Minister of Sport and Community Development, Shamfa Cudjoe, has commissioned a Community Committee with the aim of developing the groundwork to build sustainability in five pilot communities across T&T.
The committee was launched virtually on Wednesday with the pilot communities being Beausejour, Diego Martin, Perseverance Village, Chaguanas, La Brea, Marabella and Canaan, Bon Accord, Tobago.
The Ministry, which is spearheading a one-of-a-kind multi-sector initiative, is engaging volunteers from various communities, ministries, international organisations and private sectors to create a roadmap to build individual communities from the ground up, ensuring no community is left behind.
This is part of the execution of the National Policy on Sustainable Community Development (NPSCD).
The private sector has been eager to engage in this National Policy on Sustainable Community Development initiative. Several entities have signed on, demonstrating their commitment to building a sustainable T&T.
These entities include the Digicel Foundation of T&T, National Gas Company of T&T, Eastern Credit Union, TSTT and The T&T Chamber of Commerce and Industry.
Speaking to the audience virtually, Minister Cudjoe alluded to the benefits that the communities served to gain from this initiative when she said “over the next two days, two entrepreneurs from five pilot communities, that means ten (10) entrepreneurs are getting to benefit by participating in Bridging the Digital Divide Regional Conference, courtesy the T&T Chamber of Industry and Commerce. This is really helping entrepreneurs gain access to new areas of opportunities and strategic developments. So we are really hitting the ground running on a really high note in our partnership with the T&T Chamber of Commerce and Industry.”
The Digicel Foundation also exhibited its confidence in the NPSCD by announcing an additional financial commitment to other communities.
Cindy Ann Currency, the Operations Manager of Digicel Foundation T&T said, “it's a huge milestone for us at the Digicel Foundation, and we're so thrilled to work with the Ministry on this. We will be taking on two of the communities, Marabella, and Perseverance, (Chaguanas).
"We have committed to investing TT$675,000 in these communities for this financial year because we were so inspired by this approach, as well as taking feedback from the other community work that we have undertaken in the past nine years, we've also decided that this year we should restructure the way we do things, and we will be adopting three additional communities. Rincon, La Fillette on the North Coast Road, and then one community from Tobago that we are yet to choose, and that will be an investment of an additional USD 825,000.”
Minister Cudjoe spoke on the responsibility of the community committee by saying “ these community committees are so critical to the process. You are out there doing work, day to day, from the beginning to the very end, really looking at how you can transform your communities. We have on board, faith-based organisation, women's groups, men’s groups, youth groups, members of the business community, and you are all dedicated to executing this vision at the community level. So it's a bottom up approach, and we are really excited about this type of intervention.”
This Committee is the third and final of three committee’s formed by the Ministry of Sport and Community Development to move forward with this National Policy of Sustainable Community Development. The National Committee and the Municipal Committee were both commissioned, earlier this year.