ABOUT US
The Rio Grande Maroon Heritage Preservation Cooperative Society was registered with the Department of Cooperative and Friendly Societies (DCFS), Jamaica on May 3, 2021.
OUR HISTORY
The Society was built on the foundation laid by the Jamaica Organic Agricultural Movement (JOAM) through its implementation of 2 projects namely: the JOAM/EFJ Sustainable Agroforestry System Supporting Organic Beekeeping and Alternative Livelihoods Project and the JOAM/GEF-SGP: Sustainable Eco System Management to Support Agro Forestry, Ecotourism and Community Development in Vulnerable Communities in Portland and St Thomas Project. The projects were implemented in communities from the Upper Rio Grande Valley in Portland and Hayfield in St Thomas. These communities are neighbours to the Blue and John Crow Mountains National Park which was inscribed as a World Heritage Site in 2015 and is managed by the Jamaica Conservation and Development Trust (JCDT).
MAROON CULTURE AND HERITAGE PROJECT
The JCDT also had a project supported from the GEF-SGP at the same time as JOAM under a National Park and World Heritage Site project “Linking Natural and Cultural Heritage” which had a community tourism development component. In response to the JCDT’s request to bring together persons involved in community tourism, the cooperative was formed.
The subsequent launch of JCDT’s Maroon Community Tourism Support Project (funded by the Inter-American Foundation) in 2021 led to the inclusion of the Scott's Hall community from St Mary. The Cooperative was tasked to be the coordinating agency for the development of community tourism groups in 8 communities and the subsequent development of their community tourism businesses.
As the name indicates, The RGMHPCS is dedicated to preserving Maroon Culture and Heritage as well as the Blue and John Crow Mountains National Park and World Heritage Site for the benefit of all Jamaica. This can be seen from the vision and mission of the cooperative listed below.
Rio Grande Maroon Heritage Preservation Cooperative Society Limited
Mission
The Rio Grande Maroon Heritage Preservation Co-operative Society Limited seeks to provide recreational services, develop income-earning activities and conduct training and public awareness programmes, facilitating sustainable livelihood and public buy-in for the preservation of the Blue and John Crow Mountains National Park and World Heritage Site and of Windward Maroon culture.
Vision
The Rio Grande Maroon Heritage Preservation Co-operative Society Limited is the recognized Community enterprise protecting and preserving the natural and cultural heritage of the Windward Maroons.
The Maroon Communities
The Windward Maroons can be found in the communities of Comfort Castle, Cornwall Barracks, Ginger House, Mill Bank, Windsor, and Moore Town in the Rio Grande Valley, Charles Town in the Buff Bay Valley, Scott’s Hall in the Wag Water River Valley and Hayfield in St Thomas.
The Maroon Community Tourism Support Project
The Maroon Community Tourism Support Project is an effort developed as part of the JCDTs Cultural Heritage Preservation Programme/Strategy. It seeks to preserve the Inter-American Foundation (IAF) through its practice of supporting community-led approaches to expand economic opportunity and promote economic inclusion among historically excluded groups (like the Maroons). It is funded the development of a community tourism network that would support sustainable livelihoods for young people in eight maroon communities. The JCDT, as a grantee partner, would facilitate the training of community members to strengthen business practices and provide seed funding to improve existing community-based services for tourists. Support was also provided by African, Caribbean & Pacific States and from the European Union through the BIOPAMA Project.
