The World Bank’s 2011 Civil Society Grant Fund has allocated grants to four Jamaican NGOs to support them in the endeavor to keep boys and young men out of risk. The NGOs receiving the grant funds are: Northern Caribbean University, Project Hope, Spring Village Youth Transformation Project and Hibiscus Jamaica.
The grant funds were presented to the recipients, at a workshop held recently. The workshop also provided an opportunity to the 2010 recipients to share their project experiences
A total amount of US$30,000 is provided for various projects, to be undertaken by the recipients. These projects include training and counseling program for young fathers, establishing life-skills club for single men in rural community, summer-camp activities for inner city children and life skills training and remedial education for children of former female prisoners.
Yvonne Bignall of the Northern Caribbean University (NCU), said, “Thank you for….the opportunity to participate in what was a most useful and inspiring exercise. It was certainly a real pleasure to interact with fellow recipients, share the lessons learned, and celebrate our mutual achievements in our various community engagement activities,”
The primary goal of Ms. Bignall’s team at NCU’s Community Counselling and Restorative Justice Centre was to support young fathers in rural Jamaica, by helping them develop skills for parenting as well as employability. For the same purpose, the team enlisted 30 young fathers for an intensive one week camp, followed up by monthly mentoring sessions. The participants said that the program had helped empower them. All the participants attended a graduation ceremony for the program in June 2011. In fact, four graduates will be helping to implement the current year’s program.
Mavis Ferguson, who works with the faith-based initiative, Project Hope, said, “It was really a pleasure sharing and listening to the achievements of the programs that the Bank funded over the past year and receiving suggestions from all present and via satellite. Sincere thanks on behalf of Project HOPE Foundation for your support over the past year and for considering us again this year.”
Country Representative, Giorgio Valentini, remarked, “Young men in Jamaica are too often both the victims and perpetrators of violence and many boys run the risk of being left behind in the education system. It is encouraging to see that a number of stakeholders have recognized the need to create supportive environments to keep these boys and young men out of risk. We at the World Bank are happy to be able to support these efforts through the Civil Society Grant Fund for yet another year.”
