By Chantalé Fletcher
THE Community Recovery Committee’s report is being considered for financing.
Leader of Government Business Clarence Rambharat made the statement in the Senate on Tuesday.
He was answering a question by Opposition Senator Wade Mark based on the status of the Community Recovery Committee in which was aided to provide solutions for residents of East Port-of-Spain on behalf of the Prime Minister Dr Keith Rowley.
Rambharat stated that the report of the community recovery committee was submitted to the cabinet of June 28, 2021 and is being considered by the Finance and General Purposes Committee of the cabinet.
He said, “Recommendations and proposals of the committee were formulated based on activities in the communities and interface with key stakeholders.
“Since its inception in July 2020, the committee has undertaken a series of activities to meet its mandate inclusive of a review of past studies projects and proposals that have focused on these geographical locations; these among other things, the Ryan Report infrastructure plans for Esports development company; as well as Crime and Gender bases studies.”
“Collectively, this research has identified a number of issues and accompanied recommendations,” Rambharat emphasised.
He explained that these documented issues and recommendations were instrumental in shaping the committee’s understanding of the region, as members of the committee note that many of these issues continued to exist today.
The minister said, “The focus of these issues became a major concern for this committee and significantly shaped the committee’s definition of its role and function as it embarked upon the task of community recovery.”
In addition, he added that the committee also embarked on a process of community outreach, these initiatives which included focus groups discussion groups and consultations resulted in the collection of invaluable data, which was organised and stored to easily identify key issues cross cotton themes and possible interventions.
“However, the on-going restrictions imposed by the Covid -19 pandemic significantly impacted the progress of the community outreach and engagement work of the committee, since social distancing guidelines and limits the size of gatherings or and mended personal contacts initially envisaged with many residents and community stakeholders not possible,” Rambharat explained.
He said, “Virtual engagements were not always considered viable alternatives as the nature of these discussions demanded development of a level of inclusivity, trust and confidentiality , which was difficult to achieve in a virtual environment.
