Local Economic Development: Creating Sustainable Growth And Community Well-being

Understanding LED Implementation Strategies

Early development theorist laid down the theoretical and conceptual framework for economic development which focused on single minded expansion of firms and jobs and necessarily not on the local well-being in an economy. In a growing technological and changing economy, existing development theories have evolved to meet the challenges of how local communities support sustainable economic development to improve local economy.

This project is meant to explain the development of a local economic development (LED) implementation plan for specific projects in the local constituency of Sangre Grande in my country of Trinidad. Implementation of strategies is said to be the action stage. According to Wheelen et.al (2015) strategy implementation, “is the sum total of the activities and choices required for the execution of a strategic plan. It is the process by which objectives, strategies, and policies are put into action through the development of programs and tactics, budgets, and procedures” (p. 280). This LED plan seeks to help participants to recognize the potential for economic growth and community well-being by providing support for new and existing entrepreneurs as well as packaging cultural aspects for a memorable tourism experience.

Description of the Local Economic Development Plan

 According to Gwen Swinburn from the Urban Development Unit of the World Bank states that, “the purpose of local economic development (LED) is to build up the economic capacity of a local area to improve its economic future and the quality of life for all.  It is a process by which public, business and non-governmental sector partners work collectively to create better conditions for economic growth and employment generation” (World Bank 2006). Every good LED implementation plan is driven by a mixture of public and private collaboration.

The aim of this project is to develop a LED implementation plan several projects. The plan will follow a systematic process which will focus on creating the necessary organization structure by analysing the following:

1. The initial examination of the local region of Sangre Grande- demographics, general industry trends, and businesses by industry
2. The role of public and private sector industry
3. Analysis of critical resources such as marketing and financing
4. Criteria of organizational design and evaluation

Local Economic Development Plan Strategic Objectives

To achieve the agreed goals, strategic objectives are developed for the identified projects

Project	Strategy Objective	Communication for Implementation
Development of the region’s agricultural and agro-processing production	·         Expand the region’s agricultural output in key strategic crops. The aim is to position the region as the nation’s food basket	·         Sangre Grande Municipal Council ·         Chamber of Commerce of Sangre Grande
Sangre Grande Community Tourism Initiative	·         To become a preferred eco-tourism destination, stakeholders need to invest in a professional workforce dealing with tourism as a business.	·         Ministry of Tourism ·         Local NGOs
Beautification of the Municipality	·         Enhance and beautify public spaces	·         Sangre Grande Municipal Council
Promotion of the cultural assets of the community	·         Encourage and support local talent	·         Ministry of Culture and Development

Economic Profile

The Borough of Sangre Grande is situated northeast Trinidad and is largely a rural district with forty-one (41) communities which are located along the major arterial network and at their main interSections. Sangre Grande covers approximately 899 square kilometres seen in Figure 2.1. The region has a rich ecosystem that includes flora and fauna, rivers, beaches and 24% of Trinidad’s coastline.

Developing an LED Implementation Plan for Sangre Grande

Figure 2.1: Location of the Municipality of Sangre Grande showing the distribution of Communities

Descriptive Statistics

Building an economic profile will help economic developers understand how their local economies are situated within the larger economic, industrial and international systems (Leigh & Blakely 2017). The below table provides specific data gathered from the Trinidad and Tobago Central Statistics Office 2011 Census (CSO, 2011).

