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Social Cohesion needs a practical approach
Dear Editor;
After reading GHK Lall’s reflections in his letter to SN, titled “President must reach every opportunity to be chorister-in-chief on social cohesion” I feel behoved to urge my fellow Guyanese (and, at times, the government ) to address the matter of social cohesion with less flourishing rhetoric and more with a conceptual and practical understanding of how to achieve this national goal.
I had attempted some explanation of this approach in letter to SN on February 17th letter (Social cohesion has to be understood in all its dimensions.”) I continue on that theme here.
My advice then and now is that social cohesion has to be unpacked into measurable components so that we can know where are as a nation, where we have to go, and which vehicles and directions to choose to get there.
Best practices from other nations suggest five components of social cohesion: (i) whether people feel they belong or feel isolated, (ii) whether people can participate in decisions that affect them or whether they are controlled, (iii) whether people see their government and public institutions as legitimate or illegitimate, (iv) whether all groups have fair access to economic resources and other opportunities or whether they face discrimination and marginalization, and (v) whether all groups feel that their distinctive identities and cultures are recognized or are rejected.
Social cohesion, however measured, ultimately comes down to how people perceive its existence. Therefore as government and other stakeholders implement polices and programs, the personal perceptions, feelings and opinions of individual citizens on such markers as racial discrimination, access to opportunities or tolerance of their religion will have to be determined from time to time using polling and other social science techniques.
Without these measurements, the discussion will remain at the level of political rhetoric and general impressions.
Such information does not exist at the moment and, therefore, government has to ensure it does as it implements its social cohesion strategy.
But if I were to speculate on the level to which Guyana has reached on the five components of social cohesion listed above, I would suggest that Guyanese enjoy higher degrees of (i) belonging (with no isolated or un-integrated groups) and (v) recognition of and tolerance for their distinctive identities and cultures. We have achieved less on the other fronts.
A more productive discussion then would be on what government policies, programs and actions would promote (or undermine) social cohesion along each of its components.
To what extent, for example, would the new local government system increase feelings of participation and belonging?
How can we make the social agendas of the constitutional commissions, such as the Ethnic Relations Commission and the Human Rights Commission, more impactful? And so on.
That is the concrete approach we need.
Sherwood Lowe
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