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“[…] Governments come and go, and with them their pet projects, regardless of whether those initiatives were making a difference.
“What happens next? The same communities, the same youth and the same families are left once more to pick up the pieces.
“[…] This goes beyond dollars and cents and is a matter of trust and accountability. Each programme that disappears without continuity chips away at citizens’ faith in governance and social progress…”
The following Letter to the Editor on the potential consequences of abandoning useful initiatives when governments change was submitted to Wired868 by social impact consultant, Kwasi Cudjoe of D’Abadie:
Time and again, Trinidad and Tobago has witnessed the same troubling cycle where freshly picked programmes arrive straight from the idea orchard with much fanfare, promising transformation and upliftment.
Be it focused on youth, citizen security or community development, many of these initiatives are unfortunately tethered more to the life of a political administration than to the long-term needs of communities.
Governments come and go, and with them their pet projects, regardless of whether those initiatives were making a difference.
(Copyright Office of the President.)
What happens next? The same communities, the same youth and the same families are left once more to pick up the pieces.
This is about asking honest questions related to national advancement and not about pointing fingers or getting caught up in political divisions.
How do we ensure that the progress made isn’t lost when a loan closes or governments change?
What systems are in place to really sustain efforts that communities or vulnerable groups have advanced?
(via Trinidad Guardian.)
How can we move forward from short-term projects to long-term support?
The pattern is painfully too familiar, one in which programmes often operate like pop-up tents, temporary, glossy and ultimately packed away. Some, ill-advisedly designed, not for impact but as a legacy project badge of honour.
The consequences, however, aren’t temporary and leave behind disillusionment and unmet expectations. This goes beyond dollars and cents and is a matter of trust and accountability.
(via Uncle Keron.)
Each programme that disappears without continuity chips away at citizens’ faith in governance and social progress.
Worse still, the practice of developing unsustainable programmes that are high in number and low in staying power also reveals a deeper flaw in how we view social development.
It’s not about how many launches or ribbon cuttings we can count in a fiscal year. It should centre on quality, continuity and whether these interventions truly address the root causes of social issues or merely patch over symptoms for a while.
Copyright: Office of Parliament 2025.
On a side note, we must also be candid about the risks of relying on external funding or loans, as geopolitical shifts can quickly change global priorities.
The faucet of donor aid doesn’t flow forever, and our communities should not suffer when the world blinks or looks away.
As a citizen, I believe that now is the time for our past, present and aspiring leaders to rethink how we approach development. And we need to demand that programmes, especially those affecting our most vulnerable, are built for sustainability, with local ownership and long-term planning.
Development should not be a revolving door of short-term fixes but a consistent march towards genuine, lasting change.
Where does T&T go from here? We need to decouple programmes from politics by establishing or revisiting existing independent agencies to have them manage and sustain key initiatives across political cycles.
We must also prioritise community ownership and capacity building by shifting from top-down implementation to co-creation.
(via OPM.)
Invest in local leadership, civil society and governance structures so that initiatives can be owned and maintained by the people they are meant to serve.
Nearing 63 years of independence, we should understand by now that development is not only about starting new things but also about staying the course.
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Look at the faces pictured in this article. Do you see genuiness or as the youths will say, realness etched on these faces?
Ascension to government is never about the people/constituents/voters etc. It is about these persons applying the finishing touches to their (already) considerable CVs. It is about getting to what they consider to be the zenith of their careers/existence. It is not about the country or the betterment of the people.
Listen closely to the discourse (official statement, the flippant ones and you get an idea of what’s up with them) Hence some are so emboldened to the point of openly confessing that the party they represent is more important than the country they aspire to lead. Sadly this is reflected in the decisions/carnage they wreak along the way.
Since it is not possible to get our politicians to genuinely care (about the people and the resources they are entrusted with). We must demand that some level of continuity is factored into their approach to governance. Maybe this can begin with adjustments to our constitution.