WASHINGTON, DC, United States (CMC) – The Inter-American Development Bank (IDB) says it is providing US$50 million in support of the Government’s efforts to help alleviate poverty.

Under a project, titled ‘Integrated Support to Jamaica’s Social Protection Strategy’, the IDB said the investment loan will support consumption, and protect and promote human capital development of poor families that are beneficiaries of the Programme of Advancement Through Health & Education (PATH), implemented by the Ministry of Labour and Social Security (MLSS).

The Washington-based financial institution said PATH is one of the initiatives implemented by the Government of Jamaica within its Social Safety Net (SSN), aimed at alleviating poverty and promoting advancement of the poor.

The IDB said the ‘Integrated Support to Jamaica Social Protection Strategy’ project will help finance cash transfers to eligible beneficiaries of PATH, including children and pregnant women.

It will also finance the modernization of social services, such as the capacity of the MLSS to oversee a network of social services, and support implementation, monitoring and evaluation activities.

IDB Country Representative for Jamaica, Therese Turner-Jones, said that the project is a continuation of support by the IDB to the reform of Jamaica’s SSN.

She noted that, since 2000, in partnership with the World Bank, “the IDB invested in SSN to achieve greater equity, efficiency and effectiveness”.”

This included a previous investment loan in 2009 “to mitigate the adverse effects of the food price crisis on the most vulnerable”, Turner-Jones said.

In 2010 and 2011, in response to the international financial crisis, the IDB said it provided programmatic loans to protect social spending.

In 2012, another investment loan was approved “to support social protection and labour policies, promote human capital accumulation and the transition to the labour market of the poor”, the IDB said.

Pointing to “exogenous shocks, macroeconomic instability and slow economic growth,” Turner-Jones said “the Integrated Support to Jamaica’s Social Protection Strategy project will help reduce the negative impact of fiscal adjustment on the poor”.