El Geneina, 17 June 2009 – The deputy head of the joint African Union-United Nations Mission in Darfur (UNAMID) said today that the Mission hopes to implement more “quick impact projects” (QIPs) across the region to help local communities rehabilitate schools, improve hospitals and strengthen vital infrastructure.

Speaking during a visit to the site of a successful QIP in the West Darfur capital, El Geneina, Mr. Henry Anyidoho, UNAMID’s Deputy Joint Special Representative (DJSR), said the projects offered a way for the Mission to engage with the community to directly benefit towns and villages.

But he said he wanted more participation from local communities in determining priority projects – QIPs are small-scale projects, funded by the Mission, which can be implemented rapidly and are of concrete benefit to local communities.

Mr. Anyidoho toured El Geneina Hospital, which is already both the busiest hospital in the state and the subject of increasing demand. The hospital is being supported by two QIPs (worth a total of $46,000) to rehabilitate the operating theatre and to buy advanced equipment for its ophthalmology section.

The hospital’s Dr Balla Abbas said the funding from the QIPs was making a critical difference, given the estimated 350 operations performed at the hospital each month. He said the hospital plans to apply for more QIP funding in the future to buy more equipment and alleviate overcrowding in the wards.

“We will try to support you,” Mr. Anyidoho said. “You are in the life-saving business.”

On the final day of a two-day visit to West Darfur, Mr. Anyidoho also addressed today a conflict resolution workshop in El Geneina organized by UNAMID’s civil affairs division for representatives of the Transitional Darfur Regional Authority (TDRA).

He also spoke with representatives of a grassroots committee established near El Geneina to overcome troubled relations between an Arab settlement and residents of a nearby internally displaced persons (IDPs) camp, and praised them for their initiative in trying to end division.