Charlestown Nevis (November 7, 2006) The Nevis Island Administration not only pledged its commitment to the reduction of poverty on Nevis but also expressed its plan to put a number of initiatives in place to improve the living conditions on the island.
Advisor in the Ministry of Education, Mrs. Christine Springette made the comment during the official launch of the Nevis leg of the Country Poverty Assessment Survey, which is expected to be conducted in the Federation of St. Kitts and Nevis.
The Nevis Island Administration is supportive of this initiative which is being conducted here this morning, she said. The government will not put its head in the sand but will embrace your findings and will endeavour, with your help, with your findings and together with your assistance, reduce poverty in Nevis. The Nevis Island Administration is willing to work along with you and all organisations to which you are partnered, to remove this scourged from our country.
Mrs. Springette spoke on behalf of the Minister of Education, the Hon. Joseph Parry who was away on government duty at the time. She pointed out a number of strategies that the government would put in place to reduce poverty on the island.
~~Adz:Right~~ Pursue an aggressive programme of human resource development with a focus on quality education at preschool, primary school, secondary and tertiary levels. The Nevis Island Administration understands that it is through massive investment in education and human resource development that poverty is reduced.
The empowerment of women through education, job skills training and small business development will be one of the factors that will help to reduce poverty, she added. The development of youth through a youth enterprise scheme, provision of land through special land prices for youth and the creation of community programmes for youth development, she said.
The Survey is sponsored by the Caribbean Development Bank (CDB) and the Nevis Island Administrations Statistics and Economic Planning Department. It is geared towards the gathering of information needed to assess the extent and severity of poverty and the measures needed to eradicate poverty within the Federation of St. Kitts and Nevis.
~~Adz:Left~~The launch also saw addresses from Mr. Elbert Ellis, representative of CDB and Dr. Ralph Henry, representative of KAIRI Consultant Services. KAIRI Consultant Services, which is based in Trinidad, is expected to provide technical support throughout the survey in the Federation.
