 and welcome to Issues and Answers, a production of the Government Information Service and NTN. I am your host, Kendall Eugene. Let's talk basic needs, let's talk trust fund. What comes to mind when you think of basic needs? And of course, when you hear trust fund, immediately money should come to mind, right? Today we'll find out a little bit more about our basic needs trust fund and we have with us today, Mr. Brandon Antoine, the Deputy Project Manager from the St. Lucia Social Development Fund, SFDF. Welcome to the program. Thank you, Mr. Eugene. When we hear the word basic, we often attribute it to bottom, barrel, level. That's not the case at all. When we add now needs and the trust fund to it, what should one be thinking about? Okay. The basic needs trust fund is the principle poverty reduction program of the Caribbean Development Bank. Okay. It started since 1979 and the objective of this program is, it's get towards poverty reduction by improving the socioeconomic conditions of persons within the nine borrowing member countries as within the Caribbean, improving the lives of persons. And it is done through various sectors. We're looking at the water and sanitation sector, the access and drainage and also the educational and human resource development sector, which includes livelihoods and skills training. So this program has been in existence for quite some time, over 40 or 40 years, if you will. And it is the flagship program of the St. Louis Social Development Fund. So when we hear the two basic needs, it has nothing to do with you being the bottom of the barrel. It's basically coming into assist people who are in poverty. Yes. Essentially, it is a community driven model that is being used with the BNTF program where the sub projects that we implement are normally emanate from the communities. The communities decide and they submit proposals to the St. Louis Social Development Fund and we review, we do our evaluations, our analysis, have our various stakeholder meetings to determine whether these sub projects are feasible and will help to alleviate poverty within those communities. Now when we speak about alleviating poverty, what exactly does that mean? What are you trying to accomplish or what are you trying to, what is the ultimate goal in the alleviation of poverty? So basically, it is to improve lives. We normally do baseline assessments to determine where persons are. So for instance, if we implement, if we implement, we construct a public facility in a community, let's say, Marsha, we have to determine the poverty level, whether there are needs, an appropriate needs assessment, a community needs assessment to determine the needs of those persons within the community and develop the intervention to address those needs to improve the sanitary situation, perhaps in that community. So it is, we more or less develop a strategic and scientific approach to help persons to get out of poverty. As you would expect, you cannot alleviate poverty in one go, you know, for all the country, by one intervention. So it's a process, but over the years, since 1979, and this is the 10th BNTR cycle, and we have implemented projects for other length and breadth of St. Lucia, get towards poverty alleviation. We've done early childhood centers under the education and human resource development sector. We've done water projects, improved health centers, and we've done quite a number of skills training projects, and also livelihood projects where persons through various organizations like the National Skills Development Center, where persons are trained, provided with a skill, and they can use that skill to find work, to find employment, which will in the end help them to improve their lives. So over the years, since the inception of the program in 1979, these are some of the benefits you could, both to or point to, yes, we have done this, we have implemented all of these programs within the communities. Everything is community-based, I'm getting the feeling that you think community-first before moving with any project, is that correct? Yes, we do our community needs assessment. We prioritize, look at what's a priority in a particular community. We do various assessments, develop our sector portfolio of projects, and do our profiles and so on, to determine whether this is the right project, whether this project would help solve the problems that the community faces. How do we go about selecting which community needs intervention? Must a proposal be written up and brought to the FSDF? Yes, so we accept project proposals from various stakeholders. So you will have parliamentary representatives, community leaders, church leaders, community organizations, schools, the Ministry of Education, which is a significant partner for us in the BNTF program. They will submit, they normally submit proposals. We have our technical team, our engineers, for the Civil Works projects. Our technical team would do the evaluation, we'd look at the estimates, the prepared drawings, et cetera. And then we determine the feasibility. We do what we call prioritization of projects through a prioritization tool that we have. So this will help us determine whether the project is suitable for an intervention. And it will be based on various socioeconomic indicators or factors that we take into consideration. So poverty levels, et cetera, would be key for us. That would be. The focus