Dr. Omar Davies (centre), Minister of Finance and Planning, examines a Real Madrid jersey presented to him by Spain's Ambassador to Jamaica, Jesús Silva (right), while Ambassador Marco Mazzocchi-Alemanni, head of delegation of the European Union to Jamaica, looks on. The occasion was the signing of the financing agreement for the poverty-reduction programme between the Government of Jamaica and the European Union yesterday, at the Ministry of Finance's Heroes Circle office in Kingston. - Rudolph Brown/Chief Photographer

GOVERNMENT AND the European Union (EU) yesterday signed a financing agreement to launch phase two of the poverty-reduction programme which was first launched in 2002.

Finance and Planning Minister Dr. Omar Davies and Ambassador Marco Mazzocchi-Alemanni, head of the EU's delegation inJamaica, signed the J$900 million agreement at the minister's National Heroes Circle office in Kingston. Forty communities islandwide will benefit from the programme, which is primarily funded by the EU and managed by Government's Jamaica Social Investment Fund (JSIF).

Dr. Wesley Hughes, director general at the Planning Institute of Jamaica (PIOJ), said the areas have not been identified. He said the JSIF will use similar selection criteria as phase one of the programme.

"In some instances, we will look at the level of poverty, basic infrastructure needs and crime," Dr. Hughes said. "But, very important (is) the involvement of the community; the community has to be responsive to its own needs."

Jamaica has received $1.5 billion in assistance under the poverty-alleviation programme and several communities in inner-city Kingston and rural areas have benefitted from the funding.

St. Andrew, St. Catherine, St. Mary, Portland and Trelawny got the lion's share of money and assistance, with repairs to schools, roads and sanitary facilities. Some of the major poverty-reduction programme projects included infrastructure improvement in Rose Town, located in the constituency of South St. Andrew; the building of a skills training centre in Crooked River, Clarendon, and the refurbishing of the Falmouth market in Trelawny.