Dr Kevin Rushing, the acting mission director of USAID (right) and Dr Suchet Loois, the country director of the Peace Corps (left) shake hands after they signed the agreement that will provide $1.5 million in help for communities across the island. Other attendees from USAID and the Peace Corps look on in the background. (Photo: JIS)

THE United States Agency for International Development will next year provide approximately $1.5 million to a community self-help programme, which it offers in collaboration with United States Peace Corps/Jamaica.

USAID has signalled its intention to continue funding the programme, which is designed to help community groups throughout Jamaica complete self-help projects under their Small Project Assistance (SPA) programme.

Dr Kevin Rushing, the acting mission director of USAID and Dr Suchet Loois, the country director of the Peace Corps, signed an agreement at a training seminar for the 57 new Peace Corps volunteers who arrived in Jamaica in July.

SPA is designed to encourage and support community self-help efforts by providing small amounts of funding for activities that have an immediate impact at the community level.

The Peace Corps will use the funds made available by USAID to award small grants to community-based organisations throughout Jamaica, and will also provide technical assistance to these groups to carry out activities under their self-help projects.

These projects cover a wide range of self-help activities in areas such as:

. HIV/AIDS, youth health and development
. the environment
. water and sanitation
. Information Communication Technology (ICT)
. education
. micro-enterprise development and
. community leadership.

SPA activities will include training, project planning assistance, and monitoring and evaluation support that will improve the design and management of sustainable community development efforts.

Commenting on the SPA activities, Dr Loois said that he was pleased to continue the project, which has benefited many Jamaicans.

"We still have a long way to go in solving some of the major problems facing communities but a lot of progress is being made," he said. "I am looking forward to working with our volunteers and Jamaican counterparts in areas where they feel the need for greater effort in building a sustainable way of life and stronger communities."

Dr Rushing echoed these sentiments and described the SPA programme as a small but significant part of USAID's overall approach to sustainable development in Jamaica.

"Experience has shown us that a strong civic life is one of the most important factors in solving development problems," he said. "It is the people and their capacity to orchestrate their own development that is the foundation of sustainability and the success of any community development programme. No matter how many programmes we may implement, the key is to allow members of a community develop and articulate processes where they can come together and solve their own problems."

The SPA programme was established in 1983 and operates in every parish.

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