We met Martinez today as the Belize Social Investment Fund was about to receive its largest amount of funding through the Caribbean Development Bank under its Basic Needs Trust Fund. SIF held a launch ceremony today as they prepare to begin their 11th cycle under the program. Jomarie Lanza was at the event:
Belize and the Caribbean Development Bank are marking a historic milestone in their 56-year partnership. Today, they officially launched the 11th cycle of the Basic Needs Trust Fund. The program which designs community projects for vulnerable areas is getting its biggest boost yet. Belize is set to receive just over 10 million US dollars in grant funding for this new cycle. CDB's Vice President highlighted the achievement today, calling it a major step forward for inclusive development:
Dr. Isaac Solomon, Vice President, Operations, Caribbean Development Bank
"So, in 25 years, we have invested 23.79 million dollars across 79 projects in education, water and sanitation, capacity building, and so on. So, this new cycle, we are allocating 5.2 million USD. It is now up to the Government of Belize to program that 5.2 million dollars that they see fit, but again, to appeal to the most vulnerable in our communities."
Dr. Isaac Solomon
"The Caribbean Development Bank is a multilateral development institution with very stringent policies and procedures of the high standards, and so we apply those standards across all our interventions in all borrowing member countries."
SIF has identified 6 new projects for this upcoming cycle, and their executive director gave us the details on what those exciting new developments will be.
Carlos Tun, Executive Director, BSIF
"There are two sectors that BNTF works with: the education sector and the water sector. For the education sector, we have four programs or four subprojects, I would call it the Kiddy Kinder in Corozal, which is a preschool; the construction also of a primary school, that is St. Paul's Anglican in Corozal; and also the Pete Lizarraga Preschool in San Estevan; and the St. John Baptist School in St. Joseph, that is in Toledo. And then we have 2 water sectors: Fire Burn in Orange Walk and Otoxha in Toledo."
Carlos Tun
"It is very important in terms of what we do at the bank; we have to follow the guidelines of the bank. First of all, we have to start off by getting a consultant, and at this point, we are getting those consultants. The consultants will be doing the design, and after the design, then we will hire a contractor to do the implementation and reconstruction of the works."
Reporter
"What is the timeline for that?"
Carlos Tun
"We already started with getting the consultants, so we estimate by the end of this year we should already have those designs, and by the end of next year, we are supposed to get the contractors, and that will take us maybe to a year of implementation."
