Paramaribo – The community of the village of Sipaliwini in South Suriname handed over its Tareno development plan to the chairman of the National Assembly, Marinus Bee on Friday. This plan has been developed according to the Life Plan (LP) method, a working method with which communities themselves plan and control the development of their village. A copy was also handed over to the Ministry of Regional Development & Sport.
Granman Jimmy VoordaMutu became familiar with this method in Brazil and immediately became an advocate. He saw an opportunity for the indigenous villages in the far south to take up their development.
“Although not all plans can be implemented by the government, the villagers are now better able to take action or seek external support”
At the request of the Granman, the Amazon Conservation Team (ACT) Gianas has offered its support from 2022 in the implementation of the LP method. Act Guianas helps with the preparation of these plans, but the villages themselves determine their development vision, the corresponding solutions and the actions needed to realize them.
All five villages within the Curuni resort currently have their own plans. These are closely connected to the government’s planning system. During the annual resort council meetings under the leadership of the district commissioner, the resort council members of Curuni can indicate which plans from their annual plan they want to see that year.
In addition, the district council members can support these plans in the DR meetings, so that they are ultimately included in the budget. This has considerably changed the position of the villagers: they have grown from passive listeners into active pre -carriers of their own development plans.
Ressort Curuni is one of the first resorts of the Sipaliwini district that has a development vision drawn up by all five villages in the area. This underlines the power of communities that want to shape their development within the framework of decentralization.
Decentralization is a crucial process in Suriname in which administrative and financial powers are gradually transferred from the central government to lower government levels, such as districts and resorts. In practice, this means that local communities are gaining more and more responsibility to shape their own future.
Developing a Life Plan is an important instrument in this context: it enables villages to raise their priorities and needs in a structured and substantiated manner for policy makers. By aligning their plans to government structures, the villages strengthen their position within the administrative process.
This contributes to a more effective local administration, in which village communities are no longer dependent on top-down decision-making, but actively influence the regional and national agenda. The village leaders and resort members act as a bridge between their community and the government, resulting in a more inclusive decision -making and a more efficient allocation of resources.
To ensure that these plans do not only continue to exist on paper, Act Guianas has provided intensive capacity training at the request of the Granman. This started on 24 February and was successfully concluded on Friday with the official transfer of the plan to the National Assembly.
During the training, various topics were discussed, including administrative structures, the democratic constitutional state and the electoral system, general, secret and free elections, leadership development, community mobilization, media, public relations and communication. Participants collaborated with experts from different fields and were given both theoretical and practical knowledge.
Amazon Conservation Team Guianas is proud of the commitment and growth that the participants showed during the training. The training has not only contributed to their professional development, but also to broader objectives such as sustainable growth and community strengthening.
Although not all plans can be implemented by the government, the villagers are now better able to take action or seek external support. Leadership training has made an important contribution to the formation of strong, proactive leaders who are committed to the implementation of the development plans.
The communities see this training as a first step and have indicated that they want to deepen their knowledge to actually realize their Life Plans. With the knowledge and skills gained, participants can now play an active role within their communities and contribute to further development and innovation. Amazon Conservation Team Guianas continues to work for education and capacity building and is looking forward to future training and collaborations.
