Several N.G.O.’s Receive Grants from the Ministry of Blue Economy

Earlier today, several non-government organizations received grant funding from the Ministry of the Blue Economy through the Belize Fund for Sustainable Future. The eleven point five million dollars were derived as a result of the Blue Bond agreement, through payments made by the government to help meet the conservation commitments of the Blue Bond agreement. There is an annual allocation that is provided to the organizations that manage coastal or marine resources. C.E.O. in the Ministry of the Blue Economy, Kennedy Carrillo and the Executive Director of the Belize Fund for Sustainable Future, Doctor Leandra Cho Ricketts explain what their respective entity’s roles are.

Kennedy Carrillo

Kennedy Carrillo, C.E.O., Blue Economy & Civil Aviation

“One of the responsibilities of the government is to invest into what we call the Belize Fund for a Sustainable Future, $8 million annually. And so this is our first ever as the Belize Fund for a Sustainable Future that we are dispersing among not only governmental entities, but also non-governmental.”

Marion Ali

“So how are these groups selected? Was it a selection process and the amount that they got?”

Kennedy Carrillo

“Well, first of all, it is divided in two. We have what we call the government strategic allocations, which specifically provides funding to government entities with responsibilities for meeting the milestones, for example, the Fisheries Department, Coastal Zone Management Authority and Institute, the Forestry Department and so forth. And then we have another component, which is called the Grants Awards Program, which is pretty much open to NGOs, any entity that is not government. And I want to highlight that the efforts that are being made through this particular fund is to ensure that everyone can have an equal ground on which to compete for these grants. And so even small organizations that may not have the capacity in grant writing, for example, we encourage them to apply because we have a technical team that reviews their proposal and works with them to strengthen that. And I think that is something that we want to highlight because it’s not business as usual in terms of donors. It’s making sure that everyone that is out in the space doing the work can qualify and can benefit from this fund.”

Leandra Cho Ricketts

Leandra Cho Ricketts, Executive Director, Belize Fund for Sustainable Future

“Our role is to work with government, work with non-government sector in helping to see the best application of the funding that we have here. And in some instances we’ll be looking at leveraging that to be able to raise more funds to invest into managing our coastal and marine resources or, or our blue spaces as, as they’re referred to. So the Ministry Blue Economy is an important partner for the Belize Fund for Sustainable Future.”