 Hello and welcome to Interview, a production of the Government Information Service. I am Geraldine Beset-Joseph. The program for the regulation of unplanned developments, Proud, was set up with the aim of rationalizing land occupation in existing squatter settlements and to transfer land titles to the established occupants. Now the Proud is a program that always has something going on and because of this we are joined today by Mrs. Tara Leonard Emmanuel who is the Social Planning Officer at Proud. Thank you for joining us today. You're welcome. Now you're here today to tell us a little bit about the activities that are currently taking place within the program. So can you tell us, first of all, before we even get into that, can you give us a breakdown? I gave a brief description of what Proud actually is, but in your own words, what would you say that the Proud does and what are the activities that can be found as part of the Proud's mandate? So basically you said it Geraldine. The Proud was set up to be able to assist persons who had been living on Crownland in specific areas where the Proud was asked to rationalize basically to give them title to where they were actually living. So anybody who was living on Crownland in a Proud area would be able to obtain title for wherever they actually live where they occupy. Okay, brilliant. Now as I was saying in the opening as well, Proud is an ongoing program and Saint Lucia is vast in the fact that there are many settlements throughout Saint Lucia that the Proud has to deal with. What settlements are you actually dealing with at the moment? Okay, so right now we have some old Proud sites and then we have some new Proud sites coming on. So what we would call the old Proud sites and they're not old. They're still in there, but what we'd call the old Proud sites. We have Tebara, we have Pepe de, which is in Garra. We have Bexel and its environs, which is Bexel. We have San Diffé, we have Chopé, we have Ravin Purcell, Lavie and Sarat. And we have Viewfort Larissus, PI, and we also have Lacroix-Lapri. So these would be considered the old Proud sites. So now, coming on stream, we have six new sites. We have Opical, Contownment, Palm Oje, we have Rockall, Bruceville and Olio. Okay, alright. Now I guess because you have, as you were saying, older sites and you have new sites, there are different levels I guess of whatever the program goes in and does. So can you tell us what level are the older ones at the moment? Most of the older sites are completed. We have some upgrading work to do in some of the sites, like say for example in Larissus and in the Bexel environs, but most of the other sites are fully completed. Lacroix-Lapri is the only site we have not fully put in the infrastructure and we are planning to do so soon. Okay, alright. Now how things been going in there in regards to, because I know that you have to have community meetings, site visits and such like, in regards to dealing with the community and actually getting the transfers happening, how things been going in the older sites? It's been going fairly well. I mean there are some times where we have some issues, to be able to obtain title you must pay off so that you can get your title to your deed. And some areas we still have a few persons, I would not say 50%, I would probably say less than 50% in the area, still missing to probably complete their payment so that we can facilitate giving them their title and we do that ourselves through the AG's chambers. So they don't have to pay for to get these documents, we do that ourselves and they get it through the AG's office. So maybe about 30-40% of some of the sites, but most of the sites are completed. Okay, alright. And how was community reaction at that time, were people actually coming out to the meetings? Because I know that for instance there was always caused the actions for people to actually come in and come to the meetings and such like, did you have a large turnout at the meetings? Sometimes the meetings are not as widely attended or as greatly attended as we would like and we still believe that there is always room for improvement, more persons can come. However, I would use last week as an example, we had a meeting in Labe, in spite of the heavy rains on Thursday and in spite of the fact that the electricity was fluctuating coming and going, we basically had a good turnout at the meeting, so persons did come out. We see them coming out, especially when they figure they have a stake in it, so say for example, if things are still uncompleted in the area, you see more persons coming out because they want to know what is going to happen, how are they going to have improvements in their community, but apart from that, yeah, the turnout is normally good. Okay, that's good. Okay, now let's move on to the new sites. What is actually happening within the new site right now? Okay, so for the new site, right now we are currently still awaiting approvals so that we can have our drawings approved for the area of how we see the site should look. Obviously, the DCA, we have WASCO, electricity, all of these agencies have to come in, check the drawings to make sure that we have facilitated everything, including ambulance access, all of these things, and as soon as these are approved, then we are ready to go. Okay, and how is the community, you said that, I think one of the meetings was well attended, but how has a response been within the communities within the new sites? I think the new sites, the persons, they are really eager to be able to have their site as one of the projects and that we can start working with them. A lot of people call them, they come into the office, they tell us how long they've been living on the land, how long they've been wanting to own the land. I believe in the new sites will have pretty good turnout. When it comes to the meetings that we've had, we've had some pretty good turnout. People come, people ask, they want to see how the new site will look. They want to show us where the house is situated in the new site. So yes, I think persons are very eager and they're interested in coming in and doing what we know how to do. Okay, brilliant. Now, we're going to go to commercial break in a minute, but before we go, I just wanted you to give a little call out to the people in the new site. Where are you going to be presently right now, around this time, in the near future? Where are the new places you know you're going to have community meetings and such like? So the next few community meetings would be in Bexel. We have a community meeting scheduled for Sarat. We have community meetings scheduled for Sunday face. So all of Bexel and its environs will be coming to you next. Okay, brilliant. Now, as I said, we're just going to go to a break and when we'll