Rebuilding our Communities Village by Village

Editor: Everything is local. For our future to be secure, we must strive to build our neighbourhoods. To guide this process, there needs to be some organizational structure.

Some call it Constituency Development Fund, Village Council, Island Council or Town Council. All goods and services should be within walking distance or easily accessible with a reliable transport system. The village churches are to provide moral and spiritual guidance led by their resident clergyman. They also look out for the needy.

The resident police keep order functioning at the local police station. The Post Office keeps people in touch with the outside world complementing the telephone companies. The Post Mistress knows everyone in the community. Money transfer services are also available locally. Local financial institutions cater for local loans and bill payments. The workers there live in the community.

The barber/hairdresser shop, shoe maker, tailor/seamstress, furniture repairer, electronics repair shop, all occupy reasonably priced locations in the village. The primary and secondary schools provide training in academics and skills, grounding students for a secure future. They teach students how to live and how to make a living. The playing fields, parks and beaches are maintained by local workers and cater to the recreational needs of locals and visitors. Local road and sanitation workers concern themselves with recycling and beautifying the roadways.

While there is a cost of running these various forms of local government, every effort must be made to be self-sufficient through the collection of local taxes and fees. The local shops should supply food, clothes and hardware materials. If each community is thus empowered, local buses would conduct a healthy business transporting workers to and from the village business center. Pressures on the capital city, Kingstown, would be greatly reduced.

Anthony G. Stewart, PhD