Nepal communities to receive £300k boost from JOA

Sunday 02 January 2022

Jersey Overseas Aid has awarded up to £300,000 to the Gurkha Welfare Trust Jersey, its biggest grant to date to a local charity, to help deliver water, sanitation and hygiene, as well as a school rehabilitation project.

The funds will be distributed across eight rural communities over the next three years.

The Trust was created in 2014 to mark the 200th anniversary of Gurkha soldiers arriving in the British army.

Pictured: The funds will go to help deliver water, sanitation and hygiene to communities.

It is a partner to the Gurkha Welfare Trust, a UK Charity established in 1969 to support veterans by paying them a welfare pension.

It has expanded over the past half a century to include health checks and medicine, grants in times of hardship and building earthquake resilient homes.

Jersey Overseas Aid has supported the work of the Gurkha Welfare Trust Jersey since 2016, funding water, sanitation and hygiene (WASH) projects across rural Nepal, as well as rebuilding four schools and a community centre. 

The grant is the biggest JOA ever granted to a  local charity and recognised the the Gurkha Welfare Trust Jersey's continued commitment to Gurkha veterans and the people of Nepal.  

“We are delighted to be increasing the amount of funding we provide to the Gurkha Welfare Trust Jersey as it will enable the charity to provide even greater assistance to Gurkha veterans, their families and their wider communities," the Minister for International Development and Chair of the JOA Commission, Deputy Carolyn Labey said.

“As part of our commitment to the Gurkha Welfare Trust Jersey we are also pledging our support over three years, as opposed to providing funding annually, which will mean the charity can plan projects with the confidence that guaranteed, long-term funding provides.  

“We owe these incredibly brave veterans a debt of gratitude and it is humbling to be able to translate the generosity and compassion of islanders through this increased, long-term funding.”

Pictured: Minister for International Development and Chair of the JOA Commission, Deputy Carolyn Labey, said the three-year donation will mean "the charity can plan projects with the confidence that guaranteed, long-term funding provides."

Lieutenant Governor, Air Chief Marshal Sir Stephen Dalton, added: “Many of you will have heard of the vital and highly effective work that the Jersey branch of the Gurkha Welfare Trust has been doing to help the children and families severely impacted by natural disasters in Nepal. 

“This work has been underpinned by the support of Jersey’s Overseas Aid funding and all of it has delivered tangible life-enhancing benefit to remote Nepalese communities. 

“This is a prime example of how aid from a relatively small island community, working alongside a veterans-inspired charity, can have disproportionate benefit for a similarly small, but much less fortunate, community halfway across the world.”