Participants from the SAARC member countries are working towards an integrated result based Monitoring and Evaluation system for SAARC Development Fund (SDF) funded projects in the first-ever SDF sub-regional workshop in Thimphu.
There are three financing windows under the SDF funded projects; social, economic and infrastructure. Of the US$ 100 million fund donated by India, US$ 70 million has been committed. The six projects under social are women empowerment, health care, agriculture, e-governance, education and child development.
In Bhutan, projects for women empowerment, health care, agriculture and e-governance under the social window has been implemented.
The Director of SDF said, women empowerment and health care in the SAARC region has reached an advanced stage. “The objective of the first project is to enhance the lives of home based workers. We are going to give opportunity for them to become economically independent plus enhance their skills. The second project related to health care, the idea is to provide basic infrastructure at district level and improve the quality of doctors to reduce child mortality,” said the Director of SDF, Dr. Sunil Motiwal.
The governing council meeting that took place two months ago has decided to activate the remaining two windows by the end of this year. The windows are economic and infrastructure.
“Under these two windows we are now going to work closely with international funding agencies like World Bank, International Finance Corporation and Asian Development Bank. And we hope that this SDF becomes one of the leading funding agencies in South Asian countries,” said the Director.
Bhutan is one of the largest recipients of the fund from the SDF amounting to more than US$ eight million.
The SDF was established in April 2010 with the objective to promote quality of life is SAARC region, accelerate economic growth and alleviate poverty among others.
