Latest news with #Sanitation
Yemen Online
2 days ago
- Business
- Yemen Online
World Bank Approves US$30 Million to Support Financial Inclusion and Education in Yemen
The World Bank's Board of Executive Directors approved US$30 million in new grants to Yemen to help strengthen digital financial infrastructure and sustain access to basic education for children in most disadvantaged areas. The financing supports two new operations that aim to improve access to critical services while bolstering institutional resilience. The first grant of US$20 million will finance the Yemen Financial Market Infrastructure and Inclusion Project, implemented by the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP). The second, a US$10 million grant, will support the Sustaining Education and Learning Project, implemented by the United Nations Children's Fund (UNICEF). More than a decade into the conflict, Yemen remains one of the most fragile and poorest countries in the world. The crisis has deeply disrupted the provision of public services, fragmented institutions, and contributed to the erosion of human capital. Today, more than 60 percent of households report inadequate food consumption, and access to quality education and formal financial services remains limited, particularly for women and rural populations. The World Bank's support to Yemen prioritizes the delivery of essential services while building the foundations for medium-term recovery. 'These new operations reflect our continued commitment to supporting the people of Yemen in meeting their most urgent needs,' said Dina Abu-Ghaida, World Bank Group Country Manager for Yemen. 'By investing in core -infrastructure that enable children to stay in school and families to access financial services, we aim to preserve human capital and support more inclusive, resilient service delivery.' The Yemen Financial Market Infrastructure and Inclusion Project will support the development of digital payments systems, including a Fast Payment System and a Real Time Gross Settlement System under the Central Bank in Aden. The project will promote interoperability among financial institutions, strengthen compliance with anti-money laundering regulations, and expand access points for digital financial services in underserved areas. It will also enable the digitization of cash transfers, government payments, and remittances, which are critical sources of income for vulnerable households. The Sustaining Education and Learning Project will help keep schools open and functioning in targeted vulnerable districts by financing the rehabilitation of school infrastructure, construction of classrooms and Water, Sanitation, and Hygiene (WASH) facilities, and provision of school grants, managed by communities, to cover essential operational needs. The project will also strengthen education data systems and support local capacity to plan and monitor service delivery. It builds on lessons learned from previous operations and places a strong focus on improving girls' access to education in rural areas. These new operations are part of the World Bank's broader strategy to help sustain essential services, protect human capital, and strengthen institutions amid ongoing fragility. By investing in education and digital financial systems, the Bank is working with partners to expand opportunities, promote inclusion, and help communities navigate the path toward recovery and stability.
Business Recorder
24-05-2025
- Business
- Business Recorder
Flood rehabilitation housing project: Aseefa, World Bank MD distribute ownership rights certificates to women homeowners
HYDERABAD: Anna Bejerde, Managing Director of the World Bank, accompanied by First Lady Aseefa Bhutto Zardari, Sindh Chief Minister Syed Murad Ali Shah, and World Bank Country Director Najy Benhassine, visited the flood rehabilitation housing project in village Nazar Muhammad Laghari, Shaheed Benazirabad district. This project, under the Sindh Peoples Housing for Flood Affected (SPHF) programme, aims at rebuilding homes destroyed by the 2022 devastating floods. During the visit, First Lady Aseefa Bhutto and MD Anna Bejerde distributed ownership rights certificates to women homeowners and met with female members of the Village Reconstruction Committee (VRC), who showcased their handicraft work. The committee briefed that 32 homes were destroyed in the village, all of which have now been rebuilt. Anna Bejerde reaffirmed the World Bank's commitment to supporting the Sindh government in flood recovery efforts, praising the resilience of the local people and the leadership's dedication. She emphasised that sustainable community-level rehabilitation is achievable despite climate change challenges. First Lady Aseefa Bhutto Zardari highlighted that granting women ownership rights under the SPHF project is a historic socio-economic empowerment initiative by the Sindh government, significantly benefiting rural women. Sindh Chief Minister Syed Murad Ali Shah noted that over 2.4 million homes were destroyed in the 2022 floods. The WB initially provided $500 million to kick-start the recovery, later increasing funding by $450 million over two years. This support has helped construct 778,000 homes and allocated $54.92 million for Water, Sanitation, and Hygiene (WASH) benefiting 66,691 families in 1,000 villages. SPHF CEO Khalid Mahmood Sheikh briefed that in Shaheed Benazirabad alone, 104,822 homes were destroyed; about 60,000 are under construction while nearly 40,000 are completed. Across Sindh, over 111,000 disabled persons are receiving accessible homes, and more than 800,000 women have opened bank accounts for the first time, promoting financial inclusion. The programme has provided safe shelter to over 6 million people and created more than one million new jobs. This visit underscores the ongoing collaboration between the WB and Sindh government to restore livelihoods and empower vulnerable communities affected by climate-induced disasters. Copyright Business Recorder, 2025
Arab News
24-04-2025
- Health
- Arab News
Sindh CM, Islamic Development Bank discuss housing, women empowerment projects
