Inner City Basic Services for the Poor Project (ICBSP)

Inner City Basic Services for the Poor Project (ICBSP)

The Inner City Basic Services for the Poor Project (ICBSP) was funded by a US$29.3 million loan from the International Bank for Reconstruction and Development (IBRD), with counterpart funding of US$3.5 million from the Government of Jamaica (GoJ), amounting to a total project cost of US$32.8 million. Loan Agreement No. 4819-JM was signed on May 4, 2006 and became effective ninety days thereafter, with a Closing Date of December 31, 2011. The project was given an additional extension by the IBRD and was concluded on December 31, 2013. The ICBSP project was implemented in twelve pre-selected inner city communities in Kingston, St. Andrew, St. Catherine, St. James and Clarendon.

The project design centered around the GoJ identifying inner city renewal; with a focus on crime and violence prevention,  as a key priority. This was conceptualized within the context of the development of a comprehensive inner city renewal programme, which aims to provide a general framework for integrating the dimensions of human, social, economic and environmental development of inner city communities. The project was, therefore, structured with three components as follows:

  

Component 1: Access to Services
 

  • Basic infrastructure comprising integrated network infrastructure in project areas for water, sanitation, drainage, secondary and tertiary roads, community centres, recreational facilities; installation of community garbage skips; replacement of zinc fencing with alternative perimeter fencing; street lighting and the regularization of illegal electricity connections.

  • Access to financial services which facilitates access to microfinance services in project areas, for productive purposes and incremental home improvements were also provided. This was done through performance-based service contracts, aimed at creating incentives for existing financial institutions to provide microfinance services in project areas.

  • Land tenure regularization, which finances the implementation of a pilot land titling initiative and technical assistance for the preparation of a national policy on squatter management and informal urban settlements.

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Component 2: Public Safety Enhancement and Capacity Building
 

  • This component financed integrated packages of consultant services and training, and technical assistance, focused on both short-term mitigation and conflict resolution and medium-term social prevention and capacity enhancement interventions.

  • In particular, this subcomponent facilitated the delivery of violence prevention services in social prevention areas, including mediation and conflict resolution; alternative livelihoods and skills development; family support programmes such as Bridge Jamaica ; youth education and recreation; and Community-Based Organization (CBO) capacity building.

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Component 3: Project Management
 

This consists of financed consultant services, training, goods and operating costs for project management and administration.

Selection of Benefitting Communities

The selection of project communities was carried out by an inter-agency panel, comprising the Planning Institute of Jamaica (PIOJ), the Ministry of National Security, the Social Development Commission (SDC) and the JSIF. The aim of the selection process was to ensure that high priority areas with respect to public safety were given preference.

 

The communities were selected using stringent criteria and taking into consideration, communities where there is greatest need. The criteria used for selecting the communities were:

  • Poverty levels
  • Access to household water connections
  • Crime and violence characteristics (levels and ability to intervene)
  • Strength of community-based organizing
  • Tenure considerations associated with the settlement