DUSHANBE, December 5, 2012, Asia-Plus  -- Association for Aid and Relief, Japan (AAR Japan) and Japan’s Embassy in Dushanbe have reportedly signed a grant agreement on training rehabilitation experts and providing medical equipment for children with disabilities.

According to press release issued AAR Japan’s office in Tajikistan, AAR Japan starts a one-year grant project, which will provide training rehabilitation experts and medical equipment for children with disabilities.  The project is funded by the Government of Japan with 616,860 U.S. dollars.

AAR Japan aims to expand the capacity of children’s rehabilitation center in the Vahdat Township through renovating hospital building and providing medical equipment.  Furthermore, a Japanese occupational therapist will train staff members of the centre and other hospitals.

Wheelchairs and assistive devices, which are specially designed for children with disabilities, will be provided to the rehabilitation centers in Vahdat and Khujand (Sughd province).

A local wheelchair factory “Dilshod”, which AAR Japan has been assisting, will provide these wheelchairs and other assistive devices.  Technical training for Dilshod staff members will also be conducted by Japanese occupational therapist and wheelchair specialist.

AAR Japan held a signing ceremony to commemorate the start of the project with Mr. Hiroyuki Imahashi, Ambassador, Japan’s Embassy in Dushanbe on December 4, 2012.  Yoshio Nakagawa, program coordinator of AAR Japan’s Tajikistan office commented that social integration and independent living would be promoted by this project.

AAR Japan was founded in 1979 by Yukika Sohma, its first chairperson, with a mission to help refugees from Indochina, and as a civil organization without any political, religious, or ideological affiliations.  It has since then grown into an international organization approved and registered by the United Nations.  AAR has special consultative status with the Economic and Social Council (ECOSOC) of the United Nations and it seeks to contribute to international cooperation through supporting refugees.  Since 1997, the organization has become one of the 16 members of the Coordinating Committee of the International Campaign to Ban Landmines (ICBL), co-laureate of Nobel Peace Prize in 1997.  AAR is now operational in many mine-affected countries, such as Afghanistan, Angola, Cambodia, Myanmar and the former Yugoslavia.