UNAMID conducted sensitization of local community members over a completed project, funded by the Government of Japan, which consists of two classrooms, a meeting room, a teachers' accommodation and water facility in Begayla village, a semi-sedentary community  settlement in Bahr Arab locality, located 73 kilometers south-west of El Daein, East Darfur.

The classrooms will benefit more than 300 students from the Begayla area and the neighboring villages while the water tank and the rehabilitation of a borehole, complete with an overhead water tank, generator and fencing, will enable the communities and their livestock to have safe drinking water.

Addressing the community leadership, UNAMID emphasized that the project was implemented thanks to the generous financial contribution of the Government of Japan, and encouraged the local population of Begayla to appreciate the donor’s support and maintain the constructed school facility in good shape for the benefit of their communities.

Mr. Ahmed Ali Alhaji, youth leader and spokesperson of the community, stated that UNAMID has greatly impacted the lives of communities through the good will of Japanese people in remote and isolated areas, and requested additional support in constructing a maternity center. Meanwhile, other projects also funded by the Government of Japan, such as clinics and schools in Um Douban and Um Seneina villages (containing accommodation for health and teaching staff) located in the same Bahr Arab locality, promoted access of local community members to health, education and water facilities.

Bahr Arab locality is a remote and isolated area in East Darfur, and for a long time teaching and health personnel could not be deployed to those areas because of lack of accommodation. Now, with financial support of the Government of Japan, despite the challenges with access to some of the remote and isolated areas, the deteriorating situation with education, health and water for this semi-sedentary population in East Darfur has been alleviated. The arrangements for a formal hand-over ceremony will be discussed in consultation with the Embassy of Japan in Sudan and local authorities.