USAID/BEC Public-Private Alliance Grants for Youth, Climate, and Health in the Caribbean

The ability for youth to take advantage of economic and social opportunities is critical for the future of the Caribbean region. To strengthen the capacity of governments, communities, and families to avert and prevent crime, particularly among the youth population, USAID supports programs designed to: impart market-based skills training, improve the quality of early grade education, reintegrate juvenile offenders, modernize judicial regulations, and promote positive youth development.

Under this announcement, USAID/BEC may consider supporting the following types of activities coming out of the private sector:

Illustrative Activities:

• Providing life skills (e.g. oral and written communication, public speaking, conflict resolution, leadership) and support services to at risk youth (e.g. sports for development, leadership training, academic tutoring, workforce training);
• Training youth in skills needed to obtain employment in the private sector (e.g. ICT specialists, niche agricultural skills, foreign language fluency, installation and maintenance of green technologies, etc.);
• Developing high quality teaching materials to improve early grade (kindergarten through the first three years of primary school) literacy and numeracy;
• Educating and training youth to participate in and service the Green Economy (e.g. installation and maintenance of solar panels, low-water use technologies, electric cars, rain catchment systems, wind related technologies, etc.);
• Encouraging youth to participate in niche agricultural areas to service local and export markets;
• Using mobile and web-based technologies (e.g. smart phones, specialized applications) to identify, report and track criminal activity in high crime communities;
• Enabling companies to hire well-trained youth; incorporate them in their value chains.
• Increasing the availability of second chance opportunities (e.g. continuing education, strengthening technical and vocational skill acquisition, etc.) to positively reintegrate youth into society and the economy;
• Providing innovative approaches to strengthen psycho-social systems and methods aimed at supporting vulnerable youth.

For Objective 2: Prepare governments, communities and specific sectors (agriculture, tourism, manufacturing etc.) to prepare for and respond to climate change, with a focus on developing the region’s green economy and improving energy efficiency.

Climate change threatens the very existence of BEC societies, given that the region’s population is directly impacted by sea level rise and warming of the Caribbean sea, salt water intrusion of freshwater aquifers, more frequent incidents of severe climatic events, and high dependence on imported petroleum for energy. Governments and the public are generally unaware of the threat climate change poses to their businesses and way of life, as well as the ways that they might take advantage of changes in climate to develop and expand the region’s Green Economy, to insulate local economies from shocks and maintain economic growth and development.

To address these issues, USAID currently supports: the implementation of global best practices in freshwater and coastal zone management; strengthening the technical capacity of regional and national institutions to adapt to climate change; and increasing the collection and practical use of climate-related science.

Under this announcement, USAID/BEC may consider supporting the following types of activities coming out of the private sector:

• Developing new financial products (e.g. affordable disaster risk insurance for the poor, small-farmers, small hotels, etc.) to help people recover from catastrophic weather events;
• Supporting the development of a Green Economy at the regional and country level (e.g. strengthening existing value chains promoting the use of green technology and approaches) by investing in new technologies or providing technical assistance to interested governments, companies and communities.
• Promoting the introduction, use, and expansion of Green technology (e.g. solar, wind, and other renewable energy sources) to reduce external energy dependence and promote energy efficiency;
• Collaborating with primary schools – post graduate programs to include specialized training in in-demand green technologies and climate change adaptation tools;
• Joining BEC governments, international donors, international financial institutions to replicate proven/ successful climate change adaptation projects and/or best practices; and
• Engaging youth in the advocacy, identification and implementation of climate change adaptation solutions.

For Objective 3: Support greater HIV awareness, prevention and care.

The Caribbean has higher HIV rates than any region outside of sub-Saharan Africa. The adult HIV prevalence of 1% is almost twice that of North America (0.6%), and more than twice that of Latin America (0.4%). Unprotected sex between men and women, especially transactional sex, is believed to be the main mode of HIV transmission in this region; however, evidence indicates that substantial transmission is also occurring among men who have sex with men. The HIV epidemic varies within countries and across the region. For example, HIV affects young women 1.2 to 3 times more than young males in the Bahamas and Barbados, while in Jamaica, Suriname and Trinidad and Tobago the reverse is true.

Progress has been made in the general population. In 2012, UNAIDS reported a decrease in the incidence of HIV infection among adults in Jamaica and Trinidad and Tobago by 26 – 49%, and over 50% in the Bahamas, Barbados, and Suriname. During 2008-2009, mother to child transmission of HIV was reduced to the point where elimination of new HIV infections in children has become a reality. There is also a decrease in the number of persons dying from AIDS-related causes in three countries (25 – 49% in the Bahamas and Jamaica, and by more than 50% in Suriname). In spite of these gains in the general population, much comprehensive work still needs to be done to improve outcomes for key populations. One particular area where much work still needs to be done is in Stigma and Discrimination as issues continue to affect People Living with HIV/AIDS (PLHIV) and key populations in the region.

Under this announcement, USAID/BEC may consider supporting activities coming out of the private sector which will:

• Reduce stigma and discrimination against PLHIV and persons most vulnerable to HIV infection, and reduce homophobia, through innovative:
o Multimedia and social media campaigns and activities, e.g. using the well-established Caribbean Broadcast Media Partnership (CBMP) as the vehicle
o Training programs in the workplace
• Strengthen the overall capacity of NGOs and enhance their ability to:
o Lobby for legislation and policies which protect human rights
o Translate advocacy into actual changes in harmful gender norms, e.g. sexual relationships between adults and minors
• Improve patient-centered prevention, care and support through the development and use of technology, for example, patient and or health care professional centered mobile apps
• Build a virtual platform which promotes a multi-sectoral health response through critical linkages between the public, private and non-governmental health sectors, as well as to other health and development programs.
• Promote HIV prevention through the tourism industry in the Caribbean region, e.g. through hotel chains, cruise ships, airlines and the various hotel and tourism authorities in the region.