‘Sustained engagement critical for project success’
KUCHING: Regular community engagement is a vital part of any project if the latter is to be successful and sustainable.
Universiti Malaysia Sarawak’s ( Unimas) Institute of Social Informatics and Technological Innovations ( ISITI) director Prof Dr Narayanan Kulathuramaiyer pointed out that engagement between stakeholders and the local community must start from the very beginning until finish and possibly well beyond.
“Clearly from today’s discussion, it shows that expectations are not managed from early in the project that in turn will cause many unexpected issues and challenges to crop up along the way and even thereafter,” he said.
Narayanan highlighted this after the Forum on Electricity Access for Indigenous Communities in Sarawak held at Wisma Bapa Malaysia here yesterday.
The forum was jointly organised by Unimas and Sarawak Development Institute (SDI).
“People’s expectations constantly change and can become complex, even more so for communities living in rural and remote areas who lack the exposure to the outside world,” he said.
Narayanan also emphasised that there will be limitations and negative impacts on economic and social outcomes of projects without proper and effective communication to build strong and genuine relationships with local communities.
Besides community engagement, he added, collaboration between stakeholders and the university was equally important to obtain valuable information, knowledge and feedback project.
“Our ( Unimas) research on electrification in rural and remote places can be a guideline for Sarawak Energy Berhad ( SEB), for instance, to come up with a model or solution unique to the local community of the specific area or contribute to other areas as well,” he said.
“In brief, there are many parameters to be seriously considered for any project to be successful and more importantly, sustainable. We strongly hope that our research can contribute to obtaining a positive outcome,” he added.
ISITI, Narayanan pointed out, is really keen to work with SEB and other relevant stakeholders to move forward.
For rural electrification projects by SEB and the state government to achieve their intended outcome, he observed there was the need for multi- faceted partnerships such as deep and early local community involvement, data to develop a from research which can be put to good use as well as knowledge from other experts and professionals.
Meanwhile, the forum’s theme focused on providing access to electricity services to remote, indigenous communities through decentralised generation technologies.
The objective was to explore social and institutional challenges to providing electricity services to indigenous communities in Sarawak.
Narayanan explained that the forum also aimed to bridge the knowledge gap between stakeholders such as how new knowledge can be brought from universities to help policymakers such as for decision-making processes and how communities can work together with universities for mutual benefits.
The forum built on recent research undertaken by Unimas and the University of Cambridge which focused on understanding community preferences to ensure that electrification schemes are congruent with the communities’ specific development pathways.
The study found that the most value was placed on the operator model underpinning the provision of electricity services and that there was a strong preference for a community-based model over a utility-based model.
Interestingly, the study found that the preference for a community-based operator model was related to the experience of using electricity for productive uses.
The forum highlighted the need for stakeholders to engage with communities to overcome these challenges.
SDI acting chief executive officer Lelia Sim, ISITI research fellows Associate Professor Dr Poline Bala and Dr Tariq Zaman, University of Cambridge’s Centre for Environment, Energy and Natural Resource Governance research fellow Dr Terry van Gevelt and Unimas student Franklin George who is a Penan, were among those present.