IF given the $100 million it currently needs, Sistren Theatre Collective said it would finally be able to return to rolling out its programmes in rural communities, many of which are now being affected by violence and other social issues.

For now, the non-governmental organisation which uses the performing arts to address social issues said, given its limited resources it can only focus on the current seven inner-city communities in which it works throughout the Corporate Area.

Sistren currently works in Allman Town, Fletcher’s Land, Hannah Town, Barbican/Grants Pen, Rockfort, Parade Gardens and Tivoli in a bid to reduce and prevent crime and violence in these communities.

“We would want to do more theatre sessions and take the work outside of Kingston and into rural Jamaica because that is where the gangs are migrating to, and so these need more help right now than urban Jamaica,” executive director of Sistren Lana Finikin told reporters and editors at the weekly Observer Monday Exchange held at the newspaper’s offices in Kingston.

According to Finikin, it costs between $26 million and $40 million per year to work in the communities in Kingston and would require at least $100 million to return the programme to communities outside of Kingston and St Andrew.

This problem is further compounded since the bus which the group used to transport its staff was stolen a few years ago.

“There are many things we would like to do… but we don’t have funding to go back to the rural areas and so everything is limited to Kingston,” she said.

The group had been able to take its intervention to rural communities up until 2006, when the driver of the bus was held up at gunpoint and robbed of the vehicle after he dropped home members of the group.

Pointing to the great needs in communities outside of Kingston, Finikin said Sistren recently completed a UNDP-funded pilot project in Canaan Heights in Clarendon and Newlands in St Catherine where the major focus was on building a safe environment for women and children.

“When you look at environment safety we are talking about the zinc fence, the light, the bad roads, the overgrown shrubs, the toilets, the small track (pathway) that persons have to walk down to get to their homes, etc and how these cause crime and violence to impact women and children,” she said.

The programme, which currently operates on a skeletal budget with four full-time staff and 17 part-timers, uses the performing arts to educate persons on issues surrounding domestic and sexual violence, child abuse, HIV, teenage parenthood, and crime and violence, among others.

Danielle Toppin, gender specialist at Sistren, said the organisation has been forced to be very creative with the limited resources while still being able to reap great success.

“We have been doing amazing things with very scare resources and we could do even more amazing things if we had the proper funding,” she insisted.

Sistren, which initially started as an all-female group in 1977, has creatively empowered residents in communities plagued by violence, high unemployment and low occupational skills.