FOR THE past two-and-a-half years, ten communities in Regions Four (Demerara-Mahaica) and Six (East Berbice-Corentyne) have benefitted from a sustained effort at creating safe neighbourhoods. This has been done through a series of social interventions undertaken by the Community Action component of the Ministry of Home Affairs’ Citizen Security Programme.
The approaches to safe neighbourhoods essentially seek to engage and involve community members and organisations, and getting them to recognize the benefits.
A safe neighbourhood is one in which residents enjoy a feeling of freedom from the fear of being a victim of any crime, and where they coexist peacefully without the fear of being victimized in any way, individually or collectively, by other citizens in the community.
The Ministry of Home Affairs in partnership with the Inter American Development Bank successfully executed Guyana’s Citizen Security Programme of which Community Action is a major component. The ten communities identified are considered somewhat depressed and vulnerable to crime and violence.

The social interventions mentioned earlier include:
•    Youth Life Skills/Vocational Training Programmes for young people with little opportunity for gainful employment.
•    Community Engagement Activities such as fun days or clean up days which seek to promote and strengthen community cohesion.
•    Violence Prevention Sessions on Child Abuse, Intimate /Domestic Partner Violence, and Youth Violence, and Personal Development.
•    Rapid Impact Projects which are small scale rehabilitation or enhancement projects for more meaningful activity by community members.

These strategies not only lessen the chances of violent and anti-social behaviour, they are viable options which contribute positively to creating safe neighbourhoods. With such initiatives, it is only appropriate that members and stakeholders from those communities become involved in the factors that will make their communities safe.
This is not only for ownership, but sustainability. The CSP, true to its overall objective, has taken steps to ensure this. Project Coordinator, Khemraj Rai and Community Action Specialist, Rosanne Purnwasie, are leading the way in facilitating meetings and establishing sound mechanisms to foster safe neighbourhoods.
At these meetings, they re-emphasised the tangible benefits that can be accrued on achieving the safe neighbour status, the most important of which is a sense of security and togetherness. The participation of residents and stakeholders was very encouraging, where, based on their own knowledge and experiences of the communities, a number of areas have been identified for action.
At the same time, such community not only retains skilled and professional residents, it attracts and encourages these types of persons to become residents, enhancing investment and employment opportunities. Safe neighbourhoods are also likely to enjoy a better living environment and property value positively reflected.
Here in Guyana, with the conceptual frame of defining a safe neighbourhood established, indicators to objectively measure the extent to which a neighbourhood is safe will be used in the formulation of policies and programmes for building and enhancing such communities. This is in keeping with a model that has been developed regionally and has been identified as the Road Map to Safe Neighbourhoods.
The frame involves a detailed analysis and rating of violence and criminal activities in each community as well as an examination of key indicators of peaceful coexistence. Among these indicators are the number of places of worship, recreational and cultural and sporting facilities in the community.
The Ministry of Home Affairs has embraced the approach and is targeting every community member in the effort to realize safe neighbourhoods. It is ultimately the responsibility of every citizen to ensure that this is possible.