International Center on Small Hydro Power and Partners Donate 240,000 Masks for COVID-19 Response

The International Center on Small Hydro Power (ICSHP) is a is a public and non-profit institution directly under auspices of United Nations Industrial Development Organization (UNIDO) and China’s Ministry of Water Resources and Ministry of Commerce. It serves as headquarters of the International Network on Small Hydro Power (INSHP). As of January 2021, ICSHP and its partners have donated 240,000 disposable surgical masks to support local COVID-19 responses, benefiting over ten developing countries in Africa, Asia and Pacific, and Latin America regions.

COVID-19 continues to rage across the globe, putting the global public health system to severe tests. Against this backdrop, the ICSHP has been providing swift responses to partners’ requests for support in fighting against the pandemic, since April 2020 with a donation jointly with the China Institute of Water Resources and Hydropower Research of 2000 masks to Mexican partners.

In May, the ICSHP donated 5,000 urgently needed protective masks to the Secretariat of the Common Market for Eastern and Southern Africa (COMESA). Secretary-General of COMESA and Honorary President of the COMESA Coordination Committee Ms. Chileshe Mpundu Kapwepwe attended the handover ceremony and expressed gratitude to the Chinese government and the ICSHP and indicated COMESA’s willingness to continue collaborating with the ICSHP in all relevant areas, in a Letter of Appreciate addressed to the Director-General of the ICSHP Prof. Liu Deyou.

At the start of 2020 when China was bearing the brunt of the COVID-19 outbreak, Ms. Kapwepwe extended condolences and support to the Chinese government and its people and commended what the Chinese government did in its fight against the coronavirus, through China’s Ambassador to Zambia.

In October, the ICSHP and the Dragon Design Foundation together donated 20,000 face masks to the UN System in Nigeria as part of the “Green Ribbon Action”. The UN Resident and Humanitarian Coordinator in Nigeria Mr. Edward Kallon appreciated ICSHP and partners for their contribution.

In December, the ICSHP responded to the calls of its Nepalese partners by donating 210,000 disposable medical masks to the municipal governments of Khajura and Bardaghat in Nepal. The donations were mobilized by the UN Office for South-South Cooperation (UNOSSC), under the South-South and Triangular Cooperation among Maritime-Continental Silk Road Cities Project (Cities Project). The UN Development Programme (UNDP) in Nepal participated in the handover ceremonies on behalf of the donors. UNDP in China supported the procurement and logistics of these masks. According to the two cities’ distribution plans, masks will be received by healthcare workers and volunteers as well as vulnerable groups, such as the elderly and children. The support was also extended to partner institution Nepal Academy of Science and Technology (NAST), which hosts the China-Nepal Joint Research Centre on Small Hydropower Project.

UNDP Nepal shared that they were delighted to participate in the two handover ceremonies and commended that this collaboration could contribute to UNDP’s overall COVID-19 response offering.

In 1994, as a joint initiative launched by the Chinese government and international organizations including the UN Industrial Development Organization (UNIDO) and UNDP, the INSHP was founded and headquartered in Hangzhou City, China, following multilateral consultations. As of today, the INSHP has been joined by more than 510 members based in over 87 countries and established three regional hubs in India, Nigeria, and Colombia respectively. For the past two decades and more, it has made immense contributions to deepening South-South cooperation.

The ICSHP is an important partner of the Global South-South Development Center Project (Global SSDC Project). With the support of the Global SSDC Project, the Development of Untapped SHP Potential in African Countries, a project with huge potential for development jointly initiated by the ICSHP, Nigeria’s Ministry of Science and Technology, Ghana’s Energy Commission, and the COMESA, was included in Good Practices in South-South and Triangular Cooperation for Sustainable Development – Volume 3. Under the South-South cooperation framework, ICSHP has organized a range of activities for technology transfer and demonstration, which improved the small hydropower (SHP) management and technology of Nigeria, Ghana, as well as countries in the Eastern and Southern Africa regions, promoted local SHP development as well as sustainable development in social, economic, and environmental dimensions, and contributed to the dissemination and replication of SHP good practices among other developing countries in the Africa region.

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