BRIDGETOWN – The Board of Directors of the Caribbean Development Bank (CDB) has approved a grant of USD218,020 to the Government of Guyana to build capacity in key areas of local government to facilitate decentralisation of public service delivery, and greater local involvement in social and economic development, consistent with the sustainable development goals.The Project will assist the Government of Guyana in building the capacity of the Ministry of Communities to better support the process of reform in local government; as well as capacity building of the Guyana Association of Municipalities (GAM) and an institutional assessment of five municipalities, to help these entities improve performance and results delivery.

To better support local government reform efforts, the Project will aim to achieve key results, including:

• attaining greater clarity on the resource needs of Ministry of Communities, GAM and the municipalities;
• identifying areas for cooperation and potential synergies to reduce and eliminate wasteful public expenditure; and
• identifying the needs of the vulnerable groups who are likely to be socially and economically excluded;(CDB)…[+]