Thorough consultations with communities about programmes that have such profound effects on local livelihoods and lifestyles should be undertaken to ensure deeper community understanding of the consequences. Programmes designed and planned from outside the community may not create local jobs, particularly if the construction contracts arc won by large international companies that are not accountable to the community. Only if there is a conscious effort to consider the needs of local people, such as through skills development in the Suai community housing project, are the expectations of the communities for local jobs likely to be fulfilled.