• Halve the number of people living in extreme poverty and hunger
• Ensure that all children receive primary education
• Promote sexual equality and give women a stronger voice
• Reduce child death rates
• Improve the health of mothers
• Combat HIV & AIDS, malaria and other diseases
• Make sure the environment is protected
• Build a global partnership for those working in development

The Prince’s Foundation for the Built Environment (PFBE) is an educational charity which seeks to improve the quality of people’s lives by teaching and practising ecological ways of planning, designing and building for sustainable development with a primary focus on urban areas. When these principles are applied, the expected outcomes include: improvements in public health, livelier and safer streets, more affordable lifestyles for families and individuals and the increase rather than decrease in the value of neighbourhoods and comminities over time.

To carry out its mandate the Foundation focuses on four core areas of activity which include:

• An education programme
• Policy and research
• Projects and practice and
• Design theory and networks

The education programme offers a mix of accredited conference and short courses with the objective of addressing the challenge of planning, designing and building cities, towns and neighbourhoods with an emphasis on meeting the immediate challenge of environmental sustainability.   

Through its Projects & Practice Department, the PFBE is seeking to develop a number of exemplar projects by which to attain its main aims and objectives as outlined above. In that regard, the PFBE has partnered with the KRC to conceptualise and implement the Construction Assistance, Skills Transfer and Learning the Environment (CASTLE) project in the inner-city community of Rose Town located in the Down Town, Kingston area.

The project’s  goal - To bring about the sustainable rehabilitation of blighted urban communities through the economic enfranchisement and social development of residents, the community structures and institutions.

The project’s purpose - To create an exemplar for the provision  of low cost housing that supports the local economy, employs local skills, materials and well  tested architectural typologies to help build a lasting sustainable community.   Read More
http://www.princes-foundation.org/

The United States Agency for International Development (USAID) has a two-fold mandate of furthering America's foreign policy interests in expanding democracy and free markets, while improving the lives of the citizens of developing countries.

These objectives are achieved by extending assistance to countries recovering from disaster, trying to escape poverty, and engaging in democratic reforms, in the areas of economic growth, agriculture and trade; global health; democracy, conflict prevention and humanitarian assistance.

In 2001, the USAID designed the Peace and Prosperity Project (PPP) for implementation in the inner-city communities of Grants Pen and Stand Pipe which were experiencing high levels of crime and violence. Its main aim was conflict prevention by significantly improving the social and economic opportunities available to the residents of these communities. Consequently, a partnership was brokered with the KRC for the management of the Project which was also endorsed by the Government of Jamaica (GOJ). The project ended  in 2004.

The USAID had previously partnered with the KRC to implement the Inner-Kingston Development Project (IKDP) between 1986 and 1996.Read More

http://www.usaid.gov/

As the oldest and largest regional bank in the world, the IDB is the main source of multilateral financing for economic, social and institutional development in Latin America and the Caribbean.

Public entities eligible to borrow from the Bank include national, provincial, state and municipal governments, and autonomous public institutions. Civil society organisations and private companies are also eligible.

In partnership with the Ministry of National Security and Justice, the IDB has provided funding for the Citizens Security and Justice Programme (CSJP) .  The project aims to reduce crime and  violence, strengthen crime management capabilities  and improve the delivery of judicial services. The programme has  four components namely:   

• The Development of a National Crime Prevention Strategy
• Capacity enhancement  of the Ministries of National Security & Justice
• Strengthening the criminal justice system
• Community Action

KRC’s work supports the Community Action component and it has been sub contracted specifically to facilitate the improvement of the scholastic ability of persons falling within the target population (adolescents and adults), through the delivery of quality education and training programmes.

The programme which was operationalised in 2003 will  end in 2008. Read More

KRC also partnered with the IDB on the Kingston Urban Renewal Project. The project targeted the communities comprising Central Kingston the goal of which served to  contribute to the improvement  of the quality of life in the inner-city Kingston through the design and implementation of strategies  for the regeneration of poor communities.

http://www.iadb.org