LOCAL ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT REPORT
Demographic	Population: ·         Population size- 75,766 representing 5.7 percent of the national population of 1,328,019 persons ·         Region’s population grew 15.4% between 2000 and 2011 thus becoming the country’s fastest growing region ·         Population almost equally distributed in terms of gender, with a female population of 36,845 (48.6%) and a male population of 38,921 (51.4%) ·         During 2000-2011 period, households increased by 36.6 percent twice the growth rate in Trinidad (16.1%) ·         Relatively young population: 56.9% under 35 years ·         Persons 65 years and older accounted for 7.7% of population ·         Ethnicity: East-Indian (31%), African (30%), Mixed other (23%) Education: ·         36.7% of the region’s population have attained primary level education ·         42% of the region attained secondary and post-secondary education ·         4.75% attained tertiary non-university level education ·         5.3% attained tertiary university level ·         Females outnumbered males in attainment of tertiary level education ·         56.9% of persons 15 years or older do not have any qualifications
Quality of Life	·         Sangre Grande ranked among lowest ranked with an NHDI of 0.616 ·         Sangre Grande ranked lowest in health, education and income for the INHDI ·         Region has relatively high life expectancy; 70.2 years for males and 76.5 years for females ·         The region had the highest rate of adolescent births. ·         The serious crimes of major concern in the Sangre Grande Borough included burglaries and break-ins, general larceny and robberies ·         Primary and secondary health care facilities are prevalent in the Borough, with 11 health centres catering to the needs of the 41 communities in the municipality and also the Sangre Grande Hospital
Income and Wages	·         Most household heads (70%) earned gross monthly income of TT$5000.00 or less from their main job. About 25% earned between TT$5001 and TT$10,000 from their primary jobs. Only 4.9% earned over TT$10,000 per month
Labour Force Characteristics	·         Equal proportions of household heads in the municipality were employed in Private Enterprise (34%) and Central/ Local Government Offices (34%), which is indeed indicative of the strong culture of entrepreneurship in the municipality. Other categories witnessed in the municipality included own account workers (22%), employers (4%), and persons employed at state enterprises such as National Entrepreneurship Development Company Limited (NEDCO) (3%) ·         The main economic drivers have been:         i.            Agriculture – Short term crop production, tree crop agriculture, floriculture, livestock production, including cattle rearing, poultry production and beekeeping;       ii.            Fisheries – Marine Fishing and Fish farming;     iii.            Quarrying – Sand, Gravel, Blue and Yellow Limestone and Quartz Sand;     iv.            Tourism/Eco Tourism/Community Based Tourism;       v.            Commerce and Distribution – including Micro and Small Businesses in urban centres; and     vi.            Public Services ·         Other major occupational groups observed within the municipality include Plant and Machine Operators (17.85%), Service and Sales Workers (15.78%), Craft and related trade workers (10.86%), Managers (6.13%) and Technicians and associate professionals (5.6%)
Business Establishments by Industry	·         The town centre of Sangre Grande remains a major commercial node for the municipality. Enterprises in the municipality were concentrated largely in the retail and distribution sector (65.66%) and personal services (15.51%) sectors. Also, enterprises in the construction (33.33%) and mining sectors (33.33%) which accounted for the largest proportion of enterprises employing 50 or more persons.
Local Government and Institutions	i.            The National Entrepreneurship Development Company Limited (NEDCO) was established in 2002 to assist small and micro businesses with regard to the accessing of loans for business start-up and expansion purposes.       ii.            Credit Unions and Commercial Banks     iii.            Sangre Grande Chamber of Commerce
Local decision making processes	·         Under Section 269 of the Municipal Corporations Act 1990, the Minister of Local Government can give general or specific directions to Municipal Councils in relation to government policy on any matter. ·         Like the other 13 Municipal Councils in Trinidad, the Act gives powers to the Sangre Grande Municipal Council, which acts through the Chief Executive Officer, Senior Officers and Staff of the Regional Corporation. ·         The Sangre Grande Municipal Council, which comprises eight councillors and four aldermen, is responsible for a range of key functions within its municipal jurisdiction, from the development and maintenance of selected roads, bridges, footways, drains, public buildings and structures, the maintenance of markets, slaughterhouses, pastures, commons, recreation grounds or public cemeteries and recreational grounds; the distribution of truck-borne water; solid waste collection; public health, to municipal policing.

Public and Private Partnerships

The World Bank Public Private Partnership (PPP) knowledge lab explains PPP as “a long-term contract between a private party and a government entity, for providing a public asset or service, in which the private party bears significant risk and management responsibility, and remuneration is linked to performance”( World Bank Group, 2015). In August 2011, Trinidad’s Ministry of Finance established a PPP unit in an effort to deliver critical projects in a more efficient and effective manner. At a conference in 2014, the Trade Ministry stated “public-private partnerships combines the best of both worlds: the private sector’s resources, management skills and technology; and the public sector’s regulatory actions and protection of the public interest” (Government to use Public Private Partnership Modality to deliver, 2014).

