A call has been made for effective institutional support to meet the needs of vulnerable groups, particularly women, children and the elderly in times of natural or human disasters.
The call was delivered by participants at a United Nations World Population Fund (UNFPA) forum held yesterday at Cara Lodge to mark World Population Day.
World Population Day, observed on July 11, was this year commemorated under the theme “Vulnerable Populations in Emergencies.”
Yesterday’s forum was led by Minister of Social Protection Volda Lawrence, First Lady Sandra Granger and Assistant Representative of UNFPA Patrice La Fleur.
According to Minister Lawrence, it is the country’s women folk who feel the brunt of any disaster, since they are most often tasked in the aftermath with the burden of reconstructing the lives of their families and often without facilities.
“It was our women folk—I’m sorry gentlemen—but it was our women folk who bore the brunt in the aftermath. The bailing of waters from their homes and subsequent sanitisation, their traversing through the flood waters to acquire food for children, their exposure to possible infections. Clearly this underscores the need for readiness packages… these are the special needs that cannot be overlooked if we are to bring relief in times of disaster,” she said.
While several of the participants called for comprehensive programmes to be instituted to educate and empower vulnerable groups, such as women and children, others stressed that it is important that these programmes are more than instituted. More important is that they are maintained so that there is true readiness born from continuity, the forum heard.
This point was especially stressed by a representative of the Volunteer Youth Corps, who said, “We have programmes for everything. Donor agencies will come and we’ll have programmes but there is no follow-up. I don’t think we have the culture of follow up. Most programmes start, the donor agency comes for two to three years and when they leave that’s it.”
She also asked that men be considered as vulnerable groups. “When we think of vulnerable groups we must also think of our boys who are abused and create programmes to address their needs,” she said.
La Fleur, in responding to requests for proper cohesion in managing disasters, acknowledged that a multi-sectorial, multi-agency response is required to properly manage any disaster. She further noted that UNFPA is currently in the process of organising responses to vulnerable group challenges, such as teenage pregnancy, that include legal reform, reintegration of children, Health and Family Life Education (HFLE) and sexuality education.
