Poverty & Social Development: A Caribbean Perspective

In the Caribbean, it’s been all about the Role and Standing of Civil Society
Bringing civil society as an active participant in development, can add substantive leverage in the formulation of policy, and in the implementation and development of action plans.
And within this framework, an evolving relationship has to move toward the expansion of dialogues and participation between CSOs, and governments. Such a route benefiting for the contributions of local knowledge, technical expertise and social capital, in the ways local problems should be taken on.

As some observers are pointing out, in the Caribbean this issue has become a factor of great importance given the dire needs to revamp some social landscapes, and counter through effective actions all the structural imbalances that have been feeding on and impacting on the socio-economic fabric, and well-being of some communities.

“Why does it appear as if society is painfully swallowing harmful doses of negative actions? Where is the soul? From kidnappings to teenage murderers to the jailing of politicians, to the declaration by organisation called Transparency International that of one of Caricom’s member nation’s is among the most corrupt nations in the world etc etc.

This revolving door of criminality and social ills have clearly given us a cause to stop and take a deep breath of bewilderment, bordering on despair. It has indeed been a challenging time which has caused society to swallow all of this in consistently harmful doses, like pills made of arsenic, coated with acid.”