get back, we'll talk some more about proud in these communities. No problem. We will be right back. The world's climate is changing and that affects all of us. Storms are becoming increasingly intense. Periods of intense drought and heavy rain, stress farm animals and destroy our crops. Higher average ocean temperatures kill our coral reefs and change the migratory patterns of fish. St. Lucia contributes only 0.0015% of global greenhouse gas emissions but is doing its part, along with countries around the world, to reduce the emissions that are warming our world and changing our climate. These efforts are called mitigation. But decades of emissions have already changed the climate and the greenhouse gases in the atmosphere today will increase average global temperatures even more. We need to adapt. That is, do everything we can to prepare for and respond to the actual and expected negative effects of climate change and everyone has a role to play. We need to protect our crops, build homes that withstand storms and keep our drains and waterways free of garbage to help us recover or bounce back from climatic events. Learn more about the Government of St. Lucia's National Adaptation Plan and the steps you can take to protect yourself and your fellow St. Lucia's. Welcome back to interview, production of the Government Information Service. I am Johnny B. Setjoseph. Now, today I'm joined by Tara Leonard Emmanuel, sorry, from Proud, who's telling us a little bit about what is going on in the communities in St. Lucia presently. Now, Tara, before we went to break, we were talking about the communities that Proud are in right now. Tell us a little bit about the stakeholders and such like because one thing I have noticed with Proud, you work with a lot of different agencies to not only make sure that your demand is filled, but also to do extra, whereas you're kind of like uplifting the community. Tell us a little bit about the stakeholders you work with and the kind of things that the Proud helps bring about in those communities through these agencies. So the Proud has a social stakeholders meeting once a month. And those social stakeholders are different agencies that work with persons in the community. And we decided that it would make sense if we could all come together to be able to uplift, like you said, and help the community to grow. So some of these stakeholders would be, say, for example, we have DCA, we have Solid Waste, we have GIS, and NTN. We also have NSDC, we have Human Services, Social Transformation. We have a number of social... I think we probably have about 16 or 17 persons on that committee. Those persons actually assist in just making the community a better place. So what we do, say, for example, if when we go out and we do our walk-throughs and our community meetings, we ask these stakeholders to come to the meetings so that they can speak and inform persons of those little things to make the community better. So say, for example, Bureau of Health Education would probably come in, they would probably speak to the residents about mosquitoes, about dengue, about how to store water, how to ensure that they keep their surroundings cleaner so that they can avoid, say, for example, mosquitoes, rodents, and all of these things. And NSDC would probably come and tell persons about all their new skills programs so that persons who are unskilled in the area, in the community, can actually attend the class and get skilled and get, say, for example, even placed at a place of work where they can probably, say, for example, if they're unemployed, actually gain employment. So we have a number of stakeholders, human services, they come in to help with children, we have SSDF who will assist with housing needs and all of these things, so we have a number of stakeholders and they're doing a marvelous job. Okay, now I've actually been privileged enough to actually go on some of the site visits with Proud and the different agencies. And something I've noticed is, like, for instance, you mentioned solid waste. When they go in, they actually see how things are being done in the area, so what happens is these agencies will go back and actually help make sure that things are maintained in a proper manner. Yes, so say, for example, like you mentioned, solid waste, if there's an issue with garbage and disposal, solid waste will actually work on that waste, whomever has the contract for the community, and ensure that the garbage is taken up on the days that it's supposed to be taken up. If there's an issue with maybe a truck at the time, they would send another truck so that they would be able to assist in removing the garbage, whether it be bulky waste or just normal garbage, say, for example, yeah. Okay, that's how I can sit and talk to you all, I know time is of the essence with us today. But before we go, I really want you to actually say a few words, so what would you say to people who are on crown lands, for instance, is example, and they know Proud are coming into the community? Because a lot of times, I remember I even talked to somebody who actually has worked with Proud, who when she first found out about Proud, she said that she thought you guys were just coming in to get the land. So what would you say to people? Because obviously from our conversations, it's more about uplifting the community, making sure people have something of their own. So what would you say to people in regards to who are a bit fearful of what Proud's mandate actually is? I would say the most important thing is that you gain title. Okay. Proud will come in, there's nothing to be fearful about, we will assist, we will try our best to make things as best as possible. We may not always do it how they probably would like it to be done, but we do what we know is fair and just. So we will come in, it may seem that we're coming for the land, but we're not, we're actually coming so that we can assist them in obtaining title for the land on which they occupy. My thing would be, if I had to say something, it's don't be afraid. Okay. Work with us so that we would be able to assist you and I always tell the clients at the meetings, as soon as you own something, especially a piece of sedentary, you become a boss. Like the children would say. Yeah. And it would mean that you have something that is yours in the end. So the house that you have is worth nothing until you pay for the land. Okay. Help us to help you. Excellent. Come in and let's get this done. Brilliant. Thank you for joining us today, Tara. It's been a wonderful discussion. Hopefully you can come back next time and talk to us more about the different communities you're in. You're welcome. And thank you for joining us today in interview. Do stay tuned to the National Television Network, however for now. Bye-bye.