Constituency Councils are here to stay.
“We will not retreat or surrender from the innovative programme of the Community Councils,” Minister of Social Care, Constituency Empowerment and Community Development Steve Blackett maintained yesterday as he responded to the 2010 Budgetary Proposals in the House of Assembly.
And Blackett insisted that the Councils were not “a drain on the national purse”. Rather, he said, an average of $16 000 had been disbursed to each council and his ministry was being inundated with requests from Barbadians to be part of the councils.
Referring specifically to the Budgetary Proposals, the minister said: “I want Barbadians to realise that we are in difficult times and we have to take difficult decisions . . . . We need to wrap ourselves in the flag and understand that we all have to step up to the plate and in these difficult times we have to share the responsibility of lifting Barbados out of the present situation that we are in.”
Blackett said Barbados had had an impressive record in social protection, “but even as we recognise this, we are forced to acknowledge that better must be done in this important sector”.
He gave a detailed update on the social agencies falling under his ministry, listing outdated legislation, lack of technology to modernise the various agencies, outdated operational processes, dwindling community spirit, inadequate treatment of people with disabilities among challenges being faced.
The minister reported the seven-year-old Welfare To Work Programme had met with remarkable success, facilitating about 690 people with employment to date, while there was a waiting list of 1 000.
He added the programme, which trains people in skills such as barbering and child care, had proven to be very popular and was currently being reviewed with a view to expanding it. (GC)
