Saint Vincent and the Grenadines, like many Caribbean countries, has a strong record of providing support to poor and vulnerable households through social protection programs and services, including social safety nets, labour market programs and social insurance.
However, duplication of benefits, limited assessment of impact and fragmentation have hampered the performance of the country’s social protection system. To improve performance of this system, several reforms have been introduced, namely, the design of a targeting instrument to identify poor and vulnerable households and the establishment of the eligibility criteria for safety net benefits in time of shocks. The World Bank Executed Rapid Social Response Trust Fund aims to contribute to SVG’s objectives for better preparation and effective response to poor and vulnerable households hit by disasters by
- Carrying out critical stock taking and risk analysis;
- Identifying options for improving critical social protection delivery system instruments and developing some key tools to respond to disasters and
- Providing capacity building for staff and improving understanding of the linkages between social protection instrument and disaster response among key stakeholders.
To this end, The World Bank Executed Rapid Social Response Trust Fund in collaboration with the Ministry of National Mobilisation, Social Development et al will be hosting several workshops in Saint Vincent and the Grenadines as it relates to the captioned.
Some of the workshops scheduled will look at:
- Social and Hazard Risk Modelling
- Inventory of Social Programs
- Process Evaluation
- Targeting
In delivering remarks at the opening session, Hon. Frederick Stephenson, pointed out to the gathering that: “This year promises to commence additional activities under this project with reference to tracer studies on existing beneficiaries of public assistance programmes, execute parenting programmes to beneficiaries, capacity building for staff of social protection services among other developments that will transition into 2019 and compliment the country poverty assessment. My hope is that this project not only reform the services as an end product, but that it reaches the core of the people affected, whether they have been identified or not, which are the indigent, poor and vulnerable persons in this country.”
The workshop will continue until Friday, May 11th, at the Methodist Church Hall in Kingstown.
SOURCE: Ministry Of National Mobilization, Social Development, Family, Gender Affairs, Persons with Disability and Youth
