Poverty survey exposes St. Philip

from The Antigua Sun

by Nikisha Smith

St. Philip Village has been identified for immediate mitigation measures due to the results of the 2005 to 2006 Country Poverty Assessment (CPA).

Coordinator of Country Poverty Assessment Almira Henry said that the CPA exercise involved a household survey of living conditions, which targeted 1,200 households from upper, middle and lower income brackets across the country.

In the survey of living conditions, the St. Philip community emerged among the poorest in the country.

Concern was raised, as this community was not identified as poor in the 2001 Census. As such their cause has been featured as priority for the short term.

“We have mobilised our efforts to undertake further research with respect to conducting a participatory poverty assessment and this is currently in progress.” The project began in January.

The participatory component of the CPA assesses the qualitative dimensions of poverty and documents the voices of the poor as they explain the coping strategies they have adapted in order to deal with social and economic deprivation. It also seeks to find out what lead a formerly ‘rich’ community to be determined ‘poor’ in about 15 years' time.

A participatory assessment was held during the original CPA that examined elderly, youth, men, women, employed and unemployed people from 12 communities based on the findings of the 2001 Census.

The process is being funded and technically advised by the Caribbean Development Bank (CDB). The National Assessment Team, located in the Ministry of Social Transformation, will be conducting the qualitative assessment.

Henry said the findings will be utilised to inform policy initiatives and assist in the design of programmes to urgently address the situations of deprivation that exist. The National Assessment Team will analyse the information that is provided and produce a report on the findings that will also inform the formulation of the National Poverty Reduction Strategy Paper, which will follow in the future.

She said they are not sure what happened to the community, but the researchers are speculating that the downfall may be attributed to the closure of the Half Moon Bay Hotel 13 years ago.

Henry added that St. Philip's residents are disputing the findings. The results, however, came about from the household survey of living conditions, wherein the researchers made a report based on questionnaires that were filled out.

Henry said the researchers would have walked away only with what they were given.

They are consequently working with the hypothesis that inaccurate data may have influenced the results of the study. The participatory component will either prove or disprove the theory.

The residents of St. Philip are being asked to attend focus group discussions based on the different age, employment and gender groups. Those will be followed by an overall consultation within the community, which all can attend.

The CPA was commissioned by the Caribbean Development Bank (CDB) and was carried out through a survey conducted across the country in the last half of 2005 and the first half of 2006.

The CPA was handed over to the government officially handed over the government in December 2007 and has been available to the public on the government’s Web sites.

The published document will soon be circulated to all parliamentarians, government agencies, civil society groups and other interest groups as there are only still a limited number available.