ISLAMABAD: The chief minister of Pakistan's southern Sindh province discussed housing for flood affectees and women empowerment projects with a high-level delegation of the Islamic Development Bank (IsDB), state-run media reported on Thursday. The IsDB is financing $200 million for the reconstruction of houses for those affected by the catastrophic 2022 floods. Torrential rains and melting glaciers triggered flash floods across the country that killed over 1,700 people and caused damages worth $33 billion, according to Pakistan's estimates. Sindh Chief Minister Syed Murad Ali Shah met an IsDB delegation led by its Regional Director, Dr. Walid Abdelwahab, to discuss the Sindh Flood Emergency Housing Reconstruction Project (SFEHRP) and the Sindh Integrated Health and Women Empowerment Project. Both projects involve collaboration with the World Bank, the state-run Associated Press of Pakistan (APP) said. 'The chief minister welcomed Dr. Abdelwahab and expressed gratitude for the IsDB's support in rebuilding homes for the flood-affected population,' APP reported. Shah said the Sindh government, in partnership with international collaborators and NGOs, is actively implementing Water, Sanitation, and Hygiene (WASH) projects in various districts to improve public health, particularly in flood-affected and underserved communities. 'In response to the chief minister's request, the IsDB agreed to provide additional support for the WASH project,' the report said. Shah stressed that the SFEHRP and WASH projects have been designed to enable owner-driven, multi-hazard-resilient reconstruction of core housing units following the 2022 floods. The Sindh Integrated Health and Women Empowerment Project is a $280 million initiative that includes financing of $50 million from the IsDB, $30 million from the Sindh government, and $200 million from foreign fund assistance (FFA). Shah explained that the project aims to enhance the utilization and quality of reproductive, maternal, newborn, child, adolescent, and nutrition (RMNCAH+N) services for poor and vulnerable populations, particularly adolescents and women, in targeted areas of the province. 'The process to hire a third-party firm to oversee the skill development of 6,000 eligible women has begun in consultation with the IsDB,' the APP said. As part of the program, 124 government dispensaries will be rehabilitated and upgraded, with diagnostic and preliminary design reports already completed, the state-run media said.
Yahoo
30-03-2025
- Business
- Yahoo
NYC landlords fume over new composting fines turning them into dumpster divers: ‘Detached from reality'
Big Apple residents are legally required to compost their garbage, but steaming landlords say they're getting the rotten end of the deal by being forced into dumpster diving to comply. Starting Tuesday, the city will dish out $25 fines for failing to separate food scraps from regular trash. But for apartment buildings, the responsibility will fall on maintenance staffers rather than the residents, who can continue to chuck their coffee grinds and chicken bones down the garbage chute without consequence, property owners claim. 'We don't think that forcing hard-working building supers to be elbow-deep sorting through tenants' garbage — turning building maintenance into a daily dumpster dive — is where the government should be focusing their energy and resources right now,' railed Kenny Burgos, the New York Apartment Association CEO and former Bronx state rep, to The Post. 'The city has tossed us a mess without gloves.' Burgos has been protesting the composting mandate since before it went into effect in October as part of the Sanitation Department's ongoing war on rats, warning that the 'level of anonymity' in apartment buildings means the onus for sorting compost will fall on building management. For apartment buildings with four or more units, the mandate means adding another general bin specifically for composting, similar to how garbage and other recycling is sorted. All leaf and yard waste and food scraps, including food-soiled products such as paper plates and pizza boxes, are expected to be placed in composting bins. 'Every building in NYC handles trash differently, but for decades they have ALL been required to sort their recyclables — and now they are required to sort their compostable material as well,' said Vincent Gragnani, a spokesman for Sanitation, in an email. 'Whether that means bins on every floor or bins in one common area such as a basement would be up to the building management. The bottom line is that food and yard waste must be separated from trash and put out on recycling day so that we can turn it into finished compost or clean energy.' But New Yorkers haven't traditionally been good at recycling anything. Fewer than half of paper and cardboard that could be recycled in the city actually is, and just around 41% of plastic, glass, metal and cartons is tossed in the right bins, according to a study released by Sanitation last year. Landlords now fear that the fallout from residents not properly composting will only fall on them. 'I challenge the people who passed this law and are trying to implement it on the backs of the housing people in the city of New York to spend two weeks sorting through garbage to see how well it works, especially in a multifamily building with a huge garbage chute,' griped John Crotty, who manages multiple buildings across the city. Crotty slammed the law as 'ill-conceived,' claiming that tenants who are not interested in composting won't change their behavior because they won't be handed down the fine. The landlord expects his supers will now spend double the amount of time handling trash duties, which previously just amounted to bringing the garbage to the curb. 'If you've ever had to change diapers — that is disgusting. Now you have a garbage bag full of everyone else's diapers and everything else they have. Are you going to [send workers in there]? It's not kind to the people who work in the building,' Crotty said. 'They don't care bout the employees who work in these buildings at all,' he said of city officials. 'It is an impossible standard — it is detached from reality.' Starting Tuesday, residents will be able to call 311 to report buildings that are not helping them compost their trash.
