A survey of the living conditions of residents of 17 inner-city communities in Central St Catherine, commissioned by Member of Parliament Olivia “Babsy” Grange, is scheduled to start this week.

Named the Socio-Economic and Back-to-School Survey, it was conceived in 2002 to provide the MP with information to support a back-to-school project providing school uniforms and books for needy constituents. But it was eventually expanded, to provide information on the general social and economic condition of people living in the communities.

“We found, for example, that while 36 per cent of the people had secondary education, 65 per cent of them did not have an occupation and that was because they were not able to go on to tertiary education, or skills training, to acquire a specific skill,” Grange explained.

“We also found that 66 per cent of the heads of households were women and that the average household had about 3.14 children, of which only 56 per cent were able to attend school regularly. Then there was the revelation that 99 per cent of the household heads were not receiving any benefit from any of the health care programmes, and only 11 per cent were benefiting from PATH although St Catherine was its pilot parish,” Grange added.

She said that the first survey revealed serious problems including:

. lack of water;

. poor roads;

. very high levels of unemployment;

. lack of housing;

. lack of medical assistance; and

. lack of child support

With the support of Food for the Poor and the Ministries of Water, Housing and Works (roads), Grange said she was able to “use this information to effectively plan and address some of these issues”.

That survey, which was supported by the National Youth Service (NYS) and the Social Development Commission (SDC), was carried out by a team of high school students from within the constituency, for whom the project was also a welcomed source of employment as well as providing training in information gathering and dissemination.

The students were paid through the NYS, which is doing the same for this survey. But this time around, the National Housing Trust (NHT) has come on board to provide support, and hopes to use the information gathered for its own purpose.

This year’s team of 50 young people will, however, be mainly comprised of recent graduates from the same schools.

Grange said that this was the case because, unlike the first survey which was done during the summer holidays, this one will be done after school has resumed and those students involved would only be able to work in the afternoons and early evenings.

St Catherine High School is also assisting the programme by making its computer lab available to the interviewers and data processors.

Training begins this week, and will last for three days. Former SDC officer Hugh Marsh, who is head of the field team for the Stone Polls, is co-ordinator for the project and he will be assisted by community leaders, all of whom will have to attend this week’s training sessions.

“What makes me so excited about this survey is that we expect it to be so comprehensive, that it will provide an extensive data base for development in all areas of need in the constituency,” Grange said.