JSIF Urges Full Participation in Integrated Community Development Project

Residents of Rema in South St. Andrew are being urged to participate in activities under the Integrated Community Development Project (ICDP), which will be implemented in the community.

General Manager for Project Management at the Jamaica Social Investment Fund (JSIF), Loy Malcolm, said it is only through full involvement at every stage of the process, that the residents will truly benefit from the interventions to be undertaken.

“It is for (your) benefit,” she said at the launch of the project in the community recently.

Rema is among 18 communities across six parishes, which will benefit from the ICDP, which is being undertaken by the Government at a cost of $42 million.

The project, which is being carried out by JSIF, through a loan from the World Bank, will impact more than 80,000 residents in Kingston and St. Andrew, St. Catherine, Clarendon, St. Ann, St. James, and Westmoreland,.

The initiative will address the major needs of the communities – physical, in terms of infrastructure, as well as the provision of social services.

Ms. Malcolm pledged that communities will be consulted on areas of greatest need, before the works are implemented.

“As we undertake the activities under the project, we will be engaging with you, the community. This is just our first introduction, but it will be an ongoing process to listen to your needs, for you to assist us with assisting you in making the dreams that you have come true,” she told the residents.

Minister of Transport, Works and Housing, and Member of Parliament for South St Andrew, Dr. the Hon. Omar Davies, welcomed the project, which he said, will go a far way in greatly enhancing the socio-economic status of the community.

He further commended JSIF on the unbiased, scientific method it used in selecting the communities for the intervention.

“JSIF has looked at the social and economic data for the whole Jamaica and you’re looking for communities, which are (without) certain infrastructure and it’s on a ranking system that they have determined which 18 communities will be (selected),” he said.

ICDP, which was officially launched by Prime Minister, the Most Hon. Portia Simpson Miller in Majesty Gardens and Greenwich Town/Newport West on January 21, aims to promote public safety and transformation through the delivery of basic infrastructure and social services in the 18 communities. It will provide a range of social service interventions, including after-school education and recreation projects, and minor rehabilitation of school infrastructure.

It will also provide mentorship, employment and skills training opportunities for youth through partnership with the HEART/Trust NTA.

A major leg of the programme will involve road rehabilitation; the removal of zinc fences; improvement of storm water drainage; and the installation of water supply and sanitation household connections.

The ICDP will also see the creation of recreational spaces and community parks as well as a partnership with the National Solid Waste Management Authority (NSWMA) to clean up and beautify the local environment.

Under the project, environmental wardens will be trained and employed to assist in the clean up process. It will also include programmes to reduce violence, such as mediation and counselling services and trauma response; the training of community mediators; and the creation of mobile mediation posts in addition to violence prevention programmes in schools.

Some of the major partners include the Ministries of National Security, Health and Education as well as the Planning Institute of Jamaica (PIOJ), NSWMA, HEART/Trust NTA and the Social Development Commission (SDC).

The project is scheduled to end in 2020.