PESHAWAR/DI Khan: KP Commissioner for Afghan Refugees Ziaur Rehman and senior operations coordinator of UNHCR Marin Din Kajdomcaj inaugurated the newly upgraded government primary school in Kotla Syedan area of Dera Ismail Khan.

A statement issued here said that Mr Rehman also inaugurated the newly upgraded government primary school in Hanifabad, government girls high school in Ratta Kulachi and basic health unit in Zafarabad.

These schools and health unit have been upgraded through Ministry of States and Frontier Regions (Safron), Commissionerate for Afghan Refugees in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa and UNHCR under the government and UN’s Refugee Affected and Hosting Areas (RAHA) Initiative at a cost of Rs41.46 million.

The total fund provided to education and health sectors under RAHA programme is Rs902 million and Rs744 million respectively.

Under RAHA initiative, a total of 298 projects have been implemented in various districts of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa in different sectors including health, education, water and sanitation infrastructure and livelihood.

Speaking at the inauguration ceremony, Mr Rehman commended the RAHA team for providing assistance to local community as well as Afghan refugees.

“RAHA seeks to increase tolerance towards Afghan refugees in Pakistan; improve social cohesion to promote co-existence, and to provide both the host Pakistani communities and Afghan refugees with development and humanitarian assistance,” said Marin Din Kajdomcaj.

Waqar Maroof, the provincial director general (repatriation) of CAR, said on the occasion that RAHA projects were instrumental in improving the state of education and health in various districts of the province.

He said that RAHA projects also stimulated greater awareness amongst students and their parents about importance of education, health, hygiene and social cohesion amongst refugee communities and refugee hosting communities.

Mohammad Fakher-i-Alam Khan, the chief coordinator of RAHA, briefed the participants about RAHA programme’s interventions across Khyber Pakhtunkhwa.

Published in Dawn, March 22nd, 2017