Guyana will be among eight Caribbean States that will benefit from a recently announced, $40 Million in funding for poverty reduction in the region through the Basic Needs Trust Fund.

According to a statement from the Caribbean Development Bank, the resources will support improved access to quality education; water and sanitation; basic community access and drainage; livelihoods enhancement and human resource development services in low-income and vulnerable communities under the ninth phase of BNTF (BNTF 9).

The other countries that will benefit are Belize; the Commonwealth of Dominica; Grenada; Jamaica; Saint Lucia; St. Vincent and the Grenadines; and Suriname.

According to the CDB’s Director of Projects, Daniel Best, “The participating countries share many common characteristics and face a number of challenges inherent to small, open economies. BNTF 9 will respond to the development needs of these countries, which face challenges associated with limited diversity in production and extreme vulnerability to natural hazards, which is  now exacerbated by climate change and other external shocks”.

Initiatives under BNTF 9 will be implemented during the period March 2017 to December 2020. Governments of the eight participating countries will provide total counterpart funding of USD6.04 mn.

The Basic Needs Trust Fund has implemented more than 2,750 sub-projects over the past 37 years, directly impacting the lives of more than three million beneficiaries in poor communities. The programme is CDB’s main vehicle for tackling poverty in the Region, through the provision of basic infrastructure and skills training towards improving the livelihoods of beneficiaries in participating countries.

BNTF projects are implemented through grant financing from the Bank’s Special Development Fund.

Related posts:

Guyana among Caribbean Countries to benefit from Digital Education initiative Guyana to get millions in support for public infrastructure from British Government British government to push update of Security Programme and Infrastructure works under new grant initiative HIV affected children in Jamaica to benefit from new programme