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Mr Halsted Pemberton Permanent Secretary in the Ministry of Community Development. Front row: (L-R) The Hon. Robelto Hector, the Hon. Carlisle Powell, Premier the Hon. Joseph Parry and the Hon. Hensley Daniel at the launch of the Social Action Programme at Bath Village. |
CHARLESTOWN NEVIS, (November 20, 2006) -- A Social Action Programme (SAP) designed to move community development into the communities throughout Nevis, was launched by the Department of Community Development in the Nevis Island Administration (NIA) on Wednesday November 15, 2006 at the Bath Village Community Centre.
The Programme's architect the Honourable Hensley Daniel, Minister of Community Development and Area representative for the St. Johns Constituency who launched the programme, hailed it as an attempt to transform the dangling discords of the community into a symphony of brotherhood.
The Programme he said was a first of its kind in the Caribbean which may have caught the eye of an international financial institution.
"I want to tell you that there is one international financial institution that has indicated a willingness to partner with us in terms of finding some money to ensure the programmes continue because according to the agency, this is one of the programmes they have been looking for in the Caribbean and we may well be the first country and island to get some of that money."
"We [NIA] will keep our fingers crossed. It [SAP] is perceived as a programme which gets to the root of the problem, it is perceived as a programme which is about prevention as opposed to rehabilitation and prevention programmes are far less expensive and as such we urge you in the community to help us and to support the programme," he said.~~adz:Right~~
According to Mr. Daniel, the Programme is one of prevention, directed at the root causes of social ills that affect all strata in the communities across Nevis. The programme he said, would also seek to reconnect the community to government to ensure that concerns which related to drugs, crime, violence, low educational certification and health would be addressed.
"We in the government decided that it couldn't be at the top it had to be at the bottom so we had to go to the communities and actually begin with the homework assistance programme, a computer education programme, a skills training programme and begin with a profile of the community," he explained.
The Minister urged persons in the community to assist the NIA in its new approach to community development. He said SAP would place the Administration in a better position to tailor programmes for the specific needs of the individual communities and provide the necessary data base for each community, necessary to ensure proper planning.
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| A cross section of persons present at the Social Action Programme launch in Bath Village. |
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| Another section of persons present at the Social Action Programme launch in Bath Village |
A number of prospective community workers have been in training in preparation for deployment at the community centres throughout the island. Persons selected and appointed to the positions would be responsible for managing the centres while personnel from the Department would be responsible for collecting and collating the information. The data would be reported to Minister Daniel who would report to the Cabinet.
Meantime, Premier the Hon. Joseph Parry who was on hand to witness the launch, gave the programme his blessings and lauded the efforts of Mr Daniel.
He was of the view that SAP would provide every village in Nevis with a number of opportunities while some of the problems which involved youth would dissipate. He said the programmes offered would occupy, train, assist with homework, teach them new things and would take away some of the anger and frustration that had built up in the young people. The outcome he said would be one of peace, togetherness, progressiveness, cultural awakening and economic growth in Nevis.
~~adz:Left~~Mr. Halsted "Sooty" Byron who is charged with the implementation of SAP chaired the event, during brief remarks he noted that people would play a pivotal role in the successful implementation of the programmes offered to children, youths, adults and senior citizens.
He took the opportunity to list a number of programmes which would be offered including a Homework Assistance Project, Computer Training, Community Library Services, Skills Training, Development and preservation of the Arts, Home Help Care for the Aged and Disabled, Neighbourhood watch, Community Needs Assessment, Capacity Building for Groups and Organisations and Health and Environmental Awareness.
Mr. Byron said the Community Centres would be equipped with the necessary resources both human and material in order to effectively implement these programmes to bring about effective change among the youth and people of Nevis.
The launching ceremony which was witnessed by a cross section of the Bath Village community and invited guests was also attended by members of the NIA Cabinet including the Hon. Robelto Hector, the Hon. Carlisle Powell, the Hon. Dwight Cozier Parry, Mr. Patrice Nisbett and Mr Ashley Farrell.
