A CANADIAN woman, Ms. Alix Yule, has replaced Guyanese Dr. Naresh Singh, the resigned Programme Director of the Caribbean Local Economic Development Project (CARILED) funded by the Canadian International Development Agency (CIDA).

After Singh’s resignation last February, having been caught in a ‘conflict of interest’ situation, the project had been suspended.
Permanent Secretary in the Ministry of Local Government and Regional Development, Mr. Collin Croal, confirmed that Yule is Singh’s successor and reported that CARILED’s Trinidad office would have warmly welcomed Yule on Monday.
She will direct the six-year, CIDA-financed local economic development project which is within 14 Caribbean countries.
Yule joined the CARILED team last week and will, first, be based at the Federation of Canadian Municipalities (FCM) headquarters in Ottawa, Canada.
She has 20 years experience in the field of international development in the continents of South America, Africa and Asia.
Meanwhile, Guyana has appointed a new national coordinator for the CARILED initiative. Mr. Dhanraj Singh replaces the resigned Mr. Parmanand Chandernauth.

CRITICAL PART
Croal said that, presently, the CARILED national coordinator is in the process of recruiting local economic development officers (LEDOs) who will form a critical part of the programme when it gets into full swing.
Interested persons have until June 27 to apply for the LEDO positions in Regions 2 (Pomeroon/ Supenaam); 3 (Essequibo Islands/West Demerara); 4 (Demerara/Mahaica) and 6 (East Berbice/Corentyne).
Croal said that the selection process for LEDOs across the named regions will be completed by July 15.
CARILED is being implemented by the Federation of Canadian Municipalities (FCM), in partnership with the Caribbean Association of Local Government Authorities (CALGA), the Caribbean Forum of Local Government Ministers (CFLGM) and the Commonwealth Local Government Forum (CLGF).  The programme, focused on local economic development projects, will, eventually, work in 14 Caribbean countries and aim to partner with 50 local government authorities to support the growth and development of  500 micro, small and medium enterprises (MSMEs).