UNICEF's CHOICE Programme rolls out in Hanover

Claudia Gardner, Assignment Coordinator

WESTERN BUREAU:The Social Development Commission (SDC) conducted a two-day training of data collectors last week under the CHOICE (Caring, Healthy, Organised, Inclusive, Cohesive, Empowered) Communities programme being piloted in the Chester Castle and Cacoon Castle communities in Hanover under the United Nations Children's Fund (UNICEF).

Parish manager for the SDC, Mashario Bisasor, told Western Focus that the data was to be collected in order to prepare profiles for the communities.

He said Chester Castle and Cacoon Castle had been selected as pilot communities for the CHOICE programme in Jamaica as they had been deemed to be among the readiest for an intervention of this nature. He said they had relevant documents in place, had identified their priorities, and were ready to have their community profiles written and priority plans ratified.

According to Bisasor, the communities had also met at least two of the indicators required for selection, which included teenage pregnancy rate, reported child abuse, incidence of school dropouts, and below-par grade four literacy and numeracy passes.

He said 20 data collectors - 10 from each of the two communities - would be deployed to the two areas over a three-week period to conduct baseline surveys, which would extract information to compose profiles on each community.

FUTURE FUNDING

Bisasor said the purpose of the profiles was to enable the communities to be better able to access funding in the event that monies became available for development, whether nationally or internationally, as the documents would inform donors of what the communities' priorities are. He said the profiles would also serve as guides for ministries, departments, and agencies of Government that might want to implement programmes in the parish.

"When they go into the communities, we want the people to be welcoming of them because what the document will show is what the community needs, the priorities of the communities, and how to move forward.

"The community groups such as the Community Development Committees are on-board, but we don't want the wider community to see it as people coming to pry or extract sensitive information. All information will be confidential, and there will be no names on the forms or anything like that. All information is voluntary," he added.

The CHOICE Communities programme will be rolled out in Westmoreland and Hanover over the next four years. Under the initiative, UNICEF and its partners will be working to reduce the prevalence of HIV/STIs, ensure the protection of children, lower the adolescent school-dropout rate, and reduce the number of new adolescent parents.

It is also aimed at reducing levels of violence, improving the quality of early childhood development, increasing the number of boys and girls reading by grade four, and providing educational opportunities for children who are out of school.