UN programme to provide grants up to $.3M

The United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) yesterday launched its Small Grants Programme (SGP) which will provide grants of up to TT $300,000, as well as technical support, to non-governmental organisations (NGOs) and community-based organisations (CBOs) to assist in the improvement of the standard of living of the poorest communities in Trinidad and Tobago.

The launch was held at UN House, Chancery Lane, PoS. For the programme, the UNDP will be working in conjunction with the Ministry of Public Utilities and the Environment and the Office of the Prime Minister, Social Services Delivery. The newest SGP is an expansion of the existing Global Environmental Facility (GEF) programme, geared at reducing poverty, environmental degradation, HIV/AIDS, gender equality and weak governance.

According to Dr Inyang Ebong-Harstrup, resident UNDP representative, the Small Grants Programme is the UNDP’s “downstream programme,” which was established to ensure the improvement in the quality of life at all levels. It also seeks to address poverty reduction at the community level in TT, through increased awareness, education, the promotion of sustainable livelihoods and capacity-building. The present GEF/SGP is one of two SGPs implemented by the UNDP in Trinidad and Tobago within the past decade. The other is the Partners Development Programme, which ended in 1999. “Many lessons were learnt along the way,” she stated, “principal among them being sustainability at both organisation and project levels.”

Dr Harstrup revealed that a National Steering Committee (NSC) was recently appointed to oversee the administering of resources available through the programme. The NSC comprises 15 stakeholder representatives, inclusive of  NGOs, CPOs, private sector companies, Government Ministries and members of the Tobago House of Assembly. The SGPs, she continued, are part of the UNDP’s mandate to assist Government in achieving the specific targets of the Millennium Development Goals by 2015. She called on the local business sector to commit the necessary resources to facilitate sustained community participation and benefits. This was important for the realisation of growth, she asserted.