PIOJ To Stage Virtual Symposium On Best Practices For Community And Social Development Nov. 25

The Planning Institute of Jamaica Community Renewal Programme (PIOJ-CRP) and partners will virtually stage the fifth annual Symposium on Best Practices for Community and Social Development, on Wednesday, November 25, 2020.

The event, which will be streamed live from 9:00 a.m. to 2:00 p.m., will be held under the theme ‘Coordination: Working together to build a better Jamaica’.

Speaking with JIS News, Member of the Planning Committee for the event, Charmaine Brimm, said the symposium will address how crucial coordination is to community development landscape and to promote best practices in the field.

“Through coordination and bringing together your expertise, identifying best practices, we will be able to achieve a better Jamaica that we are aspiring to. We will also be looking at what works internationally, regionally and locally and see what we can adapt. Our experts will be bringing practical knowledge on how to get people to work together and how it can effectively be done,” she explained.

Keynote speaker, PIOJ Director General, Dr, Wayne Henry, will address the theme, ‘Coordination: Working together to build a better Jamaica’, while International Social Enterprise Executive, Adam Kahane, will demonstrate to participants on how to inspire coordination.

Specialists, including the Associate Dean, Graduate Studies, University of the West Indies, Mona, Dr. Marina Ramkisoon; and International Consultant on performance management, Martin Alessandro, will show how interlinking professional strengths can improve coordination, during their presentations at the event.

Miss Brimm also indicated that the symposium will be highlighting local initiatives that have seen the effectiveness of coordination.

“The Mayor of May Pen, Councillor Winston Maragh, and Social Development Commission Parish Manager, Clarendon, Baldwin McKenzie, will be demonstrating how coordination has worked well for them and how they have been able to get success from having persons working towards a similar goal,” she said.

She added that the symposium will be focusing on the tools of coordination and the particular mechanisms important to getting partners to collaborate effectively.

“Due to the vulnerable communities we work with, we also are looking at the type of impact their environment has on them and also on the part of partners by looking at what has hindered us working together effectively. If we are able to understand each other, then we will be able to work together more effectively,” she explained.

The event will be streamed on the Facebook and YouTube pages of the Public Broadcasting Corporation of Jamaica (PBCJ), PIOJ, Jamaica Social Investment Fund (JSIF), the Social Development Commission (SDC) and PBCJ cable on Flow 105 and Digicel Play 13.

Development practitioners can request to register by sending an email to bestpractice@pioj.gov.jm .