The Mabouya Valley Development Project has become the most comprehensive, OAS-assisted development effort undertaken in the 1980s by the Government of Saint Lucia. The emphasis of this volume is directed toward these recent activities.
However, as stated in the Preface, the OAS began researching the Saint Lucia land problem in 1980. The OAS also helped design and implement the Morne Panache Pilot Project in 1982-83, and later assisted in the assessment of the national land registration programme in 1986. These efforts were all components of a long-term policy of integrated land development.
Committed to the realization of this policy, the OAS has provided continuing technical assistance, at times during periods of institutional change at the national level, funding and policy delays, and a changing political atmosphere. To achieve success, integrated development must be a cooperative effort that conforms to the character and needs of the people and the culture. It is often necessarily an educational and adaptive process.
To best demonstrate this process of integrated development, the following volume examines the development activities chronologically. The first three chapters outline the land problem, the Morne Panache Pilot Project, and the Land Registration and Titling Programme. Interested readers may turn to the appendices for greater detail concerning the Pilot Project and the LRTP. Chapter 4 addresses the latest work in the Mabouya Valley.
