A conglomeration of eight community groups from Westmoreland that came together in 1988 with plans to empower community members to achieve economic independence, was yesterday given the 2007 Michael Manley Award for Community Self-reliance.

In addition to the trophy, the group – called the Association of Clubs (AOC) – received $200,000 to be used to further develop the project.

The community-based organisation has its headquarters in Petersfield, from where it operates a revolving loan fund for small business entrepreneurs, runs volunteer programmes which involves young people from the United States, promotes village tourism in which the US volunteers board with families in the area for the duration of the specific projects, and offers classes in adult literacy, introduction to computers and video animation and advocacy.

“We offer a lot of different programmes that teach members of the community not to be dependent on government and not to sit and wait on handouts,” said Norma Fenton, president of AOC.

She said several persons who were trained through AOC’s videography courses were presently employed in recognised video shops in the Montego Bay and Negril areas, and that one was employed to Television Jamaica.

“It’s not just a project, it’s a community institution and the judges feel that in a lot of ways, the Association of Clubs is an example of community self-reliance,” chief judge Dr Peta-Anne Baker said of the winning project.

AOC won from a field of five community-based initiatives and programmes that were shortlisted for this year’s competition.

Another of the five shortlisted projects – Hampstead Water Supply Upgrade – was yesterday awarded $100,000 for supplying safe, reliable water to the 300 households in Hampstead, St Mary. That award was made by the Environment Foundation of Jamaica (EFJ) which has been partnering with the Michael Manley Foundation to host the self-reliance competition.

The Hampstead group upgraded the water supply system in their rural community and took over its operation from the St Mary Parish Council. Members of the group boasted at the awards yesterday that they were the only community group to have a licence from the Office of Utilities Regulation to supply water.

Under the upgrading project, the Hampstead group expanded existing facilities, such as the catchment basin, and added some others, such as a chorinator, to ensure that safe water was available to the community even during the dry season.

The group now has plans to upgrade pit latrines in the community’s schools to flush toilets.

The three other projects which were in contention for the Michael Manley Award were the Portmore Park/West Bank Multi-purpose Sports Complex from St Catherine, Wood Park Skills Training Project from St Mary and the St Thomas Women’s Agricultural Initiative.

The Michael Manley Foundation seeks to preserve the legacy of the former prime minister of Jamaica by informing present and future generations of his life, work and philosophy, and by developing educational and community-based projects with a focus on individual, community and national self-reliance.