World Bank lauds community transformation programmes

The successful transformation of depressed communities in Jamaica may serve as an example for replication in Latin America and other Caribbean countries by the World Bank.

That was the declaration from vice president of the World Bank for Latin America and the Caribbean Region Carlos Felipe Jaramillo during a tour of the community of Barrett Town in St James, which benefited from the Integrated Community Development Project (ICDP).

Funded by the bank to the tune of US$42 million, the project saw the Jamaica Social Investment Fund (JSIF) transforming the lives of residents in 18 communities across Jamaica, including four in St James.

Jaramillo and a team from the World Bank were in Jamaica for a retreat last weekend and took a timeout to tour several projects in the once troubled community of Barrett Town.

The ICDP is designed to enhance access to basic infrastructure and services as well as to increase community safety through targeted and comprehensive violence prevention programmes. 

In Barrett Town, residents are now benefiting from the building out of green spaces, zinc fence substitution projects, improved solid waste management, recycling initiatives and road rehabilitation. 

There have also been improvements to drainage and water supply as well as the rehabilitation of 50-year-old Barrett Town All Age School, which included the setting up of a greenhouse. 

Residents were also engaged in several educational and certification initiatives.

“On behalf of the World Bank, I feel very strongly after seeing what we have seen here in Barrett Town, this is money well spent,” said Jaramillo.

“I have talked to several members of the community [and] they tell me that the improvements have contributed significantly to the well-being of the community, not only the school but also the rehabilitation of the roads.

“The environment is now a peaceful community. I think this is wonderful. We have a lot to learn from these good experiences and partnerships with Jamaica, JISF and the World Bank. And we would very much like to take some of these lessons across Jamaica, the Caribbean and other countries in Latin America,” Jaramillo told journalists.

Further, he said the World Bank and the Government are currently in dialogue over several other projects and programmes that are likely to bear positive outcomes. 

Anchovy, Salt Spring and Granville are the other St James communities where residents' lives are being transformed.

- Albert Ferguson

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