OTTAWA – Canada has pledged $81.41 million to the Caribbean Development Bank (CDB)’s Special Development Fund (SDF) over four years (2021 to 2024) to support the Fund’s critical role in fighting poverty and inequality.

Canada is a founding member of the CDB, the region’s leading development financing institution. Canada, along with the United Kingdom, remains the largest non-borrowing shareholder.

Canada’s pledge of $81.41 million represents a 16 per cent increase over its previous contribution ($70.34 million) and maintains Canada’s status as the top contributor to the SDF.

Canada has  also allocated $9 million in funding to CARICOM countries through the World Food Programme (WFP) to address the region’s specific needs related to the COVID-19 pandemic.

The WFP will work with the Caribbean Disaster and Emergency Management Agency, a Canada-funded temporary logistics hub, to address logistics challenges in the region and respond to the COVID-19 emergency.

Canada has provided $2 million of the WFP funding to address the increasing food security unfolding in Haiti through the improvement of resilience and livelihood capacities of smallholder famers and their communities in upper Artibonite.

The new bilateral initiative will focus on increasing food security and resilience among vulnerable populations, including vulnerable women and girls. This initiative complements Global Affairs Canada’s current crisis programming in Haiti through the WFP.