Basic Needs Trust Fund (BNTF) 7th

The seventh phase of the Basic Needs Trust Fund (BNTF) in Jamaica, was launched by the Caribbean Development Bank (CDB) on July 25, 2013, with some US$6.89 million (JA $689 million) targeted primarily for education, sanitation and community access roads across the island.

The Basic Needs Trust Fund Programme is a regional grant-funded poverty reduction programme managed by the CDB.

Implemented by the Jamaica Social Investment Fund (JSIF), the project which will be implemented in communities across Jamaica, will see 52 per cent of funds being committed to school infrastructure and human-resource development, 24 per cent to community access roads and draining, and the remaining 24 per cent dedicated to water and sanitation.

Jamaica is one of 10 Caribbean countries benefiting from the BNTF. The Fund, initiated in 1979, is the CDB's flagship programme for poverty reduction. To date, there have been six replenishments of the programme.

The impact assessment of the sixth cycle indicated that the BNTF has contributed significantly to the development of new infrastructure, the repair and upgrading of existing infrastructure, and has also been active in the health and education sectors in Jamaica.

The seventh programme of the BNTF will be implemented over four years, ending in December 2016.