(CARICOM Secretariat, Turkeyen, Greater Georgetown, Guyana) THE CARICOM Development Fund (CDF) is reporting satisfactory progress in its work, as a team led by its Chief Executive Officer (CEO), Ambassador Lorne McDonnough, has commenced a series of consultative missions to Less Developed Countries (LDCs) in CARICOM.
During the mission’s recent visit to Antigua and Barbuda, Ambassador McDonnough updated the media on the progress the organization has made since its inception last year.
He said the CDF had made satisfactory progress in keeping with the projected schedule established by the CDF Board and set out by the CDF Chairman, Dr. Shelton Nicholls, at a press conference in December of last year. Governance regulations and procedures are being considered by the Board and the CDF is preparing to receive requests for funding by July this year.
Ambassador McDonnough explained that it is anticipated that by the third quarter of this year, two or three interventions would be made and the first round of funds allocated. “We’re on target with that; the budget has been approved by the Board, and the work programme is well underway,” he said.
“The resource mobilization programme is yet to be fully activated. We have done a number of sensitisation missions but we haven’t launched that programme in full bloom yet, because we have to ensure that we tie down all our governance regulations and procedures because as you go to donor partners, they want to ensure that you have the regulations and procedures in place that ensure transparency and the efficient management of donor funds,” Mc Donnough said.
Ambassador McDonnough also spoke about a needs assessment survey and explained that the visits made during this series of consultative missions will enable the CDF delegation to report to the Board on areas where the LDCs may be disadvantaged, and assist in the identification of areas where the CDF may be of greatest assistance. He explained that this would help the CDF Board in the decision-making process.
In addition to Antigua and Barbuda, the CDF delegation visited St. Vincent and the Grenadines and St. Kitts and Nevis. The CEO also met with the Grenadian Cabinet on Monday, 15 June 2009. The series of missions will continue this month, and conclude with a visit to Belize in the first half of July.
The Barbados-based CARICOM Development Fund was established under Article 158 of the Revised Treaty of Chaguaramas to address the disadvantages arising from the implementation of the CARICOM Single Market and Economy (CSME) process.
