About the CDF
History
The Community Development Fund was First established in 1996 under a loan Agreement between the Government of Trinidad and Tobago and the Inter American Development Bank (IADB). The purpose of the fund was to act as a bridging mechanism for tackling poverty. The Fund was also mandated to assist with the delivery of services to the poor and vulnerable population. The following key objectives were established.
- The establishment of an efficient complementary mechanism for delivering basic social services and infrastructure to the poor, using the initiatives of NGOs, community organisations and other agencies.
- Strengthening the institutional capacity of NGOs and community based organisations; and
- Increasing beneficiary participation in poverty alleviation efforts.
Mission
The CDF is committed to artulating and implementing solutions that alleviate poverty and contribute to the holistic development of communities, using a collaborative approach, which both leverages and promotes innovativesness among our people and nurtures a caring society.
Key Characteristics
The key characteristics of the Programme are Investment and Technical assistance.
- The investment component has been used to finance community infrastructure (principally through the National Commission for Self Help Ltd), and
- The technical assistance component has financed the institutional strengthening of both the CDF and other participating agencies, notably Non Governmental Organisations (NGOs and Community Based Organisations (CBOs).