St. Kitts played host to four other Caribbean nations this week as the small group of Basic Needs Trust Fund officers participated in a regional workshop on Management for Development Results. The workshop was jointly funded By Caribbean Development Bank and Canadian Development Agency as it saw representatives from five members of the CDB; Jamaica, St. Vincent and the Grenadines, Dominica, Grenada and St. Kitts-Nevis. Over the course of three days, the participants heard from two lecturers – George Montalvan, an economist with 40 years experience in Latin America, the Caribbean and Africa and who was the Chief Economist at the OAS; and Marie-Helene Adrien, with over 20 years consulting experience in evaluation, organizational capacity development and training both in Canada and internationally. At the commencement of the initial session, Adrien told The Observer that the workshop would take place over 3 days and the format would include both lectures and practical exercises. She informed that the participants included project managers from the BNTF offices, community liaison officers and also Project Steering Committee members and in some instances Non Governmental Organizations who are all involved in the BNTF projects. CDB Officials also attended the workshop. “Some of the topics covered include stakeholder analysis, problem analysis and objective analysis, and preparing and selling the results framework. The objective is to ensure that the participants and BNTF offices are increasingly aware of the need to manage their projects for results and to be more accountable for government investments,” Adrien said. The consultant said the aim was that participants would come away from the workshop more familiar with different tools and frameworks for managing the projects and activities of their program with a stronger emphasis on results. “That means not only simply being able to identify what the project has done in terms of activities but what it has changed in the lives of the communities and also to be more clear as to how they can together in the region develop a common approach that is harmonized and more integrated to support the Caribbean Development Bank’s investment.” During her exclusive interview, Adrien explained that the workshop brought the regional and local stakeholders in poverty alleviation to train them in the techniques and requirements for identifying, creating, implementing and monitoring sub-projects designed to attain development results. In 2005, all major donor agencies adopted the Paris Accord, which called for more streamlining of donor resources in order to accomplish development goals. The CDB has had to institute these new guidelines in all of their funding areas and as the Basic Needs Trust Fund Program is the Bank’s flagship regional poverty alleviation program, the requirements are particularly applicable.
