The Impact Project Management Utilizing a Neighborhood Approach in Jamaica

A study on Newland, Gregory Park, and Naggo head communities

Resumen

With a motto that says, “Out of Many, One People”, Jamaica a most diverse and colorful Caribbean Island of just 4,111 square miles. After approximately four hundred years of slavery and the riotous years leading up to the abolition of slavery, Jamaica’s evolution from being colonized to full sovereignty was marked by its united vision and efforts toward freedom. It was
upon this idea of collaboration and community that Founding Fathers, Norman Washington Manley and Alexander Bustamante moved Jamaica into the 20th century with full adult suffrage, Independence and a strong sense of nationhood and identity. “Out of Many, One People” is more than a catchphrase. It is a paradigm through which the founding fathers and architects of this nation-built Jamaica and what they hoped will sustain it and inform its development agenda.
However, over the course of the last fifty-five years of independence the underbelly of Jamaica’s international brand of Island Paradise reveals ghastly social inequalities, exposed by our admittedly class stratified society, political tribalism and corruption, and haunting volatility(Tafari-Ama, 2006). This paradigm shift has severely impacted the peace and stability of many of Jamaica’s inner-city communities where such social inequalities as Tafari-Ama identifies are most likely found. It would take a return to the approach of the Founding Fathers – “Out of Many, One People” for there to be any semblance of transformation in our society. Jamaica’s current economic conditions of marginal growth means that many more people are pushed to the margins of society, widening the socio-economic gap and further alienating a huge section of its
citizenry. Because of this, many multi-laterals have made grant funding available for civil society to engage communities in closing those socio-economic gaps. Despite billions in donor dollars being spent, there seems to be no dent made in remedying the situation as many projects are plagued with lack of sustainability. Effective project management is therefore essential in securing and sustaining gains made by such international interventions. This paper seeks to explore the impact of project management utilizing a neighbourhood approach in three communities in Jamaica, where it is being used.