Five projects vying for Michael Manley Award for Community Self-Reliance

July 14, 2007
Five projects are vying for the eighth annual Michael Manley Award for Community Self-Reliance, which will be presented at the Little Theatre on Emancipation Day, Wednesday August 1.
The Chairman of the Michael Manley Foundation, Mr Danny Roberts, has announced that the St Thomas Women’s Agricultural Initiative of Airy Castle; the Portmore Park – West Bank Multi-purpose Sports Complex; the multi-faceted Association of Clubs project in Petersfield, Westmoreland; the Wood Park Skills Training Project in St Mary and the Hampstead Water Supply Upgrade, also in St Mary, have been visited and assessed by the competition’s judges. They were short-listed from more than a score of entries received from all over Jamaica.

The current judges are: Dr Peta-Anne Baker, Lecturer in Social Work at the University of the West Indies (Chief Judge); Ms Rosalyn Campbell, lecturer, entrepreneur and management consultant; Mr Derrick Gayle, Coordinator of Environmental Programmes of the Environmental Foundation of Jamaica (EFJ); Mr Horace Levy, Lecturer in Social Work at the UWI; Dr John Maxwell, former Senior Lecturer in Social Work at the UWI; Mr Claude Robinson, Senior Fellow, Research and Policy Group and Lecturer in Business Communication at the Mona School of Business, UWI; and Mr Richard Troupe, Executive Director of the Hope for Children Development Company.

At stake are the main cash prize of $200,000 and a beautiful bronze resin trophy by noted sculptor Kay Sullivan for the Michael Manley Award and an EFJ Award of $100,000 to the project with the best credentials in Environmental Conservation or Child Survival and Development.

The Michael Manley Award for Community Self-Reliance goes to the project that best exemplifies the Jamaican traditions of self-reliance and community cooperation. The criteria include community initiative and participation; gender equity, where appropriate; sustainability; and economic, social, cultural and environmental impact. Youth participation is also a positive factor in the judging of projects.

The Award presentation, which gets underway at the Little Theatre, 4 Tom Redcam Drive, on Emancipation Day at 10:30 a.m., will be attended by members of the Manley family, executives of the Michael Manley Foundation, Parliamentarians, members of the diplomatic and consular corps, sponsors, and interested members of the public. The Guest Speaker will be the Revd Ernle Gordon, Rector of St Mary’s Anglican Church. Entertainment will be provided by Conroy Cooper and the Oberlin High School Choir, winners of the two annual TVJ schools choir competitions, “All Together Sing”, held to date. Fae Ellington will be the MC.

The public are invited and admission is free.



For further inquiries, please contact Louis Marriott at 927 2288 / 927 0563 / 977 0770 or (mobile) 838 2421