Tomorrow, November 29, 2013, the Caribbean Development Bank (CDB) will conclude a five-day training course in participatory community development methods for Community Liaison Officers (CLOs), Community Development Officers (CDOs) and partner representatives of its Basic Needs Trust Fund (BNTF) Programme. The training is taking place at the Pegasus Hotel in Georgetown, Guyana. Mrs. Darran Newman Belgrave, Portfolio Manager, BNTF noted, "There is evidence that BNTF sub-project interventions are contributing to enhanced well-being in vulnerable communities, however, the impact has been constrained by the limited capacity among staff in our Borrowing Member Countries to fully engage the beneficiaries. In addition, they have limited capacity to access, gather, disaggregate and monitor data and information, and translate these into baseline documentation, Community Needs and Assets Assessments, and other sub-project reports." "CDB is committed to strengthening previous capacity building initiatives in participatory research methods designed for CLOs to reach the most vulnerable communities, and to engage them at all stages of the project cycle. The major objective of the training is to enhance skills among these key stakeholders in the BNTF Programme in participatory methodologies toward improving the Community Needs and Assets Assessments tool. Conducting more rigorous exploration of community needs and assets and engaging the communities in meaningful dialogue and planning related to priority areas for poverty reduction are explored in more depth." The workshop explored a wide range of participatory tools including Transect Walks, Community Resource Maps, Gender Resource Maps, Seasonal Calendars, Wealth Ranking, Historical Profiles, Time and Trend Lines, Decision-Making Matrices, Venn Diagrams, Problem Ranking, Semi-structured Interviews, Focus Group Interviews, Key Informant Interviews, Listing and Priority Ranking, Roti Diagramming, Future Visioning, and Force Field Analysis. The workshop also included a field trip to a rural community in Guyana for experiential learning. The BNTF is one of the Bank's key instruments for addressing poverty reduction. The ten participating Borrowing Member Countries are Belize, Dominica, Grenada, Guyana, Jamaica, Montserrat, St. Kitts and Nevis, St. Lucia, St. Vincent and the Grenadines and Turks and Caicos Islands. BNTF is designed to assist poor and vulnerable communities in improving access to basic pubic services. The Programme provides grant funding for social and economic infrastructure, and skills training to enhance employability and community management. PIX CAPTION: Facilitator, Ms. Aldene Shillingford (right), and co-facilitator Ms. Sandra Latibudiere (left) going through an exercise with participants.