EXECUTIVE SUMMARY

The Social Assessment (SA) was undertaken as part of the preparation requirements of the St. Vincent and the Grenadines Disaster Vulnerability Reduction Project (DVRP). The Assessment was conducted in compliance with World Bank requirements as presented in OP 4.12, World Bank Safeguards Involuntary Resettlement and OP/ BP 4.10 on Indigenous peoples, for Category B projects

The social assessment will a) analyze the potential social impacts of the project and develop associated social indicators for monitoring and evaluating the social impacts of the project, b) solicit stakeholder/beneficiary perspectives on project design and impact and c) identify and assess the nature and magnitude of land acquisition related issues. The social assessment will assist in the identification of poor and vulnerable populations and ensure that project objectives are acceptable to the intended beneficiaries.

The project would be implemented in several communities throughout St. Vincent and the Grenadines. The sites were selected by the Government of St. Vincent and the Grenadines. The main objective for selecting these sites was based on investigation of the vulnerable communities this was a joint collaboration of ministries, namely; the Ministry of Transportation and Works, Ministry of Health and the Environment, Ministry of Education, Ministry of Housing Lands and Surveys Ministry of Finance and Economic Planning.

Its primary objective was to broadly understand the way in which the proposed project might impact or change the social condition of the receiving human environment. As well as, but not limited to identifying how these processes might be changed by the proposed project additionally the social assessment would identify the information gaps that would have to be addresses during the implementation

One of the main activities that formed part of this social assessment was the collection of data. Methodologies that were employed included primary and secondary data collection methods.