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by pltm
(PLTM) - Consultants contracted to facilitate a study on the living conditions in the British Virgin Islands, were left high and dry, as the community was a no-show at a meeting scheduled last evening, May 17, at the Althea Scatliffe Primary School.
The meeting was scheduled as a platform for persons to voice their concerns on the current living conditions in the Territory.
The consultants, who are contracted by the Caribbean Development Bank (CDB), are currently on island to enhance the existing collection tools, that would assist selected persons in the BVI to properly collect information, that will give an accurate summation and status of the Territory’s living conditions.
The consultants are Fedricka Deare and Yohance Nicholas of Kairi Consultants out of Trinidad and Tobago, and Heather Stager, associate consultant with Essa Technologies out of Canada. They arrived in the Territory on Saturday, May 13 and are expected to leave on Sunday, May 21.
In an interview with BVI Platinum News, Ms. Deare said, “Over the year’s we’ve had a number of instruments replaced for data collection and assessment of living conditions and poverty status in different countries. We have updated the tools to include climate change and disaster risk management, but also to incorporate the multi-dimensional aspect of poverty."
She noted that the assessment is not only about the income received on average by different households, but it also speaks to the access to education, health and other things that would make one’s life a quality one.
Following their brief visit, persons on the ground will conduct the surveys, which will measure two of five components of the National Assessment of Living Conditions Study.
According to the consultants, the two that will be measured in the BVI are the Institutional Assessment, which will look at institutions and various businesses in different sectors, and the Participatory Assessment, which looks at persons in different communities, different forums, different professions and different ages.
The assessments will be carried out in the areas of Road Town, Purcel Estate and Anegada. A study of this nature will last between nine months to one year, the consultants highlighted.
The other three components of the national assessment are the Macro and Socio-Economic Assessment, GIS Mapping and a general survey on living conditions.
As noted by Ms. Deare, the resulting information of such a study will highlight the strides made by a country, as well as where they are lacking and need to improve.
“The information gives recommendations as to how things can be changed, how you can make it better, what is being done good now, and what can change to make lives better. What are some of the gaps that exist in terms of services and policies that need to be addressed? It is very comprehensive.”
She added, “The goal is to help improve service delivery that would affect persons' living conditions, also identifying different needs of the community. The data also will provide information of where the country has reached in achieving targets set out by the Sustainable Development Goals. It also looks at various sectors, institutions and companies, and see what the gaps are and the conditions, and at the end of the assessment, a number of strategies will come out of that to improve those.”
The study is being conducted in four other countries across the region, namely Grenada, St. Vincent and the Grenadines, Belize and Dominica.
