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World Bank Pledges More Assistance to Poverty Reduction Fund
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World Bank Pledges More Assistance to Poverty Reduction Fund
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Tuesday, February 13, 2001 – The World Bank has given the assurance that it will continue to support the operations of the Saint Lucia Poverty Reduction Fund (PRF) as it is satisfied with the output of the Fund over the last six months. Officials of the Bank are of the view that Saint Lucia’s approach to alleviating poverty is one that should be emulated by other Caribbean countries. A four-member delegation was on island last week, to review the operations of the PRF. Senior Social Protection Specialist at the World Bank, David Warren, says that with the PRF the Government of Saint Lucia has developed a programme that really takes the focus on community participation further than many of the social funds the World Bank has been working with. "There is a strong focus on community participation, ensuring that communities are involved in the decision making process; what projects they will invest in, that they participate in the implementation. These are challenges throughout the world and we are trying to assist as best we can in these areas. We hope that this can be a showcase in many respects for working with communities," said Warren. With the assurance given by the World Bank, Executive Director of the Poverty Reduction Fund Donavan Williams says work should commence later this year on developing projects in Dennery, Anse La Raye and Canaries. He added: "I believe that the efforts we have made in the last six months have brought us a lot closer to that aim. We recognise that as a young institution that is trying to develop an agency that is, in fact, very new to the Caribbean, that we have to show a certain level of flexibility in terms of our approach and this is why we lean on institutions like the World Bank to give us guidance and to help us make the changes that we need to along the way." The Poverty Reduction Fund was established just over two years ago and has spent, so far, just under $3.5 million on over 70 community projects. |
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