PDCs crucial to reform of local governance

THE RELAUNCH of the parish development committees (PDCs) is seen as critical in the reform of local governance by increasing citizen engagement in the decision-making process and development of their communities.

“The PDCs give the common man an opportunity to represent their views at the municipal corporation because it is the PDCs that sit on the committees of the municipal corporation,” said director of the Governance Division at the Social Development Commission (SDC), Sherine Francis.

“With them sitting on the committees it gives members from a youth club and sporting association for example, an opportunity for their voice to be heard at the municipal corporation,” she noted.

The PDC is an umbrella structure that brings together the network of organisations, interest groups and agencies that exist within a parish.

These include community-based organisations that represent segments or special interests in the communities, such as police youth clubs, neighbourhood watches, senior citizens groups, citizens’ associations, and sports and agricultural groups.

These organisations can then come together to form a community development committee (CDC) to more accurately represent the views of the community.

Representatives from several CDCs and private and public stakeholders within the same area will then form a development area committee to take the development issues of the geographic or economic area and report them to a higher level – the PDC.

“It promotes the concept and principles of good governance and works in partnership with the municipal corporations,” Francis said.

NEW FRAMEWORK

The PDCs were relaunched earlier this month under the new participatory governance framework, mandated in the Local Governance Act 2016.

Under the act, PDCs are now an integral part of the Ministry of Local Government and Community Development, with the SDC functioning as the facilitator and regulator of all committees.

Francis said by undertaking this move, the Government of Jamaica is enabling citizens and stakeholders “to play a very critical role in local and national development. What we want to do with this relaunch is what we call institutionalising the role of the PDCs in local and national development as recognised in the Act”.

She noted that the PDCs have been instrumental in ensuring that the issues or challenges faced by communities are being addressed by the local authorities.

“There are a number of PDCs right across Jamaica that are doing very good work in different areas,” she said.