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For Participation of Disadvantaged Communities in Sustainable Development Processes |
A Report on the Panama Pilot Process for
Community Participation in Sustainable
Economic Development
A Product of:
The Diggers Museum
Respuesta Afro Panameρa
The Womens Workshop in the Americas
The Panama / U.S. Development Consortium
The Caribbean Research Center @ Medgar Evers College
The Southern Diaspora Research and Development Center
Prepared by the Southern Diaspora Research and Development Center
February 21, 2003
Copyright © 2002, Caribbean Diaspora Press, Inc
Copyright © 2002, Dr Waldaba Stewart, Principal Investigator
All rights reserved:
No part of this book may be reproduced in any form without the written permission of the publisher and the Principal Investigator
Published by:
Caribbean Diaspora Press, Inc
Dr. J.A. George Irish, President
68 Rogers Ave, Brooklyn, New York 11216
Tel / Fax: 718 230 7480
Email: jagpi3@yahoo.com;
Web: www.caribdiaspress.org
ISBN: 1-878433-36-9
Edited and produced by:
The Southern Diaspora Research and Development Center
Dr. Waldaba H. Stewart, Principal Investigator
68 Rogers Ave, Brooklyn, NY 11216
Tel. / Fax: 718-230-7480 Email: southcaucus@aol.com
Table of Contents:
Introduction
. 3
Abstract
.
... 4
The New Gamboa Master Plan
.. 5
The Colon Master Plan
.
. 7
Quest Support Institutions
9
Higher Education Institutional Arrangements
. 11
Outcomes and Beneficiaries
13
The Universidad Popular Consortium
14
The W. Haywood Burns Watershed Partnership
.. 15
The Distance Learning Infrastructure
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16
The George Westerman Center Endowment
.
18
Points of Contact / Information
.
.
19
Back Page Illustrations
.
20
Introduction
A group of persons of African descent formed a study group to reflect on the well being of peoples in the Americas and to explore what, if anything, they could do, as a group, about their conditions. They organized to support and participate in activities to alleviate the suffering of the poor. Under the auspices of the Respuesta Afro Panameρa Intergeneration program, they run a soup kitchen in Colon one of the poorest areas of the Republic of Panama.
At the same time, the quest participants commit themselves to a program to eradicate poverty through a Process that enables people of African descent, Indigenous peoples and other similarly affected vulnerable and under represented groups in developing countries of the World to determine their own destinies and participate in activity for sustainable economic development.
There has been an ongoing Quest for a change in the status of Peoples of African Descent and Indigenous Peoples from colonial times to the present.
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Vision: The group envisions a world with a narrowing gap between rich and poor, in which disadvantaged and under represented groups and communities are able to respond to and participate in the opportunities resulting from globalization, and in which individuals, families and cultures are able to survive and determine their own destinies.
Beliefs: The proponents of the Pilot Project for Community Participation in Sustainable Economic Development (the Group) believe that:
· There is a reservoir of capable persons within every community that could become entrepreneurs, individually or collectively, given the right circumstances;
· Providing tools to capable people in disadvantaged communities in order to generate and implement economic initiatives can make a significant impact on the quality of life of people within the communities;
· It is possible to work with community people to develop sustainable economic and environmentally friendly master plans for the community;
· With joint venture participation in selected projects in the master plans developed, the communities can facilitate, own, operate and support the resultant products of the collective planning efforts, and thus ensure improvement in the quality of life and environment of the community;
· Sustainable economic development work based on community participation in economically sound and environmentally friendly projects can be profitable for all of the participants in such an effort;
· Once the processes for community participation in sustainable economic development bear fruit, economically empowered communities of the processes can be involved in fair two-way trade, North/ South and South/ South.
NOTE: Full Abstract will be available at http://caribdiaspress.org
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