Sustainable Development Framework rolled out in Region 9
Indigenous villages are now being equipped with a framework aimed at ensuring they are strategically positioned on a sustainable development path.
Under the Sustainable Development Framework, villages will be required to produce a long-term (10-year) Community Development Plan (CDP), where programmatic areas will be outlined, projects and targets will be prioritised, based on the respective CDPs and an effective feedback mechanism employed.
Once that aspect is completed, an annual village plan will be produced – a stipulation in the Amerindian Act of 2006 – and submitted to the Indigenous People’s Affairs Ministry and the Regional Executive Officer by May of each year so that same will be used to inform the annual national budget.
When the plans are approved by the National Assembly, the Ministry will then begin processing project documentation for respective village councils for the sums approved.
The Sustainable Development Agreement Framework was rolled out by the Ministry over the weekend in 27 villages in Region Nine (Upper Takutu-Upper Essequibo).
Meetings were held in Annai and Lethem which saw the Regional Chairman Brian Allicock and National Toshaos Council (NTC) Chairman Joel Fredericks in attendance.
A section of the gathering during one of the meetings in Region Nine
Representation came from Village Councils, the NTC, Community Development Officers and the World Wildlife Fund (WWF), staff from the Ministry and Conservation International Guyana (CIG).
During the Lethem consultation, Project Coordinator in the Ministry, Jude Da Silva pointed to a number of challenges faced by villages in the development of their village plans and the implementation of the Framework, which will create that enabling environment to curtail such inefficiencies within the villages and put them on a continuous developmental path.
“We have all the players coming together so that we can be able to put our resources in the right community for the right purpose, so rather than somebody coming in giving you what is not in the plan, then we will not be able to see much progress,” Da Silva stated.
Meanwhile, CIG Executive Director, Dr David Singh, in briefing village leaders and other partners who attended the session, said: “If we focus on our sustainable development, our green economic development, our low-carbon economic development, we will, in fact, be helping ourselves not only because we will be developing sustainably, but we will be helping the world. So this whole Framework is in meeting those goals. ”
Dr Singh added that the CIG remained resolute in its efforts to assist the Ministry in effectively and efficiently executing the Framework countrywide.
This strategic initiative was further endorsed by Region Nine Chairman Allicock, who, in no uncertain terms, said: “This Framework that we are developing here together augurs well not only for the villages but for the entire country…We are not starting from the top and handing it down to you; we are starting from the grass-root level so these things we are working out together is for that purpose and leaders are getting a better opportunity, they are being guided.”
A similar exercise will be conducted in Mainstay-Whyaka, Region Two (Pomeroon-Supenaam) shortly.
NTC Chairman Fredericks, who is also Mainstay’s Toshao, has already indicated that the Sustainable Development Plan fit with the Council’s mandate for Amerindian villages, because in the past villages did projects but never in a structured way.
He added, “Leaders come and leaders go and you might find that a new Toshao coming with a new plan or vision; the village can either develop or the rate of development can drop, but when you have the Sustainable Development Plan, a five or ten-year plan you can work with that and it is also good for the village because you don’t have to wait on the Ministry to finance their project, they can look to other stakeholders so I see it is something very good.”
The WWF, which is also a partner in the implementation process, has already begun working with villages in the North Rupununi to develop their Community Development Plans.
Notably, the Sustainable Development Framework also sets out to meet the 17 international Sustainable Development Goals, which were adopted by world leaders just over a year ago to, over the next 15 years, apply to all countries.
