Page 77 - JSIF Magazine Approved-v2-web4

Creation & Evolution

of the Jamaica Social Investment Fund

By Michelle Moses, Monitoring & Evaluation Coordinator, JSIF

Background from other sources such as
• Inter-American Development Bank (IDB)
In May 1995 the Government of Jamaica (GOJ) identified social • Government of the Netherlands,
development and poverty eradication as central planks of its • Organisation of Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC)
Social Agenda, aimed at addressing the high rates of poverty • Department for International Development (DFID).
prevailing in the country. The National Poverty Eradication
Programme (NPEP) was developed as a central measure In the intervening years, additional Projects have been funded
in advancing this agenda, guided by the National Poverty through loans and grants secured from
Strategy which was grounded in the principles of Partnership, • Caribbean Development Bank (CDB),
Integration, Targeting and Participation. • Canadian International Development Agency (CIDA), the

Subsequently, the Jamaica Social Investment Fund (JSIF) was European Union (EU),
established in 1996 as a mechanism to assist in achieving • Japanese Social Development Fund (JSDF),
the abovementioned goal. The Fund was originally created • World Bank (WB)
as a four-year project geared toward channelling resources • PetroCaribe Development Fund (PDF).
to underserved communities and vulnerable groups. Due to
additional funding being realised over time, the Fund has been Conditionalities surrounding the financing required the GOJ
in operation for twenty (20) years and presently has agreements to provide counterpart funding under all loan and some grant
that will allow it to continue until 2022. Since inception, JSIF agreements. In addition to funding from development partners,
has sought to: the beneficiary communities were required to give a contribution
• Establish efficient and complementary mechanisms to in cash or kind, which was calculated at an agreed percentage of
the overall project cost as a means of encouraging ownership,
deliver basic services and infrastructure to the poor. empowerment and project sustainability.
• Mobilise and channel resources to the areas of social

assistance and basic social and economic infrastructure
• Increase the institutional capacity of governmental and

non-governmental entities to design, implement and
manage small community-based projects
• Assist in empowering communities through effective
participation

JSIF FINANCING The rehabilitated Contrivance road in Walderston Manchester which was funded
by the Community Investment Project.
Initial funding for JSIF was obtained from the International Bank
for Reconstruction & Development (IBRD) / World Bank (WB)
in the form of a US$20 million loan. Over the next five years,
starting in 1997, this financing helped to leverage assistance

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