POVERTY UNACCEPTABLE
Web Posted - Thu Feb 16 2006
While Barbados has eradicated extreme poverty and hunger, the level of relative poverty, which is said to currently exist in this island, is still unacceptable.
As such, Minister of Social Transformation Hamilton Lashley contends that intervention designed to break the cycle can therefore not be seen as optional.
His comments came at the opening ceremony of the consultation arranged by the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) on the Country Programme Action Plan (CPAP) at the UN House yesterday morning. Following the World Summit on Social development in 1995, Barbados re-focused its efforts on the eradication of poverty.
This saw the Government declaring its eradication as the number one goal on its developmental calendar. This declaration was made while being cognisant of the fact that Barbados is a small island developing state with a fragile economy, which is subject to both external and internal shocks, some by way of natural disasters, Lashley said.
To this end, he said that fundamental shifts have had to be made at the policy and programme levels to safeguard against increased levels of poverty and to ensure that past gains are not eroded.
Likewise, he said inter-agency and inter-ministerial collaborations have been taking place in an effort to create equal opportunities for all persons to allow for meaningful participation in the social and economic development of this country.
Government, the minister said in an effort to sustain the social provisioning for the most vulnerable in society, embarked on a number of programmes, including the Poverty Eradication Fund, the Welfare to Work Programme, the Fatherhood Initiative and the Community Art Career Programme. Making reference to the Poverty Eradication Fund, Minister Lashley maintained that all of the cases are investigated and that contrary to the belief in some quarters, only those that are really in need receive assistance.
Whether it be the payment of house rent or the payment of water bills; our field officers go into the field and visit these households, and then report to the Committee, which comprises of a group of highly responsible persons headed by the director of finance. They are all experts in their various fields of endeavour, who make the final decisions and not the minister himself. Hence, if it becomes public that someone has been assisted through the poverty fund, you can be seriously rest assured that that case was a genuine one, meeting the necessary criteria, he explained.
In addition, he said the poverty fund also supports organisations whose programming fit in with Government's poverty eradication programme. He pointed out that via the fund, a number of community based organisations are given the opportunity to introduce and sustain programmes of training in the arts, information technology and other skills, thus helping to provide community members with opportunities to realise their full potential.
Success, the minister noted, has also been reaped in the Welfare to Work Programme, which was adopted by the Welfare Department in 2000. Starting with a welfare roll of 10 000 persons through collaboration with a number of private sector and non-governmental organisations in skills training and personal development workshops, which have resulted in job placements the roll now stands at 7 000.
Of great importance, he said, is the fact that some of these persons, most of them single mothers, have been able to individually or collectively open their own businesses. With this in mind, he said that the fathers have not been left out. Through a programme also run by the Welfare Department known as the Fatherhood Initiative, some 1 726 men, who were involved in domestic violence, deprived access to their children, involved in custody disputes or were not maintaining their children, have benefited from the programme.
Web Posted - Thu Feb 16 2006
While Barbados has eradicated extreme poverty and hunger, the level of relative poverty, which is said to currently exist in this island, is still unacceptable.
As such, Minister of Social Transformation Hamilton Lashley contends that intervention designed to break the cycle can therefore not be seen as optional.
His comments came at the opening ceremony of the consultation arranged by the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) on the Country Programme Action Plan (CPAP) at the UN House yesterday morning. Following the World Summit on Social development in 1995, Barbados re-focused its efforts on the eradication of poverty.
This saw the Government declaring its eradication as the number one goal on its developmental calendar. This declaration was made while being cognisant of the fact that Barbados is a small island developing state with a fragile economy, which is subject to both external and internal shocks, some by way of natural disasters, Lashley said.
To this end, he said that fundamental shifts have had to be made at the policy and programme levels to safeguard against increased levels of poverty and to ensure that past gains are not eroded.
Likewise, he said inter-agency and inter-ministerial collaborations have been taking place in an effort to create equal opportunities for all persons to allow for meaningful participation in the social and economic development of this country.
Government, the minister said in an effort to sustain the social provisioning for the most vulnerable in society, embarked on a number of programmes, including the Poverty Eradication Fund, the Welfare to Work Programme, the Fatherhood Initiative and the Community Art Career Programme. Making reference to the Poverty Eradication Fund, Minister Lashley maintained that all of the cases are investigated and that contrary to the belief in some quarters, only those that are really in need receive assistance.
Whether it be the payment of house rent or the payment of water bills; our field officers go into the field and visit these households, and then report to the Committee, which comprises of a group of highly responsible persons headed by the director of finance. They are all experts in their various fields of endeavour, who make the final decisions and not the minister himself. Hence, if it becomes public that someone has been assisted through the poverty fund, you can be seriously rest assured that that case was a genuine one, meeting the necessary criteria, he explained.
In addition, he said the poverty fund also supports organisations whose programming fit in with Government's poverty eradication programme. He pointed out that via the fund, a number of community based organisations are given the opportunity to introduce and sustain programmes of training in the arts, information technology and other skills, thus helping to provide community members with opportunities to realise their full potential.
Success, the minister noted, has also been reaped in the Welfare to Work Programme, which was adopted by the Welfare Department in 2000. Starting with a welfare roll of 10 000 persons through collaboration with a number of private sector and non-governmental organisations in skills training and personal development workshops, which have resulted in job placements the roll now stands at 7 000.
Of great importance, he said, is the fact that some of these persons, most of them single mothers, have been able to individually or collectively open their own businesses. With this in mind, he said that the fathers have not been left out. Through a programme also run by the Welfare Department known as the Fatherhood Initiative, some 1 726 men, who were involved in domestic violence, deprived access to their children, involved in custody disputes or were not maintaining their children, have benefited from the programme.
Barbados Advocate ©2000
