THIRTY-THREE persons from communities in Regions 3, 4, 5, 6 and 10 are now assisting the Ministry of Local Government and Regional Development to achieve government’s value for money approach in community development projects. The undertaking, a joint venture between the Ministry and the United Nations Development Programme, is part of an Enhanced Public Trust Security and Inclusion Project (EPTS) under which the ministry is expanding community development programming to 25 communities.
These individuals were identified by residents of their respective communities to function as voluntary supervisors for all government projects implemented in the targeted communities. The main functions of the voluntary supervisors are to promote voluntary monitoring and social auditing at the community level on projects such as the construction of roads, bridges and buildings, ensuring works are executed to specification and providing regular feedback to the ministry on the projects’ implementation.
Permanent Secretary, Ministry of Local Government and Regional Development, Nigel Dharmalall, called the training a noble undertaking by the government, for the reason that it seeks ‘to involve residents at the community level in providing the level of monitoring and supervision that the government requires.’
“This is part of the enhanced democracy that we speak about,” he told the trainees.
“The cry we have in many of our communities is that many of our projects are not done to standards,” Dharamlall told them.
With the involvement of residents, the ministry is hoping that this will be a thing of the past, Dharmalall said.
“You have been trained, you have been identified, you have been institutionalised, you are well organised; now you have the tools to move forward to do your work,” he told them. “As the voluntary supervision process takes effect, I would expect that very shortly, maybe from tomorrow, we will start receiving reports from you.”
Dharmalall also urged that they monitor and not impede the projects’ execution.
“The things you can control, control them, the things you can’t control, let us know, so we can be part of the resolution,” he advised them.
The ministry expects that with the successful feedback from this initiative, other communities will benefit as the experience garnered by the undertaking of the 33 individuals will be used as lessons for other communities.
The training session facilitated by Civil Engineer, Ministry of Public Works, Ron Rahaman, was geared at providing practical understanding and skills in reading bills of quantities and other tools used in monitoring of civil engineering projects.
This is the second round of training the supervisors would have received, having benefited from an earlier training session in May, which dealt with the theoretical aspects of the training.
Dharamlall presented the trainees with tool kits comprising a small digital camera, a level, a measuring tape, and a log book.