07/12/05

Chapter Three

Community organizations are important for several reasons in small villages like Monkey River Town and Punta Negra.  First, they provide a forum for interaction of local people, allowing them to come together for the sole purpose of addressing challenges and working together to seek solutions.  Groups such as the village council have the responsibility to consider local challenges from the perspective of the entire village, and make the decision that will be in everyone’s best interest.  Second, community organizations are important resources for networking and forming relationships outside of the village.  The representatives of a village council can work with together to involve outside groups, such as TIDE or the Belizean government in development initiatives.  In addition, community organizations can help local opinions to be known when decisions that affect local people and resources are made by outside groups about, for example, fishing regulations or redistricting of large tracts of land or sea.  In this way, community organizations are often at the forefront of important community decisions, effectively “calling the shots” for the rest of the village. 

In spite of its small population, Monkey River Town has several important community organizations.  We met with members of the village council, the water board, and the tour guide association, all of which were organized by local people, without outside help from the Belizean government.  

The Village Council is made up of seven elected members, but it does not have the capacity to raise taxes. Monkey River Town cannot raise taxes because of its recent change from “town” status to “village” status. Elections are held every three years. Each member of the council, including the chairperson, is directly elected by village residents. In the past, the chairperson was elected by the seven other council members, and would remain on the council even if not elected chairperson.  This change has posed a problem in some respects because it is possible for two capable village residents to vie for the chairperson position—one of them is not going to be elected and subsequently will not be able to serve on the council. Although this situation has discouraged “head to head” competition for the top position, it is not clear how it has influenced overall participation on the Village Council.

A program has been started by the Belizean Government to allow villages to raise taxes on alcohol sold in their village, but they must show competency in balancing books for a year and be audited by a government official. This policy frustrates local officials, because without collecting local revenue, there is no way to prove that village officials are competent to do this.  Many villages in the Toledo district have begun banding together to gain political power, many are finding that meeting the needs of several villages is more difficult than meeting the need of one village.

The newly formed water board was created with money obtained after the hurricane in 2001. The $50,000 given to Monkey River Village by the government to rebuild their houses, which was to be split thirty-five different ways, was not going to accomplish much for each individual house. Instead, the money was used as a down payment on a water system for the entire village to use.

The houses are metered to control consumption and encourage conservation. Each house hooked up to the system pays a flat rate of $15 a month for the first 1,000 gallons; every gallon after that is 2¢ a gallon. The money collected from monthly bills pays a secretary who keeps track of the books and reads the meters and a plumber whose duty it is to fill the water tank up every three days, chlorinate the water, and maintain the system. Any money left over will be used to partially reimburse people hooked up to the system, or it will be saved for other projects that the community deems important in the future.

The Tour Guide Association was formed a few years ago. Members of the committee governing it are elected to their positions. The association ensures the tour guides have national licenses to take boats upriver, and try to give all guides equal opportunities to take tourists on trips.

The Anglican Church is an important and active community organization in Monkey River Town. International funding from the Anglican Church of Maine (USA) is funding the construction of a new church in town. Additional international donations of funds and volunteer labor from the Anglican Church are being used to run the school.  There is currently no resident Anglican Priest in Monkey River Town, so a traveling Canadian clergy member presides over church services every other Sunday morning.

The Toledo Institute of Development and Environment (TIDE) provides environmental and small business cooperative opportunities in Monkey River Town. They helped form the fishing co-op and help supply regulation lobster traps and fishing nets to the local towns. TIDE is attempting to broaden its programming into more diverse areas in Monkey River Town, but it seems to be meeting some slight resistance. Some of the town perceives TIDE’s regulations to be interfering with traditional ways of fishing. However, most residents agree that cooperation with TIDE is possible if Monkey River residents are given a greater voice in decisions regarding conservation and development issues in the area.

The present range of community organizations in Monkey River Village serves the local people fairly well.  The village council deals with general issues, such as working with the government to buy land upriver for a nature preserve and helping to facilitate spending the government hurricane aid money to establish a water supply for the entire village.  The water board is now responsible for monitoring use of the water supply, doing maintenance on the system, and collecting monthly payments from people for water.  The tour guide board helps certify people to be tour guides through the federal training program and is supposed to try to ensure that all guides have an equal opportunity to take tourists into the jungle or fishing. 

There seem to be two things missing from these community organizations.  First, the organizations do not seem to work together to solve community problems.  Each is concerned with its own area of expertise, and does not seem to recognize the importance of cooperation between the groups.  Second, people who are not involved with any of these organizations do not seem to have a forum to voice their concerns about their community.  It would be helpful if the Village Council began to host monthly village “forums” where every resident was invited to listen and share their viewpoints.  If members of all the local organizations and non-members were allowed equal opportunity to express their concerns and questions, the community might become more cohesive, with better-defined goals, and a more clear idea of necessary paths that might be taken to achieve these goals.  These community forums could also be an opportunity for residents to learn more about what changes are taking place concerning local and national government decisions, such as those concerning the redistricting of Paynes Creek National Park, regulations regarding fishing and the use of other natural resources, and how these decisions might affect life for people in Monkey River Village.