On Thursday, June 30th, 2016, the Market Access and Rural Enterprise Development Programme ( MAREP ) Government of Grenada (GOG) signed an Implementation Support Mission Aide Memoire with the International Fund for Agriculture Development (IFAD) at the Ministry of Finance, St. George.
The Implementation Support (IS) Mission was held from June 25th to July 1st 2016 to review the “programme’s performance and identify bottlenecks hindering the programme’s disbursement and implementation progress”. The Mission endorses that the Program’s implementation continues to show progress following the Supervision Mission held on November 26th – December 3rd, 2015 in relation to the Vocational & Skills Trainings (VST), Strengthening of Community Based Organizations, Support to micro-enterprises through business development services (business plans, hand-holding and extension services) and Market Access Opportunities (income generation for beneficiaries).
The Aide Memoir reveals that the programme is geared at attaining impact through partnerships and support from implementing partners through its 2016 AWPB. Notably, in order to document findings and endorse agreements, the IS Mission embarked on meetings the Prime Minister, officials from the Ministry of Finance & Energy (MOF), MAREP’s Programme Management Unit (PMU), along with stakeholders namely Grenada Industrial Development Corporation (GIDC) and Grenada Bureau of Standards (GBS) to discuss the implementation progress. In addition, several field visits to interact with MAREP’s representatives/beneficiaries of rural organisations and training were conducted.
Present at the signing was Mr. Ambrosio Barros, IFAD Programme Officer and Mission Leader, Mrs. Amanada Gittens-Baptiste, IFAD Financial Management Consultant, Ms. Kim Fredrick, Deputy Permanent Secretary, Ministry of Finance & Energy and Programme Steering Committee (PSC) chairperson, Mr. Byron Campbell, Programme Manager and Management Team, MAREP.
Conclusively, the signing of the aide memoire, indicates Government of Grenada’s commitment to the speed up MAREP’s implementation, improve on stock taking/reporting and the programme’s effects on beneficiaries; that is, reduction of rural poverty and vulnerability for unemployed or self-employed rural young men and women, development and employment opportunities, agricultural successes, increased agricultural production and sustainable livelihoods for farmers in rural communities across Grenada, Carriacou and Petit Martinique.
