PIOJ Hosts Best Practices Online Symposium and Expo Wednesday

Persons are being invited to participate in the Planning Institute of Jamaica (PIOJ) symposium on best practices for social and community development, on Wednesday, November 2.

The symposium, under the theme ‘Towards Community Renewal: Coherence in Coordination’, will comprise an online session and a Local Economic Initiative (LEI) Expo.

The online event will be live streamed from 9:00 a.m. to noon, and persons can join by logging on to the PIOJ’s website at https://www.pioj.gov.jm/event/wednesday-november-2-2022/.

Technical Specialist for Socio-economic Development, Community Renewal Programme (CRP), PIOJ, Charmaine Brimm, told JIS News that “the general objective of the symposium is to document and showcase best practices in social and community intervention and to also stimulate and strengthen national dialogue and successful strategies to tackle the critical development issues”.

“We want to bring a fresh definition to community renewal,” she noted.

She said that the event will also provide solutions to the challenges faced by persons living in vulnerable communities and work towards the restoration of these spaces.

The challenges include the impact of crime and violence on residents, including the mental impact, safety concerns, and ensuring that persons have access to adequate justice systems.

The keynote speaker for the online session will be Performance Management Researcher and Consultant and PhD Program Director in the Department of Public Policy and Administration at Florida International University (FIU), Professor Alexander Kroll.

He will be supported by Doctoral Student and Fulbright Scholar, FIU, Aubrey Stewart.

The session will be followed by the LEI Expo at The Jamaica Pegasus hotel in Kingston from noon to 5:00 p.m.

The event, which will support grassroot businesses, will feature local enterprises in fashion, photography, agro-processing, manufacturing and arts and craft.

Ms. Brimm noted that while the online segment of the symposium is in progress, persons will be allowed to enter the Expo to patronise local businesses.

The PIOJ, through its Community Renewal Programme (CRP), is partnering with the Inter-American Development Bank (IDB), the Ministry of National Security, Jamaica Social Investment Fund (JSIF) and the Social Development Commission (SDC) to host the seventh staging of the event.