area of the BNTF, of course, you just mentioned that you're in the 10th cycle, let's talk about the sub-project that would be implemented under the cycle. What are we looking at? So we're looking at, like I mentioned earlier, the water and sanitation sector, access and drainage and education and human resource development. Under the water and sanitation sector, we are currently, we've just signed a contract with WASCO to install a $100,000 water tank in the Victoria community, that's in Chuzel. And this project is particularly important because over the years, the residents of the communities, the surrounding communities, I believe, about 15 communities will benefit from this project. They are currently receiving water once per week. So we are hoping with this intervention that they can receive portable water, a continuous supply of portable water for at least four or five days a week, or perhaps the entire week. But what we are looking at is we installed a tank. Currently, there is a 40,000 gallon rubble wall water tank which is leaking. It has some serious deteriorating really badly. So this 100,000 gallon gas fuse tank will replace this tank so that they could do repairs. It will be alongside the tank. We'll install it alongside the tank. It will be a compliment. Yeah, it will be a compliment to the tank. WASCO will repair the existing tank. So basically, so it's their choice whether they want to use both tanks because there is an issue with supply. That's one issue and there's also an issue with the intake for that water tank. And the current intake is the Fonserjac intake. So what WASCO is doing, they are looking at the possibilities of having another intake in Zeno. So with that new intake, communities that are on the Fonserjac intake will be transferred to the Zeno intake and the Fonserjac intake will only supply the Victoria water tank. Okay, let's take a quick break. I will come back and chat some more about the alleviation of poverty, which is, I guess, your mandate with the social development fund, social development fund, and of course, the BNTF. This is issues and answers. I am Kenod Eugene. We'll be back right after this. Everyone say counseling, counseling, counseling. I don't have a chance. I've never done a PS1 counseling before. But, Glacia, just yesterday, you asked me advice about your husband and we spent over an hour on the cell. That's counseling. I don't want to do that. Just think about it, Glacia. When you have been difficult to use someone, you ask your friends for advice to help you to deal with your problems. But wouldn't you prefer getting advice from a professional counselor? I hope you're not one of those who think counseling is for crazy people. Hmm. When you're in a situation like this, you don't need professional counseling, but you need advice on the condition of a doctor's visit. Mm-hmm. Don't you know the Ministry of the Public Service has an employee assistance program they call EAP, which is offering six free counseling sessions for government employees? Hey, Glacia, why don't you take advantage of it? Really? It's free? Let me often let me call the EAP unit ASAP because I want professionals, did you say free? Free counseling. Well, Glacia, why not? Who is the counselinger? Call the EAP unit at 468-2269. EAP works, let it work for you. So I'll go into the other projects. Welcome back. We are here with Mr. Brandon Antwon from the Philucia Social Development Fund. He is the Deputy Project Manager. Of course, we're discussing the basic needs trust fund, a major part of the SSBF's mandate to assist and alleviate poverty within the island. And we were speaking about a water project that is ongoing, looking to, of course, bring some form of relief to communities. And you mentioned what community? That's Victoria Schrozer. I mean, she was a lovely, lovely community, if you have not been. Definitely. So how long would a project like that would it take to impact the community? Because you mentioned that you would have issues with. So how long would it take before? Yeah. So we are looking at the completion of this project to be within three to four months, providing that we deal with the intake issues, do the installation of the water tank. We should see, based on the forecast of Wasco, we should see some immediate relief for persons within that community. And like I said, this project is very opportune and it's needed at this time to improve the lives of residents. Because like you said earlier, water is life. And in 2023, I believe we should work as assiduously as we can to try to provide water for communities across St. Lucia. But the BNTF program, we have implemented a number of water projects. Well, that's not the problem with that. So like you said, it is life and you know how we would be on the last course full line if our water intake was cut off for only two minutes. So let's talk a little bit about the projects implemented, especially the water projects. So currently, we are implementing the BNTF 10 cycles. So we've had nine cycles before that. We've installed 100,000 gallon water tank at Buto, which is now improving the lives of persons and now within that community, I receive in water on a continuous basis as we speak. We've done installation of water tanks in Paseas, in Viesicui, La Quamengo. I could go on and on. But over the years, we have in La Bon as well, we installed some water mains in La