The Ministry of Social Development, on Wednesday, May 9, hosted a forum, at the Anguilla Tourist Board Conference Room, with officers from UNICEF, to begin establishing a National Social Protection Policy that would benefit vulnerable persons in our community.
the facilitator was Mr. David Cownie Social Protection Consultant attached to UNICEF. He, along with Ms. Lyanna Harracksingh, a UNICEF Social Policy Officer for the Eastern Caribbean, made successful strides in their consultation which lasted just under two hours. In attendance was a cross section of the Anguillian public, including stakeholders of various sectors of society.
In essence, the UNICEF officers’ mission was to find out from the forum attendees, what areas of concern need to be addressed in terms of alleviating the hardship of persons deprived of certain privileges for their social wellbeing.
Dr. Bonnie Richardson-Lake, PS in the Ministry of Social Development, “We are developing a National Social Protection Policy. We are looking at the social protection programmes across the board — not just from the Ministry of Social Development standpoint. We intend to pull all these programmes under one policy framework. That framework will have an overall action plan so that we can actually implement the policy, and have a monitoring/evaluation framework.
“Back in 2015, we introduced a new piece of legislation, called the Social Protection Act. That governs how we provide public assistance to the vulnerable people in our population. But that is only one aspect of social protection. We want to make sure that we are looking across the board at everything for the protection of our people — whether they are young elderly or poor. Therefore, this public policy will pull all areas of social needs under one umbrella.”
While introducing herself and Mr. David Cownie, Ms. Lyanna Harracksingh said: “As a representative of UNICEF, my office covers all countries and territories in the Eastern Caribbean area. We are based in Barbados, with out-post offices in Trinidad and St. Lucia. Our programme covers three main areas: social inclusion; life-long learning, or education; and child protection. In social inclusion, there are three key areas of work: child poverty management, social protection and public finance.
“Here in Anguilla, we are supporting the Ministry of Health and Social Development in developing a social protection policy which falls under the remit of our work in terms of building an enabling environment for social protection. The enabling environment entails policies, legislation and the financial framework to support work in social protection.
“Here, to begin developing your social protection policy, we have David Cownie, our consultant who has vast global experience in working in social protection. He will be leading the consultation process and drafting the policy.”
Mr. Cownie, who resides in the Cayman Islands, conducted a brain-storming session to gain ideas from all participants on component areas in which social protection is needed.
Areas that the participants felt required social protection included, but were not limited to: gender equity and inclusivity; enabling of persons with disabilities; protection of the child and the aged; youth issues; preserving and protecting sporting capabilities; protecting those who are lonely and isolated; access to discounted or free medical care for the youth and aged; proper provisions for care-givers for the elderly and infirmed; and continued employment for persons with special needs.
All of these, as well as other areas of concern, were properly documented. Upon their return to their offices, the UNICEF officials expect to email a draft policy to all those who attended the forum. They expect to return to the island in July, for further public consultation, and to refine the policy in preparation for its subsequent implementation.
