…boosts efforts to win local and foreign support; plans to be announced at Important AGM.

As part of efforts to increase its grant offerings, the Environmental Foundation of Jamaica (EFJ) is expected to unveil plans to court local and international donors. The Foundation will unveil its strategies at its Annual General Meeting (AGM), at the Knutsford Court Hotel in Kingston.

Among the plans to feature high on the agenda are the launch of its new website as well as the handing over of J$85m to its Board Trustees to seed an EFJ Endowment Trust Fund.

Dr. Horace Chang, Minister of Water and Housing, will be the Guest Speaker at the event. He is expected to the address issues related to grant funding and in particular some of the innovative ways the Government and the EFJ are working to address this matter.

Karen McDonald Gayle, Chief Executive Officer of the EFJ said that its non-Governmental Organisations (NGOs) members and other stakeholders are eager to hear from the Minister. He will represent the Government of Jamaica.

Denise Herbol, the new Mission Director of the United States Agency for International Development (USAID) in Jamaica, will also speak. She will be representing the US Government in making her first public address.

Previously, the EFJ got all funding support from a debt-for-nature swap between the US and Jamaican governments. Next week’s AGM is a critical meeting for the Foundation. Iit marks the last year of funding from the 1993 Debt Agreement. The EFJ is currently seeking to diversify how it attracts donors.

The AGM is scheduled to start at 9:00 a.m.

For more information, please contact:

Karen McDonald Gayle

Chief Executive Officer

Environmental Foundation of Jamaica

1B Norwood Avenue, Kingston 5,

Jamaica

Phone: 876-960-6744, or Cell: 876-960-8799, Fax: 876-920-8999

E-mail: kmcdonaldgayle@efj.org.jm; URL: www.efj.org.jm