Regional Social and Human Development Councils

The programme aims at supporting the current efforts of the Government in decentralising the system for the delivery of social services. The establishment of the RSHDCs relates to Result 2 and Activity 2.2 of the PRP. 15 Regional Social and Human Development Councils (RSHDCs) are proposed in the 14 municipal regions of Trinidad and the THA. 

It is expected that the RSHDCs will influence a national policy on social services delivery and co-ordinate the public interventions in the social sectors specifically those interventions designed to reduce poverty. It will provide assistance in the following four inter-related areas:

• improve the needs assessment and collaborative planning of programmes to reduce poverty in the region

• facilitate interaction between the public agencies and the non-government sector involved in social programmes and providing a framework for the creation of a network among the providers of social services to the poorest segments of the population at the regional level
 
• facilitate information flows on poverty and social services among stakeholders in the region by its linkage with the Multipurpose Community Based Telecentres project

• providing resources at the regional level for the funding of micro-projects that aim at improving the fulfillment of the needs of the lowest income segments of the population for interventions that address poverty reduction and other social problems.

The composition of the RSHDC will include members from both the public and the private sectors. The RSHDCs will comprise regional departmental heads of the various ministries (60%) and representatives from the civil society (40%) including NGOs, CBOs, businesses and corporations).  It is expected that each RSHDC will have 15 members (9 Government Representatives and 6 Civil Society Representatives). The Council may recruit other persons to serve voluntarily on sub committees.

The representatives of the government ministries will be nominated by their line ministries. The members of the Council representing government agencies will be the link to their line ministries to feed information both to and from the Councils. The civil society representatives will be identified and nominated through a process of community consultations.