The Somerset community in Manchester received the top prize of $500,000 in the recently held Digicel Best Community Competition.

The Social Development Com-mission (SDC) facilitated event saw 27 communities entering the competition, with last year's thirdplace participant, Somerset, coming out on top.

a lot of planning

Community Development Officer of the SDC, Shamarrah Gilbert, told JIS News that the community members were wiling to work with her, and they did a lot of planning. "Somerset is a rural community with mainly farmers, and they were willing to come out and support activities that were planned, and that is what I believe got them on top," she said.

"The Best Community Compe-tition is geared at assisting communities to unite and to work together to achieve their goals in community development. I will encourage communities to participate in this venture, as we can't wait for things to come to our communities. We must work to put them in a position to get funding for development projects, and this competition helps in that regard," Ms Gilbert pointed out.

Meanwhile, president of the Somerset Community Development Council, Faith Williams-Powell, explained that their beatification project and the plans they had developed for a cave in the community contributed to their success in the competition.

"We zeroed in on the heritage aspect of our community and the natural resources that we have. We looked at our primary school and did some upgrading work there, and the plans to improve agricultural skills in the area all helped," she said. The council is now looking at a yam project to create employment in the community.

Grove Place took second place in the competition, winning $250,000, while Pike placed third, receiving $100,000.