Montserrat Survey of Living Conditions (MSLC) Executive Summary

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Montserrat Survey of Living ConditionsExecutive SummaryTable ES7: Housing and Land: Summary RecommendationsRecommendationInvestigate the feasibility of providing partly or whollyserviced residential plots or with core housing provided.Transfer ownership of older T1-11 to occupants wherethey are able bodied with grants or soft loans for repairsand extensions. Otherwise rehouse occupants and sell/redevelop these plots.Develop a cash for work programme for the unemployedon maintenance of government housing.Enter into discussions with owners of vacant property tomake these available on medium term basis for renting tolow income groups.Enter into discussions with land owners to develop land inareas identified in the Physical Development Plan forresidential development.Establish a Land Tenure Dispute Arbitration agency toassist families to resolve land ownership disputesRationaleCheaper than building new houses.Will help to tackle issue of growing disrepair anddegradation of these properties in particular, and thehousing stock in general.Having poorly maintained properties seriously affectsquality of life. Yet occupiers may not have themoney/ skills to do so.Would maximise the use of the existing housingstock should be maximised. And would help addressdemand for low income rented property.Increasing land availability reduces tends to reducethe cost of land and hence housing.Land ownership disputes almost always lead todiscontent and result in underused land/ property.Table ES8: Education and Training: Summary RecommendationsRecommendationExpansion and full establishment of the Pupil SupportServices Unit (PSSU) to provide counseling, guidance andassistance to students with learning and behaviouralproblems.Introduce formal procedures to ensure the full participationof parents in the education of their children, especiallythose involved with the PSSU.Introduction of life skills, awareness (i.e. related to riskybehaviour), sex education, personal budgeting classes inthe secondary school and the Community CollegeMonitor the need for educational assistance to studentsfrom poor households (e.g. uniforms, textbooks).Improve the extent and quality of vocational trainingcourses including ‘on the job’ work experience.Develop apprenticeship programmes especially in theconstruction industry.Provide CSME certification for vocational trainingRationaleThe PSSU is recognised to be successful and manyrequest its assistance yet it is still largely reliant onvolunteers.It is unrealistic to expect that schools can ‘solve’ all achild’s non-scholastic problems – parentalinvolvement is crucial. Yet those children mostneeding assistance are often those with parents whodo not attend parent-teacher meetings.Life is not easy for children from poor and one parenthouseholds but the risks (and costs) of these factorsleading to unsustainable behaviour necessitatecountermeasures.The school and the PSSU are the best places toidentify children suffering due to hardship faced bytheir families.Not all students benefit from an ‘academic’ educationand many will not take up occupations using theseskills.Will facilitate employment throughout CARICOM.6.5 HealthOverall the health system is considered to be working satisfactorily. MOH sees the major problems to bethe control of non-communicable (lifestyle) diseases (diabetes and hypertension), health care finance andproviding equal access to non-nationals. By and large, the PPAs support this view. Table ES9 listspriority recommendations arising from the study’s research. None of these differ significantly from thosecontained in the MSDP nor do they from those recommended in other CPAs.Montserrat Country Poverty Assessment, Final ReportHalcrow Group Limited, July 2012.ES26
Montserrat Survey of Living ConditionsExecutive SummaryTable ES9: Health: Summary RecommendationsRecommendationsProduce a booklet and publicity campaign based oneating according to the MCFB.Enhance system of home visits for those who find itdifficult to attending clinics.Ensure that the ‘doctor on call’ system is wellpublicised.Improve the supply of drugs for the chronically ill tothe govt. pharmacy.Health care finance:Assess feasibility of introducing NHIS.Review exemptions and current user charges tomake them more means-tested and increase costrecovery.Investigate the feasibility of establishing a rota ofvisiting specialists to provide services which are notcurrently available – especially for mentally ill.Eliminate disparity in medical costs for NNATsRationaleThe MCFB provides the cheapest way of achievinga healthy diet. If this is actively promoted, peoplecould reduce their food expenditure and achieve ahealthier diet.Many elderly and disabled persons find it hard toget to clinics yet do not have the means toorganise their own transport.These patients are often on low incomes andunavailability of drugs at the pharmacy means theymust pay more privately.Reduce insecurity and loss of income arising fromhealth care costs.Target exemptions to those most in need.Reduce pressure on health finances.Reduce the need for overseas medical treatmentand the impact that this can have on householdincomes.Improving the treatment of the mentally ill willbenefit patients and health personnel alike.Will eliminate an important source of NNATdiscontent.6.6 Social Assistance/ PensionsSocial assistance will always be important in the Montserrat context due to the number of elderly who areliving alone and receive no, or inadequate, pensions, the disabled who cannot work, and one parent andlow income households with children. The living standards of these groups are exacerbated by diminishedfamily support networks. Current social assistance benefits are generally accepted to be below thosenecessary to purchase the Minimum Cost Food Basket and other necessities. Furthermore, by and large,the current system is only available to the elderly and the disabled and does not cover very poor (let alonepoor) family households. Notwithstanding budgetary constraints, these are serious shortcomings.Accordingly, the reform of the Social Welfare System (SWS) is a strategic action of the MSDP. Some waysin which this could be achieved are shown in Table ES10.As a major increase in finance for social assistance is unlikely, the crucial decision is whether availablefinance should be used to increase benefits to those already receiving payments or to widen the eligibilitycriteria to include those not currently eligible, e.g. very poor families.Table ES10: Social Welfare: Summary RecommendationsRecommendationIncrease benefits to current recipientsWiden eligibility criteria to provide assistance tounemployed and working poor households.Increasing SS pensionsProvide a discretionary stipend to SWSRationaleCurrent benefits are below minimum living costs.Needy households without elderly persons arecurrently largely precluded from receiving socialassistance.Current SS pensions are well below basic livingcosts AND below SWS benefits.Will reduce their sense of dependence.Montserrat Country Poverty Assessment, Final ReportHalcrow Group Limited, July 2012.ES27
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