 The basic needs trust fund 10 cycle beneficiary assessment procedure has been completed. The assessment was done by a delegation from the St. Lucia Social Development Fund, SSDF, and the Caribbean Development Bank, CDB. The review exercise is vital as it assesses the efficiency of several sub-projects around the island. The findings were presented to key stakeholders at a consultative forum on April 21, 2023. And the National Skills Development Centre at BISI. BNTS portfolio manager at the Caribbean Development Bank, George Yeowood, stated that beyond increasing the availability of resources, the BNTS sub-projects are targeted to alleviate the plight of vulnerable and marginalized citizens. The basic needs trust fund program has been around for many, many years. And I believe that St. Lucia would have been a beneficiary since the very start in 1979. Right? We have improved the program and enhanced the program over the years to maintain relevance. Of course it is CDB's flagship poverty reduction program. So our focus is on communities that are low income and vulnerable. BNTS portfolio manager at the Caribbean Development Bank, George Yeowood. The St. Lucia Social Development Fund, SSDF, commends the data assessment process in order to forge greater inclusiveness in the design, capacity, management, and implementation of BNTS sub-projects. It is important for the BNTS program to be more inclusive, to include beneficiaries in project design and project implementation. Hence the reason why we found it fitting to implement a beneficiary assessment too. SSDF's deputy project manager, Brandon Antwine. Beneficiaries must continue to invest in their communities. As the success of each sub-project hinges on its capacity to secure funding based on grant proposals received. However, according to the Caribbean Development Bank statistics, 96% of the beneficiary groups assessed lacked proposal writing expertise and were not registered. Our response from the basic nature fund at CDB is one that we have quite a few interventions targeted for this year. One is developing a proposal writing training in collaboration with the Caribbean Disaster Management Agency to have community leaders being exposed to how to write proposals as well. And then you would imagine that the community and professionals would need some support as well. So we're doing a community engagement online course that we're developing in collaboration with the University of Wolverhampton to have community leaders train in how to engage with communities. It's CDB's Community Development Specialist, Ricardo Aiken, Acting Director of Social Transformation at the Ministry of Equity, Dr. Sharmini Manuel, expressed gratitude to the Caribbean Development Bank for strengthening the ministry's mandate and for their continued support. As we forge our efforts towards attaining our goals, we are also mindful that our assignments are in alignment with the SDGs and we make specific mention to four and six that is water and sanitation and education. So BNTF team, thank you for your continuous support. Sharmini Manuel, Acting Director in the Ministry of Equity, Social Justice and Empowerment. The SSDF is one of the principal agencies under the auspices of the Ministry of Equity, Social Justice and Empowerment. This under the BNTF's 10th cycle will be implemented over the next 18 months until December 31, 2024. From the Ministry of Equity, Social Justice and Empowerment, Shevroy Marius.