The St Francis Community Developers yesterday commissioned resource centres that are expected to serve both youth and the elderly at its Port Mourant, Corentyne headquarters.
The centres, which were launched under the regional Spotlight Initiative that is being undertaken by the United Nations and the European Union, are expected to support training for job creation, youth and women empowerment, pre/play schools, care for the elderly remedial education, counselling, and psycho-social support services. A Dress for Success closet, which provides clothes for youth and women entering the job market, was also launched.
Minister of Human Services and Social Security Dr Vindhya Persaud, who delivered the feature address at yesterday’s launch, noted that these projects will benefit children, the elderly, and persons who wish to enter the working world.
She stated that after reading some news items yesterday concerning a child being sexually molested by her father, and woman who was brutally stabbed, she wondered whether the country has reached a stage for a campaign of “name and shame” as she stressed that these are the things which they are working to eradicate from society.
“The Spotlight Initiative puts light on the dark acts of people out there who feel they can get away with these atrocities, so I say right away sitting here as Minister, we have zero tolerance for that kind of behaviour and I now encourage and appeal to all of you that you have zero tolerance for this… It is unacceptable. Violence, abuse, against any age, any gender, is unacceptable.”
She then stated, that in order to get rid of violence and abuse, there must be a collective effort.
Minister Persaud also stressed that early childhood development is a focus of her ministry, as she encouraged parents to ensure children are in an environment which enables them to be moulded into a “good teenager, and finally, a positive contributing adult…”
Meanwhile, Alex Foster, head of the St Francis Community Developers, during a tour of the centres, pointed out repeatedly to Minister Persaud the importance of having children exposed to locally created content. “…and that’s why together with UNICEF we will be working on increasing the material that’s available,” Persaud pledged yesterday.
Foster, during his address, emphasised that the Dress for Success will be available to assist persons to dress appropriately for job interviews in order to be able to secure those jobs.
The St Francis Community Developers has been executing a number of Spotlight Initiatives across Region Six at their headquarters and at the United Bricklayers in New Amsterdam over the last three months.
Foster yesterday pointed out that the United Nations had invested a sum of about $8 million over a four-month period, “and today we are celebrating the success. We have met all of our goals set out by more than a 100 per cent.”
He added that yesterday, they launched the continuation of the project with UNICEF, which invested a sum of $2 million, “and today’s investment will see radio ads being done. It will see teams from St. Francis and its collaborating partners appearing on the local television channels as we tend to promote preventions against violence and tend to share information about where services are offered across the region.”
Further, he said, they have retained two behavioural change officers who will be moving around in the communities of New Amsterdam, Rose Hall, and Port Mourant.
Foster noted that their collaboration with the ministry has enabled them to also hand over ten children-friendly spaces across Region Six yesterday, which will create a better environment for counselling.
Also present yesterday were representatives from European Union, United Nations, United Nations International Children’s Emergency Fund (UNICEF), and United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA).
