Charlestown, Nevis (May 12, 2004) Community leaders in Nevis are presently engaged in a three-day workshop geared towards the implementation of a national human development agenda to address issues of poverty during the period May 12th to 14th at the Nevis Credit Union building in Charlestown.
The workshop which is a collaborative initiative between the federal government and the Nevis Island Administration through the ministries of Social Development, Community and Gender Affairs, and funded by the Caribbean Development Bank, will see community leaders being involved in the planning process of consulting and strategizing ideas which can best be used to reduce the level of poverty.
During a brief opening ceremony, Minister of Health, Gender & Social Affairs, the Hon Mrs. Jean Harris noted that poverty with all its trimmings was a social problem that had to be addressed. She said, “Every society has social problems and these problems cannot be ignored in the hope that they will eventually go away or be solved by themselves.”
According to Harris, the problems have to be studied closely and urgent action taken by government, non-government agencies and the community who have the knowledge, understanding and resources to deal with them.
“People in all the communities, had very specific ideas of what should and could be done to improve the conditions under which they are living and to alleviate poverty in the communities,” Minister Harris pointed out. “Some might be far-fetched, difficult and even impossible to put into practice, but all are worthy of serious consideration.”
Junior Minister of Community Affairs, the Hon Laughton Brandy who delivered brief remarks during the ceremony, noted that the global environment had finally come to realise that economic growth did not mean a decline in poverty, as he presented statistics from the UNDP Human Development Report of 2002.
“We are going to have to understand that if poverty is to be eradicated from our communities, we as developing countries are going to have to do so via our own bootstraps,” commented Minister Brandy. “We are going to have to accept a greater sense of responsibility and seek to maximize our domestic capacities, in enhancing human development.”
Ms Asha Kambon, who facilitated the workshop, noted that it was her pleasure to be on the island of Nevis and that UNECLAC was very, very pleased to be part of the process, “which will enable the people of Nevis to fulfill the task of the elaboration of a human development agenda which will address the need for poverty reduction strategy and a plan of action.”
Ms Kambon observed that the approach would allow the community to focus on key areas of development, and that the group would act as a catalyst to people participation and empowerment as they work towards reducing of poverty.
Health Educator in the Nevis Island Administration, Ms Shirley Wilkes welcomed all to the training session. She told the participants that they were the chosen ones, who would help the rise above the poverty level as over the next few days, they would get an insight on community participation, community mobilization and effective communication.
“You will develop skills that will help you to help your community to develop skills for new employment opportunities.”
