The First European Union Poverty Reduction Programme (PRP I)

The first Poverty Reduction Programme (PRP - I) is a project of the European Union, which was financed by a 6 million Euro grant to the Government of Jamaica and implemented by the Jamaica Social Investment Fund (JSIF). On November 20, 2000 and December 11, 2000 the European Commission (EC) and the Government of Jamaica (GoJ), respectively, signed Financing Agreement No. 6349/JM. The PRP - I had an initial Closing Date of December 31, 2005 but was extended to June 30, 2006. The project was designed to improve living conditions in underserved communities; by providing access to quality basic infrastructure and services such as, sanitation, water and health. The Programme ensured that participating communities were involved in all stages of the project. The Community Based Organization (CBO), which initiated the project, had full responsibility for its implementation.The PRP - I projects utilized the Community Driven Development (CDD) methodology that seeks to allow communities greater control over their own development. The mechanism that was used for this was Community Based Contracting (CBC), where the community groups were trained to undertake the procurement of goods and services and implement the project while the JSIF played the role of facilitator.