RCP gets US$12,000 boost

The Roving Caregivers Programme, RCP, of St. Vincent and the Grenadines has received a boost with the signing of a grant worth US $12,200 geared towards empowering caregivers in the programme.{{more}}

It is expected that the funds would go towards further training for rovers, the training of parents in the importance of quality child rearing, early stimulation and proper nutrition for their children.

Grant donor, the Organisation of American States (OAS), signed over the funds in an official ceremony held on Friday, June 11, 2010, at the Ministry of Agriculture Conference Room.

In accepting the grant, RCP Co-ordinator, Judith Hull-Ballah, informed that the programme, which was started to reach children and parents in at risk situations, has touched the lives of over 800 families, 300 children and close to 12,000 people in St. Vincent and the Grenadines.

Hull-Ballah says the RCP is a unique model, as it incorporates a service training approach to include children, parents and rovers involved in the programme.

“Two years ago a Longitudinal Impact Assessment Study was done and found that the training of parents and rovers significantly improved the development of children in the programme,” says Ballah.

This grant is the latest in a series of contributions to the RCP by the OAS which has been engaged with the programme since last year.

The RCP has already benefitted this year from OAS funding with the provision of stimulation materials and tools such as play pens, children story books and play mats.

Before, the OAS assisted in providing funding for the training of roving caregivers and children in the programme.

Two other projects, the Ministry of Agriculture with US $53,990 and Projects Promotional Limited with US $ 65,680, will be provided with OAS funding running from May 1, 2010 to June 30, 2011.

The Ministry of Agriculture will be piloting a project to link agriculture with tourism in hopes of establishing an agro-tourism industry, while the Projects Promotions Limited will be looking at waste management and proper garbage disposal in several communities within the islands.

Financing of the three projects will be undertaken by the OAS Special Multilateral Fund for Integral Development, FEMCIDI.

In her remarks, OAS St. Vincent and the Grenadines Representative, Melene Glynn, expressed that she had ‘all confidence that the programme will be successful.”