Albion Heights in St Thomas is a rural community that is developing and becoming more populated over time. Despite this, the area is still without electricity supply from the Jamaica Public Service (JPS), has limited water supply from the National Water Commission (NWC) and has only recently started receiving waste management services from the National Solid Waste Management Authority (NSWMA). These limited resources significantly impact the vulnerable groups within the community, including but not limited to the elderly and many female-led households. It also impacts the ability of the community to develop further.

Albion Heights in St Thomas provides a unique opportunity to create a true sustainable model community from the ground up, as it is in the infancy stage of development. The development of a Green Community Project to develop Albion Heights as a sustainable community will foster the development of a local culture that promotes environmental protection and sustainable living while simultaneously boosting their community resilience, improving their quality of life, as well as explore sustainable entrepreneurial or career options. To add an additional level of public buy-in, the experience could also be incentivized and conducted as a community competition with check-ins and updates being broadcast on local television. This will ensure the accountability of residents (contestants) during the process and spread awareness about the benefits of recycling, living sustainability and using renewable energy. This project seeks to provide data on the cost and feasibility of, and barriers and risks to creating more sustainable communities in the island as well as creating livelihood opportunities in the face of climate change.

The primary objective of the project is to create and monitor a sustainable community in rural St Thomas which allows residents to improve both the quality of the natural environment, but also their quality of life. The project will include the installation of renewable energy, rainwater harvesting and community recycling systems in 10 households and the wider community:

? Installed solar powered street lamps and solar powered home systems
? Installed rainwater harvesting systems in selected households
? Established income-generating opportunity from community recycling programme

This will be accompanied by extensive community education and training exercises, which will allow residents to monitor their energy and water use during the period and cost during implementation and during the long term. This project directly speaks to Goal #3 of Jamaica?s Vision 2030, which highlights that: ?To achieve the goal of economic prosperity, Vision 2030 Jamaica will undertake measures that strengthen our natural, man-made and financial capital stocks to provide stable macroeconomic conditions, strong economic infrastructure and a secure, affordable energy supply as basic requirements for a competitive economy?.