including talent development in sports and arts.

The delegation from Her Highness Sheikha Moza Bint Nassir was also accompanied by a team from UNHCR Saudi Arabia led by Mr Imran Riza.

Also in the delegation were Mr Thiery Vandevelde of Veolia Foundation and Dr Talar Sahsuvaroglu of the Qatar Supreme Committee for Delivery, which is the body implementing the preparations for the Qatar 2022 World Cup.

Kakuma refugee camp with a population of more than 160,000 thousand has people from 16 nationalities who have sought refuge in Kenya.

Kenya hosts more than half a million refugees from many countries and some have lived in the country for more than three decades.