The World Bank Board of Directors has approved three loans for Jamaica totaling US$65 million to support the country's efforts to strengthen its social safety net, improve services for young children and their parents, and support HIV/AIDS prevention and control.

The first US$40 million loan for the Social Protection Project will strengthen the country's social insurance and social assistance system by supporting the following activities:

• Improve the Program of Advancement Through Health and Education (PATH). This component will co-finance conditional cash transfers to children 0 to 19 years old (child grants) and technical improvements to the program.
• Expand the "Steps-to-Work" program, a new initiative referring working age members of PATH-eligible households to employment services. The program will begin as a two-year pilot and will target approximately 12,000 people.
• Reform public sector pension schemes and improve administration and information systems.
• Develop a holistic social protection strategy by supporting diagnostic studies, building consensus for reforms and writing a Strategy Paper outlining reform options.

Since its launch in 2002, the PATH --a cash transfer program that provides benefits on the condition that children attend school and visit health centers periodically-- has become the country's flagship social assistance program providing cash transfers to almost 230,000 beneficiaries in 2007.

The World Bank's support will allow the government to increase the benefit level by 23 percent to adjust for inflation, to increase grants for secondary school students by up to 75 percent to stimulate grade progression and high school completion and to give a one-time bonus to students moving to tertiary education or training. It also will expand benefit coverage by 50 percent to reach approximately 14 percent of the population, the equivalent of the country' s poverty rate in 2007. The increase in benefits also addresses loss of purchasing power of PATH benefits due to the sharp increase in food prices and the need to compensate families for the increasing opportunity cost of schooling.

Early Childhood Development Project

The second loan for US$15 million will co-finance the implementation of Jamaica' s National Strategic Plan for Early Childhood Development, which seeks to improve outcomes through:

• Effective parenting education and support for early childhood development;
• Effective preventive health care for 0-6 year olds;
• Early and effective screening, diagnosis and early intervention for at-risk children and households;
• Safe, student-centered, well-maintained early childhood facilities; and
• Effective curriculum delivery by trained early childhood practitioners.

The loan also will strengthen organizations, policies, norms and practices governing Early Childhood Development.

Second HIV/AIDS Project

The third loan for US$10 million will help implement the Government's National HIV/AIDS Program by a) supporting prevention efforts targeted at high-risk groups and the general population; b) increasing access to treatment, care and support services for infected and affected individuals; and c) strengthening the national HIV/AIDS program management capacity and supporting analysis to identify priorities for building the capacity of the health sector to respond to the HIV/AIDS epidemic and other priority health problems.

This is a follow-on project to the ongoing Bank-funded Jamaica HIV/AIDS Prevention and Control Project, which is scheduled to close on May 31, 2008.

The three loans mentioned above are repayable in 30 years and include a five-year grace period.