Press Release

US Embassy Awards Grants to NGOs

Ambassador Joseph LeBaron presided this morning at a ceremony to award grants totaling US $118,000 to four non-governmental organizations active in Mauritania.  The grants are intended to support these NGOs in their work.  These organizations were selected to receive the grants:

SOS Escalves: To create a Woman’s Center aimed at improving the socio-economic condition of abused and poor women through literacy training and the acquisition of practical skills that will enable them to generate their own income. 
Foundation Noura: For education and vocational training at the Women’s Prison and Juvenile Detention Center in Nouakchott.  The grant will also fund another training center in Nouakchott that will offer vocational training, adult literacy programs, and small business and computer classes, all aimed at assisting those who are poor and vulnerable.
Doulos: A project to enhance the DOULOS Center for Talibé boys.  The project will involve educational programs and vocational training that will improve the boys’ literacy, increase their employability, and broaden and enhance their outlook on life in order to better prepare them for life outside the Talibé system.
Caritas: To finance a project to shelter marginalized street children who have dropped out of school that will provide them with a civic education and functional knowledge to help them reintegrate into society.

The four grants were made under the Small Embassy Grants/G-TIP Program.

Nouakchott June 22, 2006