THE Guyana Government and the Inter- American Development Bank (IDB) on Thursday discussed ways on how to streamline the National Insurance Scheme and also ways to assist the elderly and disabled. In a release, the Ministry of Finance said that Finance Minister Winston Jordan met with the Inter- American Development Bank’s Chief of Social Protection and Health Division Ferdinando Regalia, and a team to discuss support for Health and Social Protection. During the discussion, Minister Jordan said the government was seeking to have a more structured approach to the functioning of the NIS and novel and effective ways of assisting the elderly, disadvantaged, disabled and other vulnerable groups.
In discussing the challenges that a project of this nature presents, the minister told the team they should consider Guyana’s unique cultural context rather than employ a generic Caribbean approach. He pointed to the Basic Nutrition Sprinkles programme and said while the initiative to provide necessary nutrients to pregnant mothers was timely and laudable, the implementation and project design were poor and this had resulted in significant loses.
The IDB’s Regalia told the meeting that the bank had met with the Ministers of Public Health and Social Protection to discuss Maternal and Mental Health and Newborn and Child Welfare, since it has done extensive work in those areas in the Caribbean- particularly in Jamaica and the Bahamas- and Latin America.
He highlighted the key challenges of project implementation as the lack of capacity and coordination of efforts, but added that the bank could lend support in those areas. On the issue of the NIS, Regalia said that the IDB makes provisions for budgetary support through its Labour and Pensions Unit, but focuses on contributions. The IDB team will be working on a Subsidies Scheme.
He added that technical cooperation on a Diagnostic Proposal and Implementation Plan can begin in 2016. And this will ensure that payments are made, that the right kind of targeting is done through the use of the Census and other data and that the beneficiaries are efficiently managed through the use of management information systems. He cautioned that the success of this, however, was hinged on overcoming the challenges of reaching the neediest in Guyana’s remote communities.
Mr. Regalia said that Guyana could benefit from the mobilisation of resources of between US$300,000 – US$350,000, in 2016 to diagnose problems and propose strategies with the possible outcome being a Loan Programme, which could come from the 2017/18 IDB-Guyana Country Allocation.
Minister Jordan said that the agenda put forward by Mr. Regalia was in keeping with the overall thrust of the government’s plans to improve the delivery of services associated with mental and maternal health, the elderly and new born and child welfare. He therefore agreed with the IDB that they can partner to implement aspects of the proposed technical assistance.