RISE Life Management Services, through its European Union-funded Civil Society Boost Initiative (CSBI) project, provided sub-grants totalling $10.5 million to four local civil society organisations (CSOs) on Tuesday.

The four CSOs were selected through a competitive call for proposals launched earlier this year which required responses regarding the empowerment of women amid the global pandemic.

Executive director of RISE, Sonita Morin Burrowes congratulated the agencies for their exciting projects and their commitment to empowering women through a menu of activities. She said the process was a very competitive one, and hailed the agencies for their thorough research and response to the many challenges facing women in society today.

The agencies — Caribbean Christian Centre for the Deaf, Jamaica Family Planning Association, Girls to Women Foundation, and Mona Social Services — were all on hand for the handover ceremony and expressed their appreciation to both RISE and the EU for their continued support of local organisations and their work.

Head of cooperation at the EU Delegation to Jamaica, Ricard Bardia Divins was pleased with the projects being funded and expressed the EU’s continued support for the prevention of violence against women and girls. Divins used the opportunity to get a greater understanding of the organisations, their projects, and the challenges they are facing with the current global pandemic in delivering services to their target populations.