650 Volunteers Expected For Clean-Up Project in Kingston

Some 650 volunteers in Kingston and St. Andrew are expected to participate in the National Hurricane Clean-Up Project, scheduled for September 29 and 30.
They will concentrate on the removal of hurricane debris, such as trees, tree limbs and branches, zinc, shrubbery and piles of dried leaves. This follows a rapid needs assessment conducted in communities by the Social Development Commission (SDC).
Director of Community Development Planning and Programmes, Debbie Clue said in a JIS ‘Think Tank’ on September 26, that the rapid needs assessment was done to ascertain the level of damage in each community.
“In a rudimentary way [it] identified what resources would be needed to clean up these communities,” she explained.
The results of the assessment were shared with the local government authorities and formed a baseline data to determine and define the scope of the projects in the parishes.
She noted that the assessment was done in collaboration with the Association of Local Government Authorities (ALGA), the National Solid Waste Management Authority (NSWMA), National Works Agency (NWA) and some community based organizations.
Miss Clue pointed out that communities have been sensitized and the project scope has been developed to mobilize persons for action on the days of the clean-up exercise, since the SDC was primarily responsible for community development.
She emphasised that the SDC “is engaging communities in a process where they can be empowered to take charge of their own development and their own transformation.”
Some of the resources that have been mobilized for the National Hurricane Clean-Up Project include trucks, machetes, rakes, brooms and cement.