PJ Best Neighbourhood Award (2)

The Judges concluded their assessment for the 2007 PJ Best Neighbourhood Competition last Saturday. The judges deliberated all entries based on the set criteria. They have also brainstormed on the format for this year contest and ways for future improvement.

One of the main concern is the performance of the past winners. While judges have high expectation for the past winners to showcase their ability to innovate the initiatives with more in deep on sustainability principles, the changes were not significant enough and they felt that much more can be done. The question, then raised was whether the Competition has helped CBOs to improve further and to inbuilt the principles of sustainable development into their activities. The argument is some CBOs cannot hold on to their initiatives due to the leadership problem. The moment the leader changes, the initiative might not be prioritised or continue as every leader might have their own priority. This raises the issue of leadership transition and the need to enterprising the CBOs so that programmes can be continue and grew with set structure and mechanism even though new person is to take over. Another set back was the priority and objectives of the CBOs. Many CBOs in PJ were established with specific purpose, namely security concern and the need to unite to against some unwanted development in their neighbourhood. With that in mind, any new programmes that do not contribute directly and significantly towards the purpose might be difficult to get their endorsement, or even welcome. So, the question now, is how to get as many as CBOs possible to support the Competition.

Perhaps after 5 years of organising the Competition, it is time for MBPJ to re-evaluate the impacts and to re-plan the approaches and format.