Indigenous Peoples’ Ministry crafting CDP management plan

GINA, GUYANA, Thursday, December 22, 2016

The Indigenous Peoples’ Affairs Ministry is working on a management plan to help communities better execute their Community Development Projects (CDPs). This was disclosed by Minister of Indigenous Peoples’ Affairs, Sydney Allicock during an interview with the Government Information Agency (GINA).

According to the Minister, for the year 2016 there were scoping missions in 157 communities. This is where officers go into communities and have discussions with community members on the type of project they would prefer to undertake. Out of the 158 communities, 148 signed capital grant agreements with the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP).

One hundred and four (104) of those communities received a total of$245M for the first phase of their project, while 35 communities have thus far moved to the second Phase and received a total of $76M.

However, Minister Allicock noted that a number of communities are encountering challenges in executing their projects, hence the need for the management plan. The North Rupununi District Development Board (NRDDB) will pilot the project.

Minister Allicock explained that, “having to spend so much funding, sometimes it is difficult to manage when you are doing it individually, so you have a cluster like the NRDDB- they have like 18 communities and they are doing projects.”

According to Minister Allicock, this would help communities to maximise on the use of resources. Minister Allicock pointed out that along with the UNDP, ground work was done on October 24 and 25.

“If we could have all these systems in place, it would help the communities to better prepare to do the management of their business, the community generally, have better accountability. They would be able to trace and report more accurately the spending on development generally,” the Minister stated.

The management plan, Minister Allicock explained would enable the Ministry to keep abreast of the projects. The Minister also noted that the management plan will help the village councillors to be more confident in their operations.

 

By: Isaiah Braithwaite