Research drives SDC community development planning

KINGSTON, Jamaica — The Social Development Commission (SDC) Community Research and Development Planning Programme (CRDPP) continues to be guided primarily by targeted research and data-gathering practices, enabling the agency and other stakeholders to plan development strategies across Jamaica. Speaking during a recent Jamaica Information Service (JIS) “Think Tank”, SDC Deputy Executive Director for Community Research, Development Planning and Programmes, Juanita Reid, said the agency utilises an integrated community development approach to gather critical data that informs its programmes. “This strategy ensures that we establish local and community groups that we organise and engage communities and that we use reliable data to inform community development planning. From that data, [we] work with our communities to address their priorities as it relates to economic development, social development, and cultural development,” she further stated. Reid emphasised the importance of research as part of the integrated community development strategy, noting that it differs from more traditional forms of research. “While we collect information from people, they are not just subjects in the whole data collection process. They are in fact our partners, and they are the ones who share their lived experiences, their priorities and their issues and provide us with the data that we need to inform their own development,” she said. The first step in the research process involves identifying the areas to be planned for, using information already collected and maintained by the SDC. “We ensure that we have all defined borders and boundaries for all communities across Jamaica. We have to know the space people occupy and we have to make sure they are represented in all the work that we do,” Reid noted. The SDC maintains records for 775 communities and more than 4,000 districts across Jamaica that comprise those communities. The agency also prepares community profiles, described by Reid as “comprehensive data sets on the economic, social, cultural and environmental life of a community”. “Data is not static for us at the SDC. When we collect the data from the communities who work with us, we engage them in a process of planning… which we call community priority planning… [around] the needs, the issues, and priorities that affect these communities,” she explained. “What we do [is], we engage them in telling us some more about these issues, looking at the ones that are priorities, and engaging them in a planning process, ensuring that they have a community plan to guide the development of their communities. This plan has specific guidelines, actions, timelines that we need for the development… the specific partners to be involved [and] the specific actions that they want to address to improve their communities,” the deputy executive director added. The SDC also maintains listings of community-based organisations and community asset maps that provide a spatial representation of information within communities. “It is accessible, it is shareable and it is used, not only by the SDC, but all ministries, departments and agencies… all our private sector groups… to plan strategies for the development of communities,” Reid said. — JIS