Michael Manley Award for Community Self-Reliance & EFJ Award 2011

CLOSING DATE EXTENDED TO – June 15, 2011

The winning project will receive the Michael Manley Trophy and $200,000 cash prize on Emancipation Day (August 1) 2011.

The project should:

§  Exemplify the Jamaican tradition of community involvement and self-help;

§  Be in operation for at least two years;

§  Have the capacity to sustain itself;

§  Involve and have significant impact on community members;

§  Add economic value to the community; and

§  Where appropriate, provide equal opportunity for participation by men and women without gender bias.

Other points of merit to projects that

·       Advance cultural awareness;

·       Protect the natural environment or prevent environmental degradation;

·       Involve young people.

EFJ Award

There will also be an Environmental Foundation of Jamaica (EFJ) Award of $100,000 and a commemorative plaque for the project with the best credentials in Environmental Conservation or Child Survival & Development

Innovative transportation on worksite of the Jeffrey Town Farmers’ Association, 2006 winners of the Michael Manley Award for Community Self-Reliance

The Michael Manley Award for Community Self-Reliance, presented annually to a community group that has demonstrated exemplary achievement in improving the wellbeing of its members and the wider community, is the flagship project of the Michael Manley Foundation and a reflection of one of the more abiding retentions from the Michael Manley years.

The late former Prime Minister’s commitment to the ideals of self-reliance and community cooperation was reflected in a range of policies during his administration and in his practical, personal example of working voluntarily on various community development projects, especially on Labour Day.

Self-reliance is a fundamental aspect of Manley’s political philosophy. In his first book, The Politics of Change, he wrote: “Self-reliance implies the ability on the part of the people of a country to make common efforts towards the general development and welfare of the group.”

Asserting that “it is vital for political leadership to ‘back its jacket’ and get in among the people at the roughest working levels from time to time,” Mr Manley set the example by pushing wheelbarrows and wielding pickaxes and shovels as he joined communities in cooperative self-reliance projects on workdays all over Jamaica.

Then Prime Minister Michael Manley setting the example by working on various cooperative community projects

Against this background, the Michael Manley Foundation created the Michael Manley Award for Community Self-Reliance as its first project, inaugurating it in 2000, one year after the Foundation’s incorporation.

Fittingly, on Emancipation Day – August 1 – each year, Kingston’s Little Theatre is decked out in appropriate style for the Awards presentation that includes entertainment by performing artists and, integrated into the Judges’ Report, an inspiring video documentary on the short-listed projects.

In the presence of members of the Manley family, executives of the Foundation, Parliamentarians, diplomatic and consular representatives, donors, participants in community self-reliance projects, and a wide range of interested individuals from the general public, the winners of the Award are presented with a beautiful bronze resin trophy sculpted by the renowned Kay Sullivan and a cash prize of $200,000.

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