This morning, much of Jamaica’s non-governmental organization community gathered at a conference centre at the University of West Indies. The reason was to attend an information session about a new round of funding from the Jamaica Social Investment Fund. The room was packed and people listened patiently to officials from the European Union (which is a major funder of the program) and JSIF, which falls under the purview of the Office of the Prime Minister. JSIF aims to reduce poverty by funding small-scale projects. The ultimate goal is to build capacity in a community so that it can sustain itself and generate employment.

Youth Opportunities Unlimited has been a beneficiary of JSIF through several projects, including projects in the communities of Mountain View and Rockfort. YOU intends to submit a grant proposal for two projects. But there is a high level of competition and not a lot of funds to go around (roughly $128 million Jamaican dollars). The project we are going for lasts only five months, which seems a counter-inutitive amount of time when it comes to sustainability and poverty reduction. Nevertheless, it is just the first of several projects the EU and JSIF are set to roll out over the next three years.

Sadly, one of Jamaica’s stronger NGOs did not last long enough to submit a grant proposal. News surfaced last week that Children First had to shut its doors. People were discussing this unfortunate outcome today, and the consensus seems to be that 2013 will be a tough year for the NGO community.