ST. GEORGE'S, Grenada: The Caribbean Development Bank (CDB / the Bank) has launched the Eleventh Cycle of its Basic Needs Trust Fund (BNTF 11) in Grenada, opening a new chapter of opportunity for students, workers, women and youth across the island. 

The new programme will expand access to education, clean water, and community infrastructure, building on more than four decades of BNTF partnership with the Government and people of Grenada since the programme began in 1979.

"BNTF 11 represents more than financing. It is our renewed commitment to Grenada. This new cycle will turn ideas into plans, plans into action, and action into measurable results, expanding opportunities for individuals prepared to learn, work, grow and thrive,” said Mr. L. O'Reilly Lewis, Director of Projects, CDB.

"These projects go beyond buildings and equipment, they represent investments in our children, in our young people, in our workers and of course in the future prosperity of our nation," said the Honourable Lennox Andrews, Minister for Economic Development, Planning, Tourism and ICT, Creative Economy, Agriculture and Lands, Fisheries and Cooperatives, Grenada.  

CDB is providing project financing of US$5.49 million for BNTF 11 in Grenada, more than double the allocation of the previous cycle. The investment will support ten proposed sub-projects: six in education and human resource development, three in water and sanitation, and one in basic community access and drainage. 

Following the launch, the Bank hosted a workshop that brought together government partners, implementing agencies and community stakeholders to set the course for delivery of BNTF 11 in Grenada

Over the past 25 years, BNTF has completed more than 60 interventions across Grenada, improving households' access to safe and reliable water, transforming learning spaces for students and teachers, and strengthening livelihoods through community infrastructure, skills development and local enterprise support. 

BNTF 11 builds on these results, prioritising livelihood support for women and youth alongside continued investment in essential services, while embedding gender, climate and disaster risk considerations into every stage of project design. The new cycle also reflects CDB's wider ten-year strategic plan, which is built on a resilient framework to help the Caribbean withstand health crises, natural hazards and global volatility.

BNTF is CDB's flagship poverty-reduction programme, delivering community-driven development outcomes across its Borrowing Member Countries for more than 45 years. Through inclusive planning, disciplined implementation and genuine stakeholder participation, BNTF 11 will help ensure that development in Grenada is not only delivered, but felt, by the communities it is designed to serve.

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