THE Jamaica Social Investment Fund (JSIF), from July 1 to August 31, 2018, implemented 36 summer camps in underserved communities in seven parishes across the island.

The camps, which were held in Kingston and St Andrew, St Catherine, Clarendon, St Ann, St James, and Westmoreland, were conducted at a cost of $38.4 million and were funded through the JSIF-implemented Integrated Community Development Project (ICDP). Funding for the ICDP is provided by a loan from the World Bank by the Government of Jamaica, a recent release from JSIF said.

According to JSIF, the fund collaborated with various community-based organisations and non-profit organisations, the Ministry of National Security, and the Jamaica Constabulary Force.

The camps, the release said, targeted 2,500 children and youth six to 24 years old who live in the 18 ICDP communities and focused on areas such as: science, technology, engineering and mathematics; performing arts and entertainment; film-making and photography; craft making; environmental management; sports; and behaviour modification.

According to JSIF, the objective of the summer camp programme was to provide a safe space for children during the summer period and to act as a preventative measure for unattached youth. Also, the camps were aimed at improving literacy and numeracy and reducing learning loss by reinforcement of curriculum through remedial camps geared at engaging slow learners.

Other objectives of the programme, according to the release, were to provide an avenue to broaden the experiences of children through exposure to new activities and environments; to provide opportunity for some form of positive behaviour change in the long term; and to build character confidence and skills.