St. Francis Community Developers launch three new initiatives under $1B Spotlight project

Apr 05, 2021 News

Minister of Human Services and
Social Security, Dr. Vindhya Persaud.

Kaieteur Radio – The St. Francis Community Developers, a Non-Governmental Organisation (NGO) located in Region Six is part of the $1B Spotlight Initiative which provides a unique opportunity via the Ministry of Human Services and its international partners, the European Union and United Nations for NGOs to address family violence and other types of developmental issues on community and national levels.
According to information released via the Ministry’s social media page, St. Francis Community Developers over the last three months has been executing a number of Spotlight Initiatives across Region Six in two locations – United Bricklayers in New Amsterdam and at St. Francis Headquarters in Port Mourant.
The two centres were established to care for the elderly and early childhood development, while the Dress For Success Closet provides clothing for women and youths who attend interviews or need to dress for success on a job. All clothing is free of cost.
During the recent opening of two Resource Centres and a Dress For Success Closet at the St. Francis’ Headquarters Complex at Port Mourant in Region Six, Minister of Human Services and Social Security, Dr. Vindhya Persaud noted that they are committed to working with Non-Governmental Organisations (NGOs) that work assiduously to safeguard the welfare of the vulnerable including the elderly and children.
The NGO’s coordinator, Alex Foster, and his team’s efforts to assist and improve the lives of the vulnerable were recognised and applauded by the Minister. Minister Persaud complimented and thanked the NGO for their steadfast efforts in the communities to tackle violence, and other issues. She noted too that early childhood development is a focus of the Ministry.
“It means we recognise the children from the time of birth to about six to eight years old; they benefit greatly from teaching, from training, from exposure… We are focusing on their cycle, economic and emotional development as well; we are focusing on their physical development,” Minister Persaud added.
She further elaborated that the content available to the children will also be addressed to ensure the quality of information is conducive to healthy learning.
To this end, the Human Services Minister announced that the Ministry in collaboration with UNICEF will be working on increasing the reading materials to include more localised stories and scenarios that are currently available.

Dress for Success is one the new initiatives
by the St. Francis Community Developers.

“So we are going to move forward to ensure that the material is available across the country before children hit the formal education system, that gap between birth and school is catered for through early childhood development,” the Minister said.
She added, “And children can only grow the right way and develop in the manner in which we want them to if the community raises a child, so I’m very happy that the Early Childhood Development Resource Centre will be serving quite a number of communities.”
Meanwhile, Minister Persaud underscored the Ministry’s commitment to improving the lives of the elderly, and commended the NGO for the opening of the elderly Resource Centre.
“We are conscious that people are living longer, and so you want them to have the best possible quality of life in their twilight years, as we like to call them. Resource Centre will also benefit from our training programme, in the sense that we will blend what you have here with what we can offer so that more people can go out there and fill the need that exists across the country,” Persaud disclosed.
She also touched on an issue, which she is passionate about – elderly abuse.
“I know many persons do not like to talk about it. But many elders are at home alone, many elders also live with their families, and they’re neglected, they don’t have food, sometimes the shelter that they get is barely adequate to meet their needs,” the Minister stated.
As a result of these experiences and circumstances, the Minister indicated that her Ministry will be launching an aggressive campaign to sensitise and educate persons, families and communities on this societal ill.