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The Child Development Agency (CDA) is targeting 65 per cent of the children in state care to participate in its Life in Family Environment (LIFE) programme in the new financial year, which begins in April. Under this family based programme, children in state care can participate in one of three ways - by supervision order; family re-integration, otherwise referred to...

New computers valued at $350,000 were handed over to five Probation Aftercare Offices by Minister of State in the Ministry of National Security, Arthur Williams, on February 12. The offices to benefit from the computers are located in Falmouth, Montego Bay (Barnett Street), Portmore, Spanish Town and Region 2, which covers St. Ann, Manchester, Clarendon and St. Catherine. Speaking at...

Thirty-five persons were recently trained in the Fundamental Issues of Case Flow Management, a module of the Court Management Programme being undertaken by the Justice Training Institute. The programme seeks to fulfill some of the recommendations proposed as part of the Justice Reform process. Speaking with JIS News, Training Director at the Justice Training Institute, Audrey Sewell said that the...

The Government's move to establish a domestic ethanol and, by extension, a renewable energy industry, will be boosted when it assumes full responsibility for the ethanol refinery situated at Rockfort in Kingston. Ethanol is a derivative of sugar cane, which is used to partially or fully power motor vehicles in some parts of the world. Energy, Mining and Telecommunications Minister,...

Construction of the new $402 million Yallahs bridge in St. Thomas, which is expected to be finished by year-end, is about 30 per cent complete. This was disclosed to JIS News by Ingimar Ragnarsson, Site Manager for Pihl and Son, the contractors of the bridge. He pointed out that by the end of this week, the driving of steel piles...

Funding for the next phase of the Rural Electrification Programme (REP) is currently being sought, to procure 160 kilometres (km) of line material to construct 65 km of distribution lines and to wire 1,230 houses islandwide. This was disclosed by the Minister of Energy, Mining and Telecommunications, Clive Mullings, on February 12, during the sitting of the House of Representatives....

Prime Minister Bruce Golding has asked Senator Don Wheby, Minister without Portfolio in the Ministry of Finance, to meet this week with the purchasers of the Government of Jamaica's FINSAC debt, to see what arrangements can be brokered to help ease the burden on debtors. Mr. Golding made the disclosure on (Wednesday, Feb. 13), while addressing Guardian Life Limited's 8th...

Five new education regions are to be established as part of the education modernization process. Executive Director of the Education Transformation Team, Frank Weeple made the disclosure at a recent JIS 'Think Tank', held at the agency's head office at 58A Half-Way Tree Road in Kingston. According to Mr. Weeple, the regional offices that currently exist do not have the...

The United States Agency for International Development (USAID) and the Jamaica Exporters Association (JEA), through the Competitiveness Company, signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) for US$300,000 on February 12, at the JEA in Kingston. This MOU allows for the Sustainable Cluster Project, which is aimed at implementing sustainable clusters in several businesses in Jamaica. Dr. Andr

State Minister in the Ministry of Industry, Investment and Commerce, Michael Stern, has called for greater collaboration among stakeholders in the productive sector, to give Jamaican-made products a competitive edge in the global marketplace. Speaking at the Bureau of Standards Jamaica (BSJ) stakeholders' forum to discuss its Jamaica-Made Mark programme, at the Terra Nova Hotel in Kingston on February 12,...

The Rural Electrification Programme (REP) will be seeking to diversify the way in which it delivers electricity, to houses in deep rural Jamaica, through the use of alternative sources of energy. In an interview with JIS news, Keith Garvey, General Manager of the REP noted that the one of the biggest challenges facing the country is soaring oil prices, and...

The Maryland All-age School in western Hanover, has received a donation of some $250,000 in computer equipment and supplies. They include two lap top computers, one printer, a projector, computer programmes, and other school supplies. The items were donated by Reverend Dr. Leister Bigby, a past student who is currently residing in Canada. He handed over the supplies at the...