MORE than eight months after Hurricane Melissa devastated St Elizabeth, Reverend Dr Henley Morgan is urging the Government to ensure that in the shift from relief to recovery residents are given a solid opportunity to rebuild their lives.

Speaking during the latest Jamaica Observer Monday Exchange, Morgan said while relief efforts were necessary in the immediate aftermath of the Category 5 storm, the priority must now be strategic investment to help businesses reopen and communities recover.

“We don’t need handouts; we need a hand up,” declared the social enterprise expert with deep roots in St Elizabeth.

Morgan argued that rebuilding the parish — which was hard hit by heavy rain, strong winds, and storm surges — will require a collaborative approach between the Government, elected representatives, and residents.

Workmen reconstructing the roof on a house in New Town, Black River, recently. (Photo: Garfield Robinson)

“Government cannot do it alone. Citizens cannot do it alone. We have to be partners,” he told the Monday Exchange, which also heard from representatives of the St Elizabeth Homecoming Foundation and other key stakeholders from the parish.

The foundation has proposed a number of measures for redevelopment of the battered parish, including creation of a multidisciplinary team with specific mandates and deliverables to refine and oversee a five-year development plan.

According to the foundation, the team should include people with expertise in engineering, tourism, fishing, agriculture, shelter, human development, institutional transformation, community mobilisation, policy mandates, public-private partnership financing models, community relations, development support communications, environmental management, and real estate law.

It added that the team should also include strategic consultative partners, including 19 organisations spanning civil society, professional bodies, and community groups. Morgan is adamant that disaster recovery efforts cannot be effectively directed solely from the Corporate Area as rebuilding strategies must be shaped by those on the ground.

A ward at Black River Hospital which is to undergo reconstruction after it was destroyed by Hurricane Melissa.

“A crisis caused by anything is a very localised situation. You don’t address crises from the centre,” he argued.

Morgan is convinced that local representatives should be “at the front of the battlefield” as St Elizabeth communities recover. He also called for public reconstruction projects to create opportunities for local entrepreneurs, arguing that small businesses should directly benefit from the significant capital works expected to take place across the parish.

“I expect all this public financing, this public expenditure…I expect small businesses to work with the major contractors,” said Morgan.

He proposed that contractors awarded public projects should be required to engage small businesses as part of the procurement process.

“Only bidders who [give] at least 30 per cent of their contract worth to small business become a part of the eligibility,” he advocated.

He is of the view that rebuilding should become an engine of economic recovery for the parish rather than simply replacing damaged infrastructure. While focusing on long-term recovery, Morgan lauded the Government for its rapid assistance to churches following the hurricane, describing it as an example of how swift intervention could help revive communities.

“Churches don’t just meet on Sundays. They are not just centres of worship. In communities, they are a safe [space] for the community to come together. The speed with which they [the Government] moved…the church in Hodges, for instance…got some seed capital and is now functioning, and has brought some life back to the community,” said the reverend.

Morgan argued that a similar level of urgency should now be directed towards helping businesses and residents rebuild their livelihoods as the recovery effort should empower communities to become self-sustaining rather than dependent on relief.