Dionne Rose, Staff ReporterSENATOR FLOYD Morris, State Minister in the Ministry of Labour and Social Security, said the Programme of Advancement Through Health and Education (PATH) is to be extended.
He made the disclosure while addressing the ministry's post-Sectoral Debate press conference at the ministry's North Street office in Kingston last week.
He said the project phase of the programme had ended last month.
"We have sought an extension from the World Bank for the project phase of PATH and we have got an additional 21 months under the project phase, which will take us up to 2008," he said.
The junior minister said during this period, the ministry would be embarking on several initiatives to improve the programme. One such initiative he said would be a revision of the beneficiary identification scheme, which is the mechanism used to select the beneficiary for the progamme. He said legislative frameworks would also be put in place to strengthen the programme. He said the ministry would also be embarking on a recertification exercise.
PATH was developed from the merging of three programmes the Food Stamps, Old Age and Incapacity Payments and Outdoor Poor Relief. It was originally conceived as a four-year programme funded by the World Bank and the Government of Jamaica. The programme is currently undersubscribed with only 185,000 compliant beneficiaries of the projected 236,000 persons for the programme.
INTERNAL AND EXTERNAL FUNDING
Senator Morris said that the Government was currently looking at internal and external sources to fund the programme after 2008.
"That doesn't say that when 2008 comes the PATH programme will be non-existent, it will continue but at that time the Government of Jamaica will have full charge in terms of its responsibilities," he said.
Among the options, the Government was looking at, he said, was the Consolidated Fund and overseas assistance.
"But when we reach that bridge we will cross it," said Senator Morris.
Speaking to some of the achievements of the programme, Colette Roberts Risden, project director at PATH said that there has been an increase in attendance of students who are PATH beneficiaries.
"When we just started, attendance was about 70 per cent, now, we have 86 per cent of the students who are complying with the PATH rules," she said.
The project director also said that administrative cost of the programme was currently 13 per cent, down from the usual 50 per cent for some social programmes.
