It is said by the elders that no bad breeze blows.
Hurricane Ivan of 2004 is certainly considered by most to have been a very bad breeze but even this destructive storm produced some positives for Grenada and one that sticks out more than any is the Agency for Reconstruction and Development, (ARD).

The remaining ARD employees, described by their CEO as service providers cleared their desks for the last time on November 30 but not without leaving behind an impressive record of accomplishment in a wide range of areas.
Chief Executive officer (CEO) of the ARD Mr. Richardson Andrew said the ARD has a lot to be proud of and had worked hard to fulfill its mandate to the people of Grenada.
At a short ceremony to mark the symbolic conclusion of the agency’s operations the CEO outlined a number of areas that ARD had been involved in and which are important for the long term development of Grenada.
The ARD was set up and operated with funding from the Canadian International Development Agency, (CIDA) but benefited from technical and other assistance from a number of other international organizations.
Andrews expressed gratitude to organizations such as the United Nations Development Program, (UNDP), the United States Agency for International Development, (USAID), the Commonwealth Fund for Technical Development the Organization of American States, (OAS), the Canadian Institute of Planners and others for the many forms of support that they provided throughout the life of the ARD.
Andrews is particularly pleased with the role that the agency played in coordinating with donor agencies, technical coordination with the various ministries and its largely successful efforts at capacity building and institutional strengthening of the Physical Planning Unit.
The ARD head explained that the staffing of the agency had been given a lot of lick by certain segments of the society one of the comments being that members of staff were being paid unusually high salaries.
He said the work of the institution required the expertise of highly trained individuals and if one is to attract such personnel one must pay for them.
He said the ARD staff peaked at around 41 persons 27 of which at that point were Grenadians.
Andrews said the staff of the ARD represented an amalgam of regional people since there were staffers from several Caribbean nations.
 In addition many of them brought expertise and experience that were not available but were needed here in the aftermath of hurricane Ivan.
Andrews said due to the efforts of the ARD the outside world is seeing Grenada as a model for coping with disaster. He said this opinion has a lot to do with how the recovery effort was managed.
Andrews pointed out that the method of establishing the ARD was also a significant factor since it was set up in a way to be autonomous and flexible which makes for speedy decisions and the ability to discover mistakes and correct them quickly.
 He said CIDA had provided the 3 years funding money up front and it was prudently managed by a board that was focused and analytical.
High priority was given to agriculture, Andrews said and the ARD developed and Agricultural Policy which it is intended will be utilized for years to come in pursuit of the development of the agricultural sector.
An Agricultural Enterprise Development organization was also instituted which would set the ground work for the majority of farmers to focus on agriculture as a business and approach it professionally.
This is augmented by a feasibility study and the development of a policy on orchard farming which experts at the ARD agree has great potential in Grenada and there is no shortage of fruit options that can be successfully cultivated on a large scale.
The number of projects and undertakings that can be attributed to the ARD cannot begin to fit into the space of one article but the remapping of the country is another undertaking that was given some priority and will have long term positive impact on our development.
A number of housing projects, refurbishing and rebuilding of schools, institutions including hospitals and community buildings were managed and coordinated by the ARD which has also been involved in many other programs such as surveys, training programs, conservation projects, art promotion and activities to promote the psychological recovery of the Grenadian people in the wake of hurricane Ivan.
Prime Minister Dr. Keith Mitchell who attended the ceremony was also quite pleased with what the ARD was able to achieve in its three year life span.
He said while Grenada is well on the road to recovery we are not fully recovered. However he said the strides we made towards recovery as a people and the speed with which those strides were made has so impressed the international community that the pledged aid package has risen significantly.
He said aid pledges to Grenada has risen from 5 million Euros to 20 million and counting because of how the aid given so far has been managed and the perception of how we have managed our recovery.
The Prime Minister said Grenada’s recovery is there for everyone to see and the people of Grenada are the ones who did it with the support and guidance of the ARD which has done an excellent job.
Dr. Mitchell said while Ivan was a terrible disaster which traumatized us all some good has come out of it since the physical structure of Grenada is generally better than it was before the hurricane.
He said while there were weaknesses and mistakes as there is bound to be with any organization and any endeavor, overall quite a lot has been achieved.
The Grenadian leader was high in praise for the emphasis that the ARD placed on psychological recovery since it was so import in helping people get themselves together and proceed with the task of rebuilding the country.
Following is a condensed list of activities and undertakings by the ARD in the last three years:
National Strategic Development Plan, Re-draft Physical Planning and Development Control Act, Local Area Plan for Greater Grenville, Land use policy, National Cadastre, Remapping Grenada, Carriacou and Petite Martinique, Cadrona Home for the Aged, Corinth Community Center, General Hospital Laboratory Roof Repairs, Grenada Seventh Day Adventist Comprehensive Secondary School, St. George’s Methodist School, Grenada Youth Centre, Construction Quality Assurance Mechanism, Human Settlement policy, Chinese Housing Units, Human Settlement Sites, Heritage Conservation Project Documents, Family Counseling, Child Wellness Program, Modernizing Agriculture in Grenada: National Policy and Strategy.