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The Duke of Edinburgh Award Programme, which has been operating in Jamaica since 1961, has been moulding the character of thousands of Jamaicans for over 40 years. Director of the programme in Jamaica, Vernon Derby, explains to JIS News that the Duke of Edinburgh's programme enables young people to participate in a number of activities and learn a skill. "Of...

The Hurricane Dean Rehabilitation project has received $981.55 million for the 2008/2009 financial year. This is outlined in the Estimates of Expenditure, which is now before the House of Representatives. The project, which is funded by the Government and the Caribbean Development Bank (CDB), aims to complete the rehabilitation works and undertake 90 per cent of the sea defence works...

The Ministry of Transport and Works has been allocated $900 million to fund the Emergency Assistance for Hurricane. As revealed in the 2008/09 Estimates of Expenditure which is now before the House of Representatives, the project seeks to restore flood damaged areas to pre-flood conditions in order to facilitate normal maintenance. Anticipated physical targets for the new financial year include...

The Jamaica Social Investment Fund (JSIF) will, during the 2008/09 fiscal year, receive $1.17 billion to respond to the needs of the most vulnerable groups in the country. As outlined in the Estimates of Expenditure, now before the House, this is being done by the continued establishment of an efficient and demand driven mechanism to deliver basic services in order...

A sum of $3.09 million has been allocated in the 2008/09 Estimates of Expenditure to the Natural Hazard Management in Urban Coastal Areas project, to strengthen disaster risk management in towns and cities located in such areas. Funded by the Government and the Inter-American Development Bank (IDB), the specific objectives of the project are to improve co-ordination among the Office...

The Jamaica Information Service (JIS) has been allocated $63 million in the 2008/09 Estimates of Expenditure, now before the House of Representatives, for the purchase of equipment and furniture. This money will be used to purchase a standby generator; computers and auxiliary equipment; televisions and other multimedia equipment; photography equipment; a Xerox work centre; and an air conditioning unit for...

Transport and Works Minister, Mike Henry, has called on the United Nations General Assembly to foster the establishment of a Global Motor Vehicle Safety Standard, to help keep down road fatalities worldwide. The proposal was part of the Minister's address to the 62nd Session of the General Assembly, yesterday (March 31), which focused on the global road safety crisis. A...

The Ministry of Justice, in association with the Justice Training Institute, yesterday (March 31), launched the Commonwealth Project on Capacity Building in Combating Terrorism, at the Jamaica Pegasus Hotel in New Kingston. The project will train 40 trainers and specialists from Jamaica and across the Caribbean. Minister of Justice and Attorney General, Senator Dorothy Lightbourne lauded the Commonwealth Secretariat for...

A sum of $174 Million has been earmarked in the 2008/09 Estimates of Expenditure, currently before the House of Representatives, to undertake the Modern Agricultural Technology and Capacity Building project in the Ministry of Agriculture. The three-year project, which commences in April 2008, is divided into two areas, one focusing on marine products and environmental stewardship, for which $107.9 million...

The National Road Services Improvement programme has received $656.5 million for the 2008/09 financial year. According to the Estimates of Expenditure, which is now before the House of Representatives, the programme is being funded by the Government and the Inter-American Development Bank (IDB). The programme seeks to promote the creation of a self sustainable system for the provision of a...

The need for Jamaicans to better understand and appreciate the challenges confronting disabled persons in the country, was the major focus of a public education seminar, sponsored by the Jamaica Council for Persons with Disabilities and the project Dedicated to the Development of Persons with Disabilities (3Ds Project), in Port Maria on March 27. The seminar, part of the effort...

A sum of $27.3 million has been allocated to Poor Relief Services in the 2008/09 financial year, up from the $18.984 million it received in the 2007/08 budget, according to the Estimates of Expenditure, now before the House of Representatives. The new allocation includes $15.962 million for the Board of Supervision and $11.3 million for the Homeless (Street People) Programme....