Page 55 - JSIF Magazine Approved-v2-web4

“It has unfortunately been the view that a people’s social
well-being has been held hostage to the imperatives
of macro economic policy and that programmes .bravely
announced at the start of a fiscal year become the subject
of cutbacks as a government grapple with the problems of
structural adjustment. The need of young people for basic
schools and skills, the need for health centres and community
centres, the claims of minor economic infrastructure like feeder
roads and small enterprises are not dealt with and the .people
begin to lose faith in the political process. It has been the policy become assets rather than liabilities to our society. I hope that
of the World Bank to encourage and to finance programmes
such as the Social Investment Fund that will address these
issues and form part of the dynamic effort aimed at improving
social well-being.
The Jamaica Social Investment Fund will try to strengthen
the organisations that can be the vehicles of community
development such as; non-governmental organisations
and community-based organisations that understand and
are in touch with the peoples’ needs and that can insulate
the programme from partisan or bureaucratic forces. The
programme aspires as well to respond to the expressed needs
of the people rather than to tell the people what they need. This
“As Chairman of the Board of the Social Investment, I
look forward with a great deal of hope to the official
launch of JSIF. As Director of the Planning Institute of Jamaica
where the project Preparation Monitoring Unit for JSIF resided, I
became intimately involved in the preparation of this innovative
project. As we learnt more about the aims and objectives
of JSIF. it was with a sense of mission that the team put its
energy into the development and now the implementation of
this project. The interest and involvement of our partners; the
World Bank, the Inter- American Development Bank and the
European Union, and other potential donors, as well as private
sector individuals, was particularly satisfying.
JSIF is the embodiment of the principles that must drive social
policy in Jamaica today. It represents a new approach to the
provision of opportunities for the poorest communities, many
of whom are currently under-served by existing programme
and approaches. JSIF will channel investment to communities
by working in partnership with the private sector, non-
governmental and community-based organisations, as well
as the Government of Jamaica to build up the basic social
and economic infrastructure. A major objective is to rebuild
programme will be funded largely by the World Bank and the
Inter-American Development Bank. The need is greatest in the
poorest communities to which this programme is directed.
In their persistent poverty the people feel increasingly that
the government is not working on their behalf arid they feel
they have nothing to live for and no reason to conform to the
standards of social behaviour that is expected of them. The
prudent investment of these funds gives people real hope so
that they regain faith in themselves and in the system and
this programme succeeds and becomes a model.”
RT. HON. EDWARD SEAGA, MP
FORMER LEADER OF THE OPPOSITION
(Excerpt from Official Statement- Launch of the Jamaica Social Investment
Fund)
Published in the Jamaica Gleaner, November 27, 1996.
hope for our people. The vast experience of our people and
communities demonstrates that there are many innovative,
indigenous industries and local competencies which with the
right amount of assistance can be built into income-generating
and profitable projects for the benefit of all Jamaica. I am
equally proud of the commitment demonstrated by the interim
Board and the current Board of Directors to ensure that the
project keeps to its original mandate to be transparent and non-
partisan.”
DR WESLEY HUGHES
FORMER CHAIRMAN, JAMAICA SOCIAL INVESTMENT FUND
(Excerpt from Official Statement- Launch of the Jamaica Social Investment Fund)
Published in the Jamaica Gleaner, November 27, 1996.
55