CHILD SURVIVAL and development and environmental projects valued at over $170 million were presented to over 53 groups by the Environmental Foundation of Jamaica (EFJ) at its grant award ceremony at Kings House on Tuesday.
The Foundation, which is currently celebrating its 10 anniversary has given out grants totaling more than $300 million since January.
The new projects will tackle various environmental and child issues. In accepting the grants on behalf of the recipients in the AID Debt category, Carol Samuels, executive director of the Jamaica Coalition on the Rights of The Child noted that this would definitely advance their causes to reach children.
"If we love our children, our children must know. They will know because we tell them and the level of investment we place in them," she said.
Grants in excess of $50 million were awarded to recipients in that category while recipients in the PL480 catergory received more than $117 million.
The Environmental Foundation of Jamaica was created in 1992 by the Governments of Jamaica and the United States of America, under the Enterprise for the Americas Debt Reduction Agreement. Under the terms of the agreement, interest incurred on certain debts owed to the U.S. Government by Jamaica have been converted into an environmental fund which is administered by the Foundation.