Although the government of Trinidad is trying to promote local government reform, the legislative framework has been tied up in strict bureaucratic red-tape. LED is a relatively new initiative in Trinidad, thus given the need for financing, partnerships can include opportunities for private businesses to sponsor implementation projects or can fund aspects of the initiative. For example, in order for the Sangre Grande Municipal council to implement a LED plan they would have to seek international funding for some of the projects. Since LED is not a highly profit making initiative, many of the local business entrepreneurs is very sceptical about making investments with little or no returns. The Council can collaborate with nearby colleges to recruit students who can gain extra credits by assisting in executing some of the projects.

Marketing Community

Communities do marketing for economic development to highlight their attractiveness to new employers and investors. In order to be successful, communities must establish a clear identity which needs to be authentic and capable of contributing to the local economy (Leigh & Blakely, 2017). In order for the Municipality of Sangre Grande to become a sustainable local community, stakeholders/council members must focus their attention on marketing specific targeted sectors such as:

1. Developing training programs to help young entrepreneurs in the business of understanding new ways of processing agriculture. Another example of promoting agriculture and farming is by having market fares, where local producers can display their goods
2. Promotion of the Municipality natural resources to support eco-tourism and adventure tourism through developing an eco-tourism app which will include reputable taxi cab services, tour guides, hotels and other accommodation providers. This app will direct visitors to the diverse ecology of beautiful beaches, leatherback turtle watching, exploring the caves which hold a rare white bat and many other activities
3. Showcasing the areas cultural influences through regular events and concerts. The Municipality boost some of the most talented Calypsonians (local singers) and Steel band orchestras. Also, visitors can enjoy the local cuisine made from the produce of local farmers
4. Promotion of the area through development of a website and social media platforms

Project Viability and Financing

Project development involves taking one or more attractive project ideas, shaping and specifying each precisely and rejecting those that do not seem viable. Projects need to demonstrate clear goals, objectives and viability – with measurable outcomes and indicators. In project development, viability is determined in relation to four interconnected bases: (1) community, (2) locational (3) commercial and (4) implementation (Leigh & Blakely, 2017).  Viable community based projects could pave the way for growth and development for the area. Therefore the following elements are important to justifying the project:

1. Firstly, the LED Core Team can invite residents and community organizations to be part of project teams or event planning committees It is important to encourage community participation and involvement
2. Secondly, planners need to do a market assessment to identify market size and trends.
3. Thirdly, undertaking a risk assessment of the projects will determine if the projects will have reinvestment opportunities
4. Forth, establish a multi-disciplinary team to oversee the implementation of each strategic initiative. Members should posse the necessary skills, knowledge and expertise relevant to the project.

Building an Economic Profile: Gathered Data

LED projects will be considered vital and viable to help with the community’s growth and development, thus, it is most important to determine the projects viability which can be done via a Feasibility study. For the Sangre Grande Council to invite foreign financiers, the feasibility study will identify the critical issues affecting each project’s potential for success (Leigh & Blakely, 2017).     

Most of the population of Sangre Grande is employed in the primary sector, where the monthly income is low compared to their counterparts in other developed countries. Sangre Grande being a small municipal area requires a LED program with immediate action if the local government wants to have generated higher amount of employment. From the demographic analysis of the Sangre Grande, it can clearly be seen that most of the employment is generated in the primary sectors and the contribution of secondary and tertiary sector in the GDP of the municipality is quiet low. Thus, and LED initiation is certainly required at this place, that will not only attract higher employment but also lead the GDP of the municipality to a sustainable level (Leigh & Blakely, 2016).

LED being a new initiation in the Sangre Grande region, there are certain things to consider before fully implementing it. Certain assumptions and conditions are there that can affect the feasibility of the project. For instance-

• The LED project can only become successful if it gets government policy support.
• Government of the Sangre Grande need to promote education among their local citizens, otherwise skilled labour for the future LED projects will not be available.
• LED being a non-profit initiative in the Sangre Grande region, government can help to generate necessary fund either by allowing FDI or by providing private public partnership.
• Wellness of the environment will not be harmed due to the LED program; it has to be followed.
• A governing body that will over watch the growth of project and expenditure of the LED program as the guardian of the public money.

