Montserrat Survey of Living Conditions (MSLC) Executive Summary

More documents

Recommendations

Info

Montserrat Survey of Living ConditionsExecutive Summaryboth improve government performance and to increase the level of trust between government and thepopulation; several are implicit in preceding tables.Table ES13: Governance: Summary RecommendationsIssue Recommendations RationaleIncrease transparency ofgovernment policy.Increase consultationswith affected groupsImprove governmentinformation servicesImprove public relations.Improve inter-agency coordinationEnsure that politiciansand civil servants are not‘protected’ from theimpact of economicdownturnsPromoting communityself-help and relianceImprove information basefor decision-makingthrough a detailedanalysis of the 2011Census.Avoid raising the population’s expectationsas to what government can provide,especially in terms of employmentgeneration and economic development.Provide leaflets to set down procedures forimmigration, health costs, doctor on callsystem, work permits and socialassistance; publicise via the media.Develop links with representative NGOs.organisations, e.g. OPWA, MontserratCouncil for the Elderly, migrantassociations.Retrain front office staff to be more client -friendly.Develop procedures for inter-agency coordinationon issues related to youthproblems, family matters and education.Key agencies are health, education, socialservices and the police.Restrict salary increases in times ofhardship and bias these towards the lowerpaid.Encourage the involvement of CBOs inaddressing social problems affecting theircommunities.Many recommendations to assist thevulnerable (e.g. the elderly, the poor, theunemployed, those at risk from neglectand abuse) affect relatively small, discretegroups of the population. Yet littleaccurate information on these groupsexists.6.10 Recommendations for the Caribbean Development BankGovernments cannot provide everythingthat residents would like and this factneeds to be understood.The issue is often not one of disagreementwith GOM policy but that affected groupsdo not fully understand what the policy/procedures are.Consultations should be informal ratherthan formal and targeted at affected groupson issues of direct interest.PPAs mention government not ‘listening’ -which causes resentment.Several PPAs mentioned the poor civility ofstaff they sometimes had to deal with.Multi-agency co-operation is essential foridentifying and dealing with issues relatedto educational under-achievement,disadvantaged poor children, anti-socialbehaviour and intra-family issues.Arguably needed to counter the notion thatthe government only looks after its own.BUT a fairly radical solution.A crucial issue but one with no readysolutions.The 2011 Census provides an accessibledatabase which can be used to examinethe incidence and characteristics ofvulnerable groups and hence facilitateevidence-based planning.Should be supplemented by short,targeted, surveys of key informants, e.g.teachers and health personnel.It is understood that the CDB is currently preparing a new Country Strategy for Montserrat. Accordingly,the study team examined the implications of the CPA’s findings for this strategy. First and foremost, thedependence of the island on grant-funding from the UK government is likely to continue for theforeseeable future. Secondly, a large number of physical and social infrastructure projects have beencompleted n the last 10 years. In consequence, emphasis is likely to shift to upgrading and maintenance onMontserrat Country Poverty Assessment, Final ReportHalcrow Group Limited, July 2012.ES30
Montserrat Survey of Living ConditionsExecutive Summarythe one hand and policies and programmes to improve the quality and coverage of government services.There also appears, given the small size of the island, little scope for private public partnerships, althoughthese may come if there is a policy to outsource government services.For these reasons, the likelihood of GOM taking out CDB loans appears remote in the short and mediumterms; this inevitably reduces the scope for CDB assistance to the island. In these circumstances, thereappear to be two main ways in which CDB can contribute to Montserrat’s future development:By continuing to provide funds to BNTF programmes on the island but with a greater emphasison social rather than infrastructure projects.By partnering with DFID on social programmes: DFID is the most important provider ofassistance to Montserrat, and is likely to remain so. Social issues are high on its agenda. Whilesome of these require capital investment, the priority is for training, capacity building, publicawareness raising and innovative ways of tackling social issues. CDB should consider workingwith DFID to develop, fund and implement these types of initiative.Not specific to Montserrat, the study team also recommends that CDB promotes Caribbean-wide researchinto:The analysis of census data to provide more fine-grained information on the structure ofhouseholds, particularly those containing children and elderly persons.Male attitudes and aspirations in relation to fatherhood and spousal relationships.Developing innovative approaches to social issues.6.11 Monitoring and EvaluationMonitoring poverty levels is critical if the effectiveness of government policies and programmes is to beassessed. Yet the best way of providing information on poverty levels - sample household surveys - arecostly and time consuming. Accordingly an annual reporting system should be developed using proxyindicators changes in poverty levels. Potential indicators are: water and electricity bill arrears anddisconnection rates, recipients of social welfare services (including the number of ‘rejected’ applicants), theincidence of children going to school hungry. The M and E system also needs to include an evaluation ofPAP activities and their effectiveness.7 Concluding RemarksReviewing the Study’s findings and recommendations, three facts stand out. The first is that the principalcause of continuing poverty on Montserrat is the economy – about which the government can dorelatively little. The second is that the coverage and service of physical and social infrastructure is not amajor issue, and does not appear likely to become one unless financial support from the BritishGovernment is withdrawn - which also appears unlikely. The third is that many of the concerns raisedapply to small, discrete groups of the population, e.g. the elderly on their own, women and children at riskfrom violence, teenage mothers, unemployed Montserratians, etc.Montserrat Country Poverty Assessment, Final ReportHalcrow Group Limited, July 2012.ES31
Page 2 and 3: Montserrat Survey of Living Conditi
Page 32: Montserrat Survey of Living Conditi

Montserrat Survey of Living Conditions (MSLC) Executive Summary

Create successful ePaper yourself

Delete template?

Save as template?