Bon under the BNTF 9 program. Yes, so throughout the various cycles of the BNTF program, we have been able to implement water projects to improve the lives of persons. And that's the principle of the BNTF. Yes. We're all coming into that on the air. Definitely. And moving on to the access and drainage sector. Under the BNTF cycle, we will be constructing a road in Goodlands, road and drain. And also, we will be installing a four inch main and doing some household connections in the same community under this project in collaboration with Water School. We'll also be constructing a road in Crown Lands, that's in Bexon. So this is another project under the access and drainage sector. Under the education and human resource development sector, which I said it includes livelihoods, we have a number of projects to be implemented under this sector. So we rehabilitate in the Food and Nutrition Lab at the Viewport Comprehensive Secondary School. We also rehabilitate in a block of the Suffer Primary School. And we are also rehabilitating or retrofitting a pre-K class in the Babono Primary School, the Lapo-Amingo, and also the Bishop Gashi Primary School. And not too far from the Bishop Gashi Primary School, we are rehabilitating the Antripo Early Childhood Development Center, which is in close proximity. Yes, it's in Marshall. Yes. And under the livelihoods sector or livelihoods portfolio, we will implement a goal project in collaboration with NSDC, which is geared towards improving the skills of young farmers in agro-processing and crop production. And we're also looking at the possibility of constructing an agro-processing lab at the NSDC farms in Mikud, that's in Monropo, Mikud. We are also working with the Cultural Development Foundation to do some training for, we call it the Arts Business Training, in collaboration with Sa'afalis Community College and the Cultural Development Foundation, whereby artisans, creatives, musicians, and musicians will be trained in marketing their business, in production, et cetera. So this will be done under the BNTL cycle, and we will also construct a multi-purpose performance stage at the Cultural Development Foundation grounds, which is, and this one is... When are we looking for that one? Because I know a lot of our artisans will be jumping for joy when they hear that. Yes, so this will be implemented, this will be constructed this year. We are currently working with our engineers, our consultant engineers, to develop the designs and also prepare the estimates for this particular project. The idea is for there to be a performance stage, an open area, you know, so that persons, instead of conducting performances in the cultural center, they can perform outside open air. On the outside open air, you will have a nice sitting arrangement, stage, canopy, with changing rooms as well. Okay, will that be an end to the Cultural Center if we know it, or do we have added complement? An added complement to the Cultural Center. It will just provide for more of an open air kind of setting compared to, you know, the close-up type setting at the Cultural Center. Yes, overlooking the castries harbor and so on. So, like I said, we're working on the designs and so on, but the objective is to ensure that the musicians, the artists and so on, they have a place to perform and perhaps make some money as well. So that's important because the livelihoods component of the education and human resource development sector is geared towards improving lives through economic activity, that type of thing. Okay, I recently read that in the document. Okay, go ahead. Without cutting in shots, Kali. And the last one is the music studio. I think you might be interested in this. Hold that thought. Let's take a break because that one might be a little bit lengthy if you're going to be talking about the music studio. There's issues and answers of production of the government information service and the national television network. I am your host, Kendall Eugene. We'll be back in a few. Your old child, she's driving me crazy. I just don't know what to do. All that I need is some good leaks to wake up. Alice, ignore the counseling Francis gave it. Government employees have free access to professional counseling services under the employee assistance program known as EAP. EAP? EAP? What's that? Not me that telling people my business. Listen to me, Alice. I was struggling with my child. I made an appointment to see an EAP counselor and I was very satisfied with the service that I received. And you know what? Up to a day like today, my information remains confidential. Cox, how come nobody in the office knew anything about your counseling? Ah, that's because EAP counselors, they work on the strict clauses of confidentiality. I know you know what confidential means. EAP providing professional counseling services? How much is it? Girl, the counseling is free. Free for you, free for your child. And you know what? Your information remains confidential. Call the EAP unit at the ministry of the public service. Telephone number 468-2269 for more information. EAP Works, let it work for you. Welcome back to Issues and Answers. My guest with me is Mr. Brandon Antoine, the deputy project manager from the Celusia Social Development Fund. This afternoon we're chatting about the basic needs trust fund and we've learned quite a bit on the projects that have been taken by