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CALLS green house project
The Dominica Social Investment Fund (DSIF) is seeking to complete all its projects under the European Union grant arrangement before year end.
By the end of the year the organization will have spent over EC$10M on forty-six (46) projects and a series of capacity building training programmes.
Currently, more than half of the 46 projects have been 100% complete with the balance scheduled to be completed by the end of November, The final 10 micro projects which were funded recently have all begun and will also be completed by the end of November.
The largest projects were the assistance to West Coast Fishermen to replace fishing equipment and supplies to include boats and outboard engines costing EC$2.8M and the construction of a sea-wall and road re-instatement in the Tan-Tan area costing EC$1M both following loss and damage caused by the passage of Hurricane Omar in 2008.
Other large projects in excess of a quarter million dollars were the Shaw-Shaw, Petite Soufriere road rehabilitation costing EC$542,000.00; the Penville Social Enhancement Project costing EC$321,000.00; the Big River Bakery Project in Bataca costing EC$283,000.00; the Dominica Cadet Corps Behavioural and Skills Development Project costing EC$670,000.00; Capuchin Water Improvement Project costing EC$836,000.00; National Children’s Home at Jimmit costing EC$609,000.00; Equipment for Grotto Home for the aged costing EC$250,000.00 and Capacity Building and Facility Upgrade Project for the Alpha Center costing EC$322,000.00. EC$350,000 was also allocated for a new Country Poverty Assessment. This was to conduct a microeconomic and institutional analysis of the country and a household survey to look at living conditions.
There were other projects which attracted significant funding. These included Empowering Youth for Development – CALLS which got EC$126,000.00; Capacity Building and Facility Upgrade Project for the Social Center EC$$137,000.00; Access to Community facilities at Cray Fish River EC$216,000.00; Boetica Capacity Building Program – Training in Animal Husbandry EC$155,000.00; Woodbridge Bay Fisheries Marketing Project EC$113,000.00; Dominica Early Intervention Programme for Children with Disabilities within the ages of 0 – 5 EC$123,000.00; Dubique/Stowe Fisheries Development Project EC$147,000.00; Optimizing the use of Greenhouse Technology in Dominica – National Youth in Agriculture EC$143,000.00 and Boetica Integrated Development Programme EC$200,000.00.
DSIF also spent EC$120,000.00 on training geared at strengthening capacity of Governmental agencies, Non-governmental Organization (NGO’s) and Community Based Organization (CBO’s). These training programs were in Monitoring and Evaluation, Office and Administrative Management, Leadership, Financial Management, Project Management, Proposal Writing, and Early Childhood Education.
Meantime, Thousands of Dominicans have benefitted from the programmes of the Dominica Social Investment Fund (DSIF) both directly and indirectly.
More than 400 persons have benefitted directly from a number of training programmes organized by the organization to strengthen and build capacity among Governmental Agencies and Non-governmental Organizations and Community Based Organizations. Almost 300 hundred persons benefited directly from short term employment while almost 14,000 persons are benefitting from the various community and organizational programmes.
Also, there were a number of National projects which also benefitted thousands of Dominicans.
The Dominica Social Investment Fund (DSIF) is a programme of the Government of Dominica funded by the European Union (EU). It assists in the creation of an environment conducive to fostering a culture of self-reliance and well-being of vulnerable groups and poor communities in Dominica.
DSIF will no longer provide any more funding for projects until the future of the organization is determined since the European Union Funding will be exhausted by year end.