Yahoo
25-03-2025
- Politics
- Yahoo
NYC Mayor Eric Adams expands portfolio of Kaz Daughtry, his controversial deputy mayor for public safety
NEW YORK — Mayor Eric Adams has quietly expanded the portfolio of Kaz Daughtry, his controversial public safety deputy, granting him the power to help run the law enforcement units of a slew of civilian New York City agencies, including the departments of Sanitation and Parks. The deputy mayor for public safety, a position Adams reintroduced to the municipal bureaucracy upon taking office in 2022, was previously tasked with just supervising the departments of Correction, Fire and Probation, as well as some smaller agencies and offices focused on criminal justice. But in an executive order issued Monday, Adams wrote that the public safety deputy is now also to 'maintain liaison with and review the activities of' the law enforcement units of 10 civilian agencies, including the departments of Parks, Sanitation, Health, Homeless Services, Environmental Protection and Citywide Administrative Services. The other four municipal agencies whose law enforcement units the public safety deputy will now also help oversee are the Administration for Children's Services, the Human Resources Administration, the Taxi and Limousine Commission and H + H, the city's public hospital system, Adams' order states. The 10 agencies, including their law enforcement units, previously reported to other deputy mayors. Spokespeople for Adams didn't immediately comment Tuesday on what prompted the reorganization or whether Daughtry's expanded duties come with any specific goals. Adams' new order also instructs Jacques Jiha, his budget director, to report directly to him instead of Randy Mastro, a Giuliani administration alum recently picked to become Adams' new first deputy mayor. The chain-of-command shuffle related to Jiha was first reported by Politico. The order gives Daughtry, an ex-NYPD official and close ally of Adams who has been at the center of a number of controversies, a much broader set of duties than both his predecessors, Chauncey Parker and Philip Banks, had on paper. Officers assigned to the law enforcement units of the 10 agencies in question generally don't wield firearms, but are equipped with non-lethal weapons like batons. They also have the power to conduct certain arrests and issue summonses for offenses on the premises managed by their agencies. For instance, the Department of Homeless Services' police force patrols city shelters. The expansion of Daughtry's portfolio comes after he has faced scrutiny over his tenure at the NYPD. As the NYPD's deputy commissioner of operations, he helped run the department's Community Response Team, whose members have faced intense criticism over misconduct accusations. Daughtry has over the course of his own police career racked up dozens of misconduct complaints and is facing an active Manhattan Supreme Court lawsuit over allegations that he body-slammed a protester in 2023. More recently, the Department of Investigation found Daughtry and other NYPD brass violated city policies and acted in an 'irresponsible and unprofessional' way by using their department social media accounts to attack lawmakers, journalists and others. Last week, the Daily News reported Daughtry, who lives on Long Island, was granted a waiver to circumvent the New York City residency requirement that comes with a deputy mayor post. Daughtry was tapped for the public safety role this month after Parker and three other deputy mayors resigned over concerns about Adams' ability to govern the city amid the Donald Trump Justice Department's effort to dismiss his corruption indictment with some unusual conditions attached, including a request for assistance with immigration enforcement. Adams has denied a quid pro quo with Trump and pleaded not guilty to his criminal charges. Though his duties were formally more limited than Daughtry's, Banks, an ex-NYPD chief close with Adams, was known to as deputy mayor for public safety exact significant influence over the operations of the Police Department. Banks resigned in October after being ensnared in a federal corruption investigation. _____