your committee. But you mentioned something before we went into the break that will pique the interest of many young Saint Lucians listening and watching the show. And that is the construction of a music studio or a recording studio. Tell us a little bit about that. So under the BNTF 7 and 8 cycle, and I know that will interest you, Scottie, this is your film, your background. So under the BNTF 7 and 8 cycle, we did, we provided training to about 50 young musicians in collaboration with the Saint Lucia School of Music. So they received training in sound engineering and so forth. And under the BNTF 9 cycle, we constructed the studio, the music studio at the Grossly Human Resource Development Center. So under the BNTF 10 cycle, we will complete the studio because we also purchase equipment, music equipment, on the BNTF 7 and 8 cycle, and also the BNTF 9 cycle. So under the BNTF 10, we will complete the studio. They do the installation of the equipment, looking at the acoustics, and we are working in collaboration with the Cultural Development Foundation. They are spearheading this effort. Excellent. And also the Grossly Town Council, who is responsible for the Grossly Human Resource Development Center. So this is a collaborative approach that we are embarking on. And the objective is to provide this space for musicians. We are particularly targeting those musicians that are, you know, I wouldn't say poor, but, you know, they don't have the means to pay to you pay $5,000 to $2,000. Yes, for recordings. So we are targeting those persons. They will pay a nominal fee to the Cultural Development Foundation, because I'm sure they'll appreciate the maintenance and. Yeah, I think when you go to a basketball or a football field, you pay a small fee for the lights and whatnot. You might be able to do the same for the studio. Yes, understood. Will that studio be available to every finger of the ocean or just the community of Grossly? Um, we generally said that the same. Yeah, everybody. Excellent. I mean, it's in the community of Grossly, but we are, you know, we're hoping that persons would come over and do their recordings. Yes. All right, excellent. Um, the BNTF collaboration with WAFQ, let's talk about that a little bit. You recently signed an agreement and to install that $10,000 water tank in Grossly. Now, we all said that water is life, but apart from Victoria Schubert, are you expecting to see any other communities benefit from projects like that? Currently, currently, under the BNTF 10 cycle, we only have one water project. Okay. But going forward, you know, under the BNTF 11 cycle, we expect to receive proposals for various water projects. In fact, under the BNT, we have a pipeline of projects that, under the BNTF 10 program, that, you know, we couldn't, because of the funding that we received, we couldn't, you know, we were not able to provide funds to all communities or to implement all projects, right? So that's the reason why we have to prioritize, because the funding we receive is a grant from the Caribbean Development Bank and also the government of San Bushok contributes to it. So it's 95% from the funding from the Caribbean Development Bank for a grant and 5% normally through government contribution. Are we expecting any other communities to be targeted? Do you have any means you can tell us? For water? Or any other project you would like? Yeah, well, under the BNTF 10 cycle, we are, under the BNTF 11 cycle in fact, we are already receiving proposals and requests for various projects. I mean, I don't want to go into them now because we would have to do the analysis and have the stakeholder discussions to ensure that at the end of the day, we have a pipeline of projects that we will implement. We have the necessary, the required funding to implement those projects. So moving forward, the BNTF program, like I said, is a flagship program for the San Lucia Social Development Fund and also for the Caribbean Development Bank since 1979. This year, for the nine borrowing member countries, the BNTF, the Basic Nigs Trust Fund, will implement, I think, 40 million US worth of projects across those nine borrowing member countries. So we are, San Lucia received 13 million out of that, 14 million EC, out of that PUS. So we have to ensure that when we develop the sector portfolio, that the projects that are being finalized are projects that, first of all, will improve the lives of persons with youth poverty and help the socioeconomic conditions of our people. And it must be feasible. Yeah, it must be feasible. And it's the reason we have our technical team, we have our social analysts, and our project officers, they will, together with the other staff, will do the various analysis to ensure that we are targeting those communities. And when we do the evaluation of the projects, we can determine that, yeah, we made an impact. And here are the results of the interventions that we made, and we can see an improvement in the lives of persons. Excellent. Well, Mr. Antoine, let me say a big thank you for joining us on Issues and Answers today. I am sure that with all the projects that will be implemented, we will see an alleviation of poverty in various communities around St. Lucia. This has been Issues and Answers, a production of the Government Information Service and the National Television Network. I've been your host, Kenneth Eugene. Thanks for joining.