CDF should mean: Community Development Force

Ken Jones, Contributor

An urgent sense of responsibility impels me to make a forward step from the position I have taken that the Constituency Development Fund should not be scrapped. I now say let us fix it; remould it nearer to the heart's desire and thereby strike a blow for increased community action and greater involvement of people in the process of nation building.

From the days of my youth I learnt that the quest for democracy and progress is best satisfied when founded upon positive developments at the community level. I was fortunate to have been associated with and tutored by some of the great social developers who followed the lead of Norman Manley and the Jamaica Welfare that he initiated in 1937. I spent several years working in the field at the Jamaica Social Welfare Commission. I saw at first- hand that, given the basic tools and inspiration, ordinary people can do extraordinary things to uplift themselves, their families and their surroundings.

It is acknowledged that the world's most successful form of community development was introduced and first used in Jamaica when we began establishing community centres where people could meet for recreation, education and inspiration to make best use of the resources at hand. They lacked money but they had minds and muscles; and they used them cooperatively to solve personal and community problems without waiting for a government handout.

Modest cess

With a modest cess from the export of bananas and some help from the British colonial government, Jamaica Welfare provided communities with facilities for the formation of co-operatives, cottage industries, home-economics classes; and there was a mobile cinema unit that visited with films to entertain and give instructions for building better communities and family life. This activity was bolstered by the people's belief in self-reliance. They worked together, produced together, shared their resources and gave meaning to their oft-repeated song: "We are out to build a new Jamaica."

So successful was the movement that it was copied by several other countries and eventually "community development" was recognised by the United Nations and defined as "the process by which the efforts of the people themselves are united with those of government al authorities to improve the economic, social and cultural conditions of communities; to integrate these communities into the life of the nation and to enable them to contribute fully to national progres".

What we have today, and some of it is reflected in the Constituency Development Fund, is the tendency for political representatives to play the role of godfathers bearing wise counsel and gifts of 'god-goodment' instead of encouraging community responsibility, self-help and self-reliance.

The act of simply allocating millions of dollars to a constituency and putting the MP in charge without a viable plan for community development is a tempting formula for foxy figuring. In fairness, the CDF calls for a viable five-year constituency plan, but it appears that the administrators can be pressured to accept piecemeal requests for funding. This should be corrected; and if I am wrong someone needs to publish a list of the five-year plans that have evolved from community planning since the CDF inception.

I do not doubt the good intentions that are mixed with politicians' desire to have their constituents see them as being good and helpful. This enlightened self-interest has always been there and was demonstrated before the CDF came into existence.

What the CDF needs is transparency, strong management and emphasis on development rather than welfare; also to be made part of a comprehensive plan for community development in everyconstituency.

The CDF can be a force for massive transformation in the social, cultural and economic prospects of this country.

Ken Jones is a veteran journalist. Feedback may be sent to columns@gleanerjm.com.