KINGSTON – The Jamaica Social Investment Fund (JSIF) says it is undertaking a J$27-billion (One Jamaica dollar=US$0.008 cents) post-Hurricane Melissa recovery programme over the next five to six years, aimed at community redevelopment and rebuilding social capital in affected areas.
JSIF managing director, Omar Sweeney, says western parishes have experienced significant challenges since the passage of Hurricane Melissa in October 2025 that left US$9.9 billion in damage.
He said that the JSIF’s response will extend beyond addressing physical damage to also strengthening communities’ social capital.
Sweeney said that social capital encompasses community cohesion, confidence, well-being, livelihood, and residents’ ability to aspire to goals such as sending their children to school.
“That reduction in social capital that would have been caused by such a natural disaster is something that is of our primary concern. We have looked at the physical damage. But we have also mapped the communities’ (social fabric), especially within the footprint of where JSIF works [to] develop a programme of recovery,” he added.
The programme will support schools, with particular emphasis on strengthening educational resources in those most severely affected.
“That programme is multifaceted with respect to the types of interventions. So we’re talking about rebuilding school programmes, (revitalising) curricula, restoring safe passages and other attributes of schools in support of the Ministry of Education, Skills, Youth and Information,” Sweeney said. (CMC)