Along with these conditions, the project management should consider support from residence; otherwise, it will not be possible to implement the programs. A well-established communication team need to be there in order to make the project successful otherwise lack in communication can negatively affect the project (Reese & Staff, 2014). If these assumptions and conditions maintained, then it can lead the LED program a huge success.

Sustainability Analysis:

Sustainability can be defined as the ability of a project to maintain its operations, services and benefits during its projected life time. However, the issue of sustainability should also be seen within time and changing social, economic and political contexts. A project that is seen as worth sustaining today, may not be so in future (Khan, 2000). There are several different tools used in a sustainability assessment, however in this paper I will reflect on one aspect, cost- benefit analysis.

Cost benefit analysis is focused to determine whether the investment decision is sound or not and secondly, it provides the basic ground to compare the projects against the total estimated benefits with cost incurred (Boadway, 2016).  Cost-benefit analysis of LED program at Sangre Grande will help it to define its –

• Objectives
• Alternative programs
• Stakeholders list
• Predict outcome
• Benefits into common currencies
• Discount rate
• Sensitivity analysis
• Recommendation choices

Business Establishments by Industry

The cost-benefit analysis of the LED program at Sangre Grande will aid it to analyze its negative and positive consequences on the various factors like participants and users, non-participants. It will judge the externality of the LED program at the Sangre Grande region and discuss its social benefits.

Organizational Design

In order to assess the organisational goal of the LED program at Sangre Grande, following steps will be taken:

• Existing economic service and the development program of the Sangre Grande area will be analyzed.
• Public workshop scenario of the Sangre Grande will judged
• A comprehensive review of the regional development programs will be carried out
• Present PPP model of the region will be analyzed
• Interview session with officers and the staffs of the economic development services will take place, in order to make the LED program at Sangre Grande successful

These various methodologies will be used to make the LED program in the Sangre Grande region successful.

Implementing LED at a place like Sangre Grande, where most of the people are employed with the primary sectors and local government is reluctant to initiate any new projects for the development of the economic condition will be hard. However, with proper implementation procedure and systematic development of plans would be beneficial (Pan et al., 2015). The procedure to implement the LED program at the Sangre Grande is as follows:

• Initially proposal of the LED would approach the local government of the Sangre Grande and describe its potential to them
• Next to this, if the local government seems enthusiast about the project, fund will be raised through FDI and PPP model
• Once the fund starts to generate, the LED program will starts its activities to develop the tourism and various other industries in the Sangre Grande region

Evaluation

Trinidad is one of the developing countries in the Caribbean Islands that enjoys most of the GDP share in the region (Holder et al. 2014). Owing to its high gas reserves and oil reserves, this country is rich compared to its neighbouring countries. However, the country is growing at a growth rate of -5.6%, according to the 2016 data, that indicates the poor economic situation of the Trinidad from the perspective of other nations around the world  (Cobley, 2016). With low education and absence of foreign investment in the country, its economic performance is too poor over the last few decades. When it comes to the Sangre Grande, then the municipal area of Trinidad is acknowledged as the education hub. Most of the schools in Trinidad is located at Sangre Grande, however the higher education is bounded to the higher secondary level due to lack of proper education system and infrastructure (Warner-Lall, 2017). Thus has lead to lack of skilled labours and the higher employment in the primary sector has made the country unable to grow at a faster rate. Thus projects as LED has a high scope of success at the places like Sangre Grande. It will not only boost the employment, but also will enhance the GDP growth by letting the country produce high amount of output.

Dos and don’ts:

Though the scope of success of LED projects at Sangre Grande is high, however it would be good to follow the certain restrictions, which are as follows:

Local Government and Institutions

Don’ts

• The LED project should not overlap with the ongoing government projects at the Sangre Grande
• Generated funds for the LED program should not be expended unnecessarily
• Auditing and accounting need to be done with ultimate care

Do’s

• LED project should maintain ethics
• New LED project need to be abide by the local laws
• Maintaining the environmental security is highly important

Summary of LED plan:

LED plan of the Sangre Grande is meant to explain the development of a (LED) implementation plan for specific projects in the local constituency of Trinidad. Though the plan is in implementation stage, the report will aid to provide a clear idea about the LED plan at the Sangre Grande. Implementation of strategies is said to be the action stage. This LED plan seeks to help participants to recognize the potential for economic growth and community well-being by providing support for new and existing entrepreneurs as well as packaging cultural aspects for a memorable tourism experience. By providing better scope of generating employment, this LED project is aimed to help the Sangre Grande government to have better and sustainable future.         

Business-community connection:

Relation between the business and community is highly important to promote sustainable growth of the both entities. Without economic activities, none of a community can survive economically and nor a business house can survive without the relation with the community. Moreover, it is a proved phenomenon that, happiness is one of the key elements that aids to grow an organisation and community to the better sustainability and the source of this happiness is our community. Thus, the connection between the business and community is highly important.

Summary of implementation plan:

LED project at Sangre Grande in the Trinidad is one of the enthusiastic projects that the municipality will see in the coming years. The project is in implementation stage and it is aimed to be implemented within the next five years completely. By that time, the project will seem to be fruitful by providing higher amount of recruitment and better GDP growth. The implementation will follow all the ethical and environmental upfront to keep itself aligned with the basic need of the society. Moreover, the project will be implemented in such a way that it does not violate its budget.

References:

Swinburn,G. (2006). LED Quick Reference. Retrieved from https://siteresources.worldbank.org/INTLED/552648-1107469860149/20738322/led_pamphlet.pdf

Central Statistical Office: Trinidad and Tobago 2011 Population and Housing Census. Retrieved from https://cso.planning.gov.tt/sites/default/files/content/images/census/TRINIDAD%20AND%20TOBAGO%202011%20Demographic%20Report.pdf

World Bank Group (2015). Public-Private-Partnership In Infrastructure Resource Centre. Retrieved from https://ppp.worldbank.org/public-private-partnership/overview/what-are-public-private-partnerships

Leigh,Nancey & Blakely,Edward.(2017). Planning Local Economic Development. (6^th Ed)

Government to use Public Private Partnership Modality to deliver (2014). Retrieved from https://www.news.gov.tt/content/government-use-public-private-partnership-modality-deliver-%E2%80%A6#.WiySj0qnHIU

Wheelen, T. L. (2015). Strategic Management and Business Policy: Globalization, Innovation and Sustainability: Global Edition, 14th Edition. [Bookshelf Online]. Retrieved from https://bookshelf.vitalsource.com/#/books/9781292067940/

Khan, M.A. (2000). Planning for and Monitoring of Project Sustainability: A Guideline on Concepts, Issues and Tools. Retrieved from https://www.mande.co.uk/docs/khan.htm

Boadway, R. (2016). Cost-benefit analysis. The Oxford Handbook of Well-Being and Public Policy, 1569.

Leigh, N. G., & Blakely, E. J. (2016). Planning local economic development: Theory and practice. Sage Publications.

Reese, L. A., & Staff, U. C. (2014). Local economic development policy: the United States and Canada. Routledge.

Pan, S. Y., Du, M. A., Huang, I. T., Liu, I. H., Chang, E. E., & Chiang, P. C. (2015). Strategies on implementation of waste-to-energy (WTE) supply chain for circular economy system: a review. Journal of Cleaner Production, 108, 409-421.

Holder, K., Knight, N., Punnett, B. J., & Charles, R. (2014). Culture, leadership and motivation in two Commonwealth Caribbean countries: One look at the African Diaspora. Canadian Journal of Administrative Sciences/Revue Canadienne des Sciences de l’Administration, 31(4), 245-256.

Cobley, L. S. (2016). The effect of shade on the growth rate of cacao cuttings (Doctoral dissertation).

Warner-Lall, K. (2017). Identifying and addressing aggressive behaviours in primary school children: a case study in the St. George East education district, Trinidad and Tobago (Doctoral dissertation).