Background & Objectives

It was against this background that  the United States Agency  for  International Development (USAID)  designed the  Peace and  Prosperity Project (PPP) . The general feel  behind the  project was that the reduction of crime and violence and improvement  of socio economic   conditions of the inner  city  would stabilize these  areas , thereby facilitating a  marked improvement  in business environment  for Small, Medium  and Micro Enterprise ( SMME) sectors.

Two communities were selected  for the project activities  namely; Grants Pen and  Stand Pipe both in St Andrew , Jamaica.  
 
Investigations conducted in Grants Pen and Stand Pipe revealed :

• Close  proximity to moderate and vibrant commercial activity

• Limit or absence of donor agency  involvement

• There was  indication that CBOs  within the communities were stable and had potential  for growth

• The experienced  high levels of crime and violence

• There was  evidence that projects could be implemented and monitored with minimum  interruption 

• Unemployment levels were above national average

USAID embarked subsequently on a programme to seek to address these concerns and put to tender a three (3) year  programme for which KRC won the  bid in  March 2001.

• IR  1  - Increased employment and entrepreneurship opportunities
  • IR 1.1 - Increase in the number of employed residents
  • IR 1.2 - Number of businesses assisted  and established

• IR  2 - Improved community capacity for conflict resolution
  • IR 2.1 - Reduction in the number of major crimes  reported
  • IR 2.2 - Number of community conflict resolution programmes implemented and sustained
  • IR 2.3 -  Number of residents participating in conflict resolution programmes

• Community empowerment

• Professional  Continual Development

• Conflict Resolution

• Literacy Training

• Behaviour Modification

• Skills Training

• Micro- Entrepreneurship  Development & Employment Creation 

Challenges

• Low level of skills and experience among residents

• Insufficient or non-existent academic qualifications

• Stigmatization of residents from these communities

• Exodus of businesses from these communities thereby limiting employment opportunities in the communities

• Businesses lacking the capacity to expand

Macro Economic Factors

• Downturn in the economy heralding massive redundancies, downsizing and lay-offs. This as fewer jobs become available, negatively impacting on the  unskilled and inexperienced to find employment

• Decline in the construction industry, the major source of employment for unskilled and semi-skilled persons in the communities.

Opportunities

• Willingness  of  community  residents to support interventions

• Access  to service providers  provided by the project

• Mix of interventions allowed  for a wide cadre of persons, groups and stakeholders to be come involved

• The project was  endorsed  by the Government of Jamaica

• Provide a platform for a pilot to test  key methodologies 

Achievements 

 
Other Achievements

• Branch Library of the Kingston & St Andrew Parish Library established at 30 Shortwood Road in the former office of the PPP in Grants Pen -   This facility continues to serve the wider public and schools in the area, giving access to library services, a computer lab and various outreach programmes in the aftermath of the PPP.


• St Margaret’s Church Outreach Centre – Stand Pipe: At the end of the PPP agreement was reached to transfer programmes undertaken to the Centre to ensure continuity.

Lessons Learned

• Many inner-city residents unknowingly suffer from deep psychological problems that hinder their ability to perform educationally or hold down a job. This contributes to high levels of aggression and other anti-social behaviours commonly displayed.  The programme addressed these issues in implementation thereby averted a situation where, training programmes and job placements could have been affected and the project’s output unattained. The lesson has also been adapted for future programmes.


• Implementers and sponsors of such projects must be mindful that the pressure of meeting targets may inadvertently result in the perpetuation of some very exclusionary practices and factors the project was designed to overcome.


• Balancing quality and quantity- project targets are often set on quantitative basis with scant regards given to qualitative variables.


• To strengthen program delivery, improve the level of governance and increase the impact of the project, there needs to be an effective partnership and participatory approach by beneficiaries and executors. Both parties must have a balanced say in decision making and held accountable to each other.


• The ability of groups that participated in the implementation of projects, to continue in an independent and viable manner, post the PPP’s implementation, deserves serious attention.


• These projects tend to end before complete transformation occurs and the issues that gave rise to them may still exist. To address this issue capacity building must not be limited to the provision of training and equipment but strengthened to ensure continuity.