The Min­istry of So­cial De­vel­op­ment and Fam­i­ly Ser­vices dis­trib­uted $2.5 mil­lion in grants un­der the Sow­ing Em­pow­er­ment through En­tre­pre­neur­ial De­vel­op­ment (SEED) Pro­gramme and the Dis­as­ter Re­lief Pro­gramme.

At the dis­tri­b­u­tion cer­e­mo­ny on Mon­day, Min­is­ter of So­cial De­vel­op­ment and Fam­i­ly Ser­vices, Don­na Cox, high­light­ed the Gov­ern­ment’s on­go­ing ef­forts to re­duce pover­ty, strength­en fam­i­lies, and pro­mote self-suf­fi­cien­cy. In her fea­ture ad­dress, she un­der­scored the sig­nif­i­cance of the ini­tia­tive and the Gov­ern­ment’s ded­i­ca­tion to em­pow­er­ing those in need.

“This event is more than a cer­e­mo­ny. It is a demon­stra­tion of the Gov­ern­ment’s pledge to sup­port those who are will­ing to up­lift them­selves. We re­main com­mit­ted to pro­vid­ing tan­gi­ble and mean­ing­ful as­sis­tance to those most in need and most de­serv­ing,” Min­is­ter Cox stat­ed.

Through the SEED Pro­gramme, 51 re­cip­i­ents re­ceived grants to ei­ther start or ex­pand their small busi­ness­es.

Ad­di­tion­al­ly, $2,245,710.90 was dis­trib­uted to 1,315 in­di­vid­u­als un­der the Dis­as­ter Re­lief Pro­gramme. The fi­nan­cial as­sis­tance, which is processed through the Na­tion­al So­cial De­vel­op­ment Pro­gramme, aims to sup­port fam­i­lies af­fect­ed by nat­ur­al or man-made dis­as­ters, help­ing them to re­build their homes and re­store their liveli­hoods.