Shulinab’s Success Story

To guarantee the success of their novel model, Macushi Village had a clear vision, a robust plan, and a team of dedicated residents on their LCDS finance & management committee to seamlessly work with all households. This resulted in the successful implementation of the projects. The leaders of the village specifically credit the following: encouraging high attendance and active participation at village meetings; hosting many village meetings to address concerns; having a strong finance & management committee; visiting each household on multiple occasions to address questions and assist with or monitor project implementation; using a ledger to ensure accountability and transparency; having a voucher system to help optimise administration and accounting; and requesting detailed project proposals from households.

A key aspect of the Shulinab’s model was that the village’s LCDS committee procured all items for each household to help ensure financial prudence. This model has several other benefits. Most of them stem from the ownership and commitment of households to their projects. Their vested interest helps to ensure timely and successful implementation (this is illustrated by the image on the right, which displays a poultry pen’s magnificent roof voluntarily done by the head of a household). Also, labour and transportation costs  were cut  as households freely undertook these.