KINGSTON (JIS) -- Mission Director of the United States Agency for International Development (USAID), Denise A. Herbol, has hailed Jamaicans for the special community spirit and interest shown towards projects supported by the organisation. The Mission Director, who has been in Jamaica since November 2011, told JIS News that money can always be granted by the organisation, but if people do not have the kind of interest that she has seen in Jamaica, little success will come of such resources.
Currently, her organization is implementing a $330 million (US$3 million) programme in Jamaica, to support targeted community activities under Phase Two of its Community Empowerment and Transformation Project (COMET II).
The small grants programme provides direct funding support to community groups, faith-based organisations, non-governmental organisations (NGOs), and civil society organisations, to assist in strengthening local governance structures, and improving safety and security, particularly in volatile and vulnerable areas.
Miss Berbol, who demits office in June next year, said that of the 13 countries in which she has worked, Jamaica is the longest she has served.
“It is going to be very difficult for me…I am going to be very heart-broken to leave. The people have been wonderful, and they have been willing to work on the programmes to do with climate change, clean energy, and anti-corruption,” she told JIS News.
Miss Herbol was first employed to the USAID in 1981. She was the Deputy Mission Director with the organization in Iraq from 2007 to 2008, and from 2008 to 2010, she served as Mission Director for the USAID in Lebanon, working with staff to promote democracy and governance; support enhanced learning environments for public school students, and helped restore the livelihoods of communities that surround the Nahr al-Barid Palestinian refugee camp. She also served regularly as Acting Deputy Chief of Mission.
She served as the Senior Deputy Mission Director for the USAID in Pakistan from 2010 to 2011, helping to lead complex and challenging programmes in Islamabad, Lahore, Karachi and Peshawar.