UN PROJECTS FOR HAITI ON GENDER-BASED VIOLENCE AND EDUCATION WIN APPROVAL

United Nations initiatives aimed at tackling gender-based violence in Haiti and improving the country's educational system are among 18 new projects approved today to help the Caribbean nation recover from January's devastating earthquake.

The new projects, totalling $777 million, were approved today by the Interim Haiti Recovery Commission (IHRC), co-chaired by Prime Minister Jean-Max Bellerive and former United States president Bill Clinton, who is currently the UN Special Envoy for Haiti.

Among them is a $10 million project from the UN Children's Fund (UNICEF) to support the Haitian Government and civil society in addressing gender-based violence.

Another UNICEF project, worth $25 million, will support a plan to assess the status of primary school facilities, improve available education infrastructure databases, and clear debris from damaged or destroyed schools.

It also aims to construct 200 semi-permanent learning facilities, assist in developing standards for permanent primary school construction, and build 10 pilot primary schools.

The IHRC, which was set up in April to coordinate and oversee the recovery and reconstruction campaign, has approved a total of 49 projects to date.

The 7.0-magnitude quake which struck Haiti on 12 January claimed more than 200,000 lives and left 1.3 million more people homeless. Countless buildings, including Government facilities, hospitals and schools, were also destroyed.