CSJP to Benefit from $964 Million in Funding Over Three Years

KINGSTON — The Citizen Security and Justice Programme (CSJP) in the Ministry of National Security is to receive additional grant funding, totalling some $964,878,791 (£7.25 million), from the Government of the United Kingdom.

The funds, to be channeled through the UK Department for International Development (DFID), are slated to be allocated over the next three years, and will facilitate expansion of the programme's services to 11 additional communities, to bring the total number to 50, across eight parishes. 

Jointly funded by the Government of Jamaica and the Inter-American Development Bank (IDB), the CSJP was established to reduce and prevent the incidence of crime and violence through social intervention initiatives, and programmes to improve the delivery of judicial services and strengthen crime management capabilities.

Addressing a press conference on Monday (Oct. 10) at his New Kingston offices, Portfolio Minister, Hon. Dwight Nelson, welcomed the support, noting that community safety approaches, will become even more important, as efforts continue to displace the gangs.

He noted that it was a mix of policies, including increased social intervention strategies, specifically targeted at youth at risk of committing first time and repeat offences that has brought success in reducing crime over the last 17 months.   

“Through the CSJP, we have been able to provide educational support, life skills development, skills training and job placements, small business development and entrepreneurial support, parenting support, development of community multi-purpose centres, and engendering a greater gravitational pull towards closer community activities through areas like sports. Complementary to these efforts is the institutional support that the CSJP has provided to community policing and restorative justice activities,” he stated.

Minister Nelson informed that discussions and consultations were underway to determine the additional communities, which will be included in the programme, adding that “a decision will be made in short order”.

The UK’s State Minister for International Development, Alan Duncan, told journalists that the allocation to Jamaica was part of a nearly £75 million disbursement, which his government will make to the Caribbean region over the next three years.

Noting the importance of programmes such as the CSJP, Mr. Duncan said that efforts to tackle crime, were not restricted to policing strategies, but rather, entailed exploring the underlying causes, and addressing these. 

"It's essential to bring basic services and some kind of hope and stake in the society to some of those who would, otherwise, turn against it and cause difficulty within it. This has to be an essential component of our strategy, so it will increase security and safety. If you can reduce grievance and give people pride in their community, they are less likely…to…become a problem within it,” he argued.

IDB Country Representative for Jamaica, Ancile Brewster, announced that the IDB is working with the UK DFID for an additional grant “that will be much more substantial than the one that we are currently launching, which we hope to have in place by the end of this financial year.”

Initiated in 15 inner-city communities, the CSJP was expanded in January, after it was merged with another community crime and violence intervention programme, the Community Security Initiative (CSI).

This expansion was facilitated through collaboration between the IDB and DFID, which saw the latter committing some £750,000 during the first six months of the merger. This move saw the number of communities benefitting, increasing to 39, in eight parishes. 

By Douglas Mcintosh, JIS Reporter