Financing available from Basic Needs Trust Fund
The launch of the fifth cycle of the Basic Needs Trust Fund got underway this morning in Belmopan. The programme is intended to allow poverty-stricken communities, especially in the south, to receive financing for upliftment projects. Over twelve million dollars in grants from the Caribbean Development Bank is now available to community groups. Patrick Jones was in Belmopan today to find out how organisations can access the funds.
Oscar Alonzo, Project Manager, B.N.T.F.
“The intention is to target these funds to the poorest of the poor. As you are aware, we just had a poverty study done. We’ll try to see how that poverty study can help us identify the poorer sections of our community for them to be able to access these funds.”
Patrick Jones, Reporting
The procedures on how to go about accessing those funds is being explained to civil society organisations and other community groups over the next two days. Alonzo says the money is not for individuals, but for projects that will benefit the masses.
Oscar Alonzo
“The funds will be mainly to finance basic social infrastructure in the area of water and sanitation, which will involve the construction of rudimentary water systems and extension of existing ones. We’ll also be able to finance additional schools space in the education sector, including furniture. Well be able to finance access roads, feeder roads, drains, footpaths, small bridges. Also community markets, especially craft markets in which we want to get involved to be able to have an outlet for the poor to be able to sell their wares, especially in relation to tourism.”
At the opening of the workshop at the George Price Centre in Belmopan, Minister of National Development, Prime Minister Said Musa, said that although millions of dollars have been spent on poverty alleviation, there is room for improvement.
Prime Minister Said Musa
“I believe we have to be more focussed in what we do in terms of poverty reduction. The programmes in education I believe have been successful. The programmes in making greater access to health care, health centres, health posts in rural communities I think is also vital and must continue. We have carried out a significant amount of that in the last five years, but we have to continue with that. Where I think we need to have greater focus is in skills training, in incoming generating projects, not short-term things, but capacitating people. They must take ownership of these projects to ensure that there is sustainability. In the end, it comes down to creating investment opportunities and creating jobs for people.”
Musa says all pockets of poverty in Belize will be touched by the programme.
Prime Minister Said Musa
“We can’t isolate any one area. There are different degrees of poverty and we have to ensure that we analyse the situation properly. I for one have questioned the methodology employed at arriving at thirty-three point five percent poverty level in our country. But putting that aside the truth of the matter is we need to analyse this situation some more and come up with meaningful solutions.”
In addition to the grant, Prime Minister Musa told News 5 that Belize has borrowed an additional fourteen million dollars from the C.D.B. to be used in poverty alleviation initiatives. Chairman of the Alcalde Association, Juan Ak, says villages in remote areas of the Toledo and Stann Creek districts will access to help with the upgrading of infrastructure.
Juan Ak, Chairman, Alcalde Association
“What we believe is that with more farmer’s roads, that farmers access to their farms and things like that… and marketing is one of the most important things that would benefit the people. If we have the market, we are sure that what the people produce will sell. And I know that will benefit those people by having roads and other things like that. Water system, what we are looking after the water system, is the health of the people. That is why the water system is very important for the communities that are in the remote villages.”
Patrick Jones, for News 5.
Belize is one of ten Caribbean countries to benefit from the Caribbean Development Bank’s Basic Needs Trust Fund. B.N.T.F. Five provides grants totalling fifty-six million U.S. dollars. It is estimated that throughout the region some two thousand, five hundred sub-projects will receive financing.
