THE World Bank Mid-Term Review and second in-person meeting for 2023 for the Saint Lucia Human Capital Resilience Project (HCRP) monitoring and evaluation phase has concluded.
The four-day (October 3-6, 2023) high-level review, brought together officials of the World Bank, the Ministry of Equity, Social Justice and Empowerment, the Ministry of Education, Sustainable Development, Innovation, Science, Technology and Vocational Training, and other affiliated government units.
As part of their deliberations, officials began taking stock of the current achievements and challenges of the HCRP, with the goal of arriving at shared conclusions. Permanent Secretary attached to the Ministry of Equity Dr. Charmaine Hippolyte Emmanuel informed the gathering that her Ministry was pacing well ahead in delivering on the HCRP’s many project components.
“For us at the Ministry of Equity, the HCRP has delivered. We have achieved an updated Social Protection Policy and Action Plan; a Strategy for Graduation from Social Assistance in Saint Lucia; an Operations Manual to facilitate the harmonization of the public assistance programme and the Koudmein Ste Lisi; a Communications and Advocacy Strategy to support the efforts towards strengthening the social protection system in Saint Lucia from 2022 to 2030, and the SL-NET 3.0 eligibility tool which has enabled improved and increased coverage of the PAP cash transfer grant programme,” remarked Dr. Hippolyte Emmanuel.
PS Hippolyte Emmanuel said next on the list of deliverables for her Ministry in relation to the Human Capital Resilience Project, was the design and eventual implementation of the Social Information System (SIS). Towards the end of the project in 2025, a comprehensive report on poverty in Saint Lucia would have been prepared, using data from the 2023/24 Survey of Living Conditions.
The mid-term review also examined progress at meeting the Project Development Objectives and whether these could be retained or needed adjusting.
“We know this is about TVET, we know this is about Social Protection and we know all of this is geared towards improving the standard of living, the economic improvement and growth of our island. Coming out of our session this week, I am expecting that a lot of things are going to be clearer and that we will have the opportunity to hash out the challenges that we are experiencing. That we can recognize the progress that we would have made over the past two and a half years, and that we can chart the way forward for the next steps for this project,” Permanent Secretary in the Ministry of Education Michelle Charles noted.
Her comments were echoed by Co-Task World Bank Team Leader Suhas Parandekar.
Said Parandekar, “Once we have designed, we look at how the implementation arrangements have been working with the Ministry of Education and the Ministry of Equity. We want to see if there is some streamlining and if there is a need for a new staffing arrangement and what ways we can enhance the overall implementation.”
Two other key areas down for review were Compliance on Financial Management and Procurement issues and progress towards safeguard aspects including implementation of Grievance and Redress mechanisms for the project and the Public Assistance Program (PAP).
The Human Capital Resilience Project (HCRP) is being executed under a World Bank loan of $20 Million and will conclude